PRINCESS ALEXANDRA will today see one of the world’s most up-to-date television studio complexes when she formally opens Birmingham’s ATV Centre.
Princess Alexandra
On her arrival at A T V Centre at 12.20 p.m. today, Princess Alexandra will be received by Lord Renwick (ATV chairman). Lady Renwick, Sir Lew Grade (ATV Managing Director; and Lady Grade.
Studios ready to transmit within eighteen months
BRIAN VERTIGEN talks to the man who headed the team that designed the ATV Centre, architect RICHARD SEIFERT
ANOTHER IMPORTANT MILESTONE
Message from the Lord Mayor of Birmingham (Ald. Neville Bosworth)
Contractor had to meet tight deadlines
Speed and flexibility were the essence of the building programme for the new ATV Centre.
TV centre is probably the most exciting in the world
ATV had been serving the Midlands since the start of Independent Television in this area in February 1956. Covering the licence periods from 1956 to 1968, ATV provided a service between Monday and Friday in the Midlands area and in London during the weekends.
Friendliness is part of Sir Lew’s success secret
For a man who started life as one of three brothers in a struggling Jewish refugee family in London’s East End and who claims never to have had any ambition, Sir Lew Grade has not done too badly.
ATV CENTRE BY NIGHT
A recent picture of the building which is in use but still under construction.
Well over £2m spent on equipping for colour
A MASSIVE capital outlay has gone into equipping the studios at ATV Centre for full colour operation. For colour is costly. Each of the 12 colour cameras used In the studios cost £17,500. A videotape machine (and ATV has six of them in Birmingham) costs around £60,000. In all, ATV has spent well over £2m […]
FLOATING FLOOR GIVES TECHNICAL FLEXIBILITY
To attain maximum efficiency in servicing, some areas of the new ATV centre have been fitted with special floors by the Floating Floors Division of the Metal Castings Doehler Co, of Worcester.
ATV programmes from the past
Lunch Box, Emergency – Ward 10, Beat the Clock, The Power Game, Front Page Story, Birthday Honours.
Old Alpha Studios – ‘centre of professional skill’
Independent television came to the Midlands on February 17, 1956. It was launched by a massive gala ball at Birmingham Town Hall and speeches by civic heads and the then chairman of the ITA, Sir Kenneth Clark.
Doors that open silently
Have you ever wondered why the stillness of the studio from which a TV announcer talks is not broken by rumbles as the gang in the studio next door moves scenery, or as a pop group shouts away?
National and international successes
Crossroads, The Englebert Humperdinck Show, the Saint, Department “S” and more.
Exported hit shows have won two Queen’s Awards
From the noble deeds of Robin Hood in the 1950s to the frenetic gyrations of Tom Jones in the 1970s, the story of ATV programmes has been one of success.
Keeping cool in the heat of production
When the Golden Shot programme goes out from ATV on Sunday afternoons, the heat produced in Studio 1, from lights alone, is 230 kW.
POTTED PROFILES
The chairman of ATV, the director of programmes and the production controller.
