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Post by Arthur Pringle on Dec 22, 2021 22:33:12 GMT
There's also a forum member in the film 'Red Sun'! Not Ursula Andress unfortunately.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Dec 23, 2021 18:56:20 GMT
Dec 23 1978 ( also Dec 22 1978 listings below the Dusty Bin smudge )
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Dec 24, 2021 17:55:28 GMT
Dec 23 1978 ( also Dec 22 1978 listings below the Dusty Bin smudge )
This Christmas schedule was big for ITV - given the BBC was on strike, and therefore off air.
Sale of the Century - dragged in something like 22 million viewers, as did Survival - so Anglia were sitting pretty smug. The Muppet Show also fetched in similar figures.
For quite a while, Sale of the Century held the record as being the most watched Gameshow on British Television and achieving the highest rating - this in 1978. It was said to have been held for quite some time - and something like Who Want's to be a Millionaire knocked it off during the late 1990s. Not bad for a cheap in cheerful gameshow that came "...From Norwich" as they once said.
8 months later, the tide had turned and it was ITV that had gone off air due to the strike - for similar reasons.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Dec 24, 2021 18:00:25 GMT
I thought it ITV that was on strike as I remember not being able to watch the Bond film for that reason?
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Dec 24, 2021 18:02:30 GMT
Just looked it up, Yorkshire ITV was off the air for the Christmas period and BBC off as Sparks mentions. Don't remember the BBC strike.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Dec 24, 2021 18:18:38 GMT
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Dec 24, 2021 19:01:06 GMT
Just looked it up, Yorkshire ITV was off the air for the Christmas period and BBC off as Sparks mentions. Don't remember the BBC strike. The BBC ACTT "shop" was on strike over pay and overtime, and used Christmas 1978 as the "pawn" in the battle.
Yorkshire Television was off air for similar reasons - something do do with overtime - again with their ACTT shop. That was the roots of what came along in August 1979 - which within a matter of a few hours had taken all ITV stations off air - and that lasted until October. I think some sackings were involved too, which tipped the balance and took YTV off air.
The 1979 strike began with ACTT and EEPTU members at Thames walking out; back then there was an unwritten rule that associated union shops at each station had to follow suit.
Their "pawn" in the battle was advertising, as they knew ITV would lose millions in lost revenue. ITV managers thought the strike would only last a few days as staff weren't getting paid, so would come crawling back when they were skint.
Not so. A lot of staff took 2nd jobs for the duration to keep afloat. Ironically for ITV, the Unions eventually won a much bigger pay deal than they were originally asking for.
With that out of the way - it was time for staff at ATV to start making waves.... and that lasted through the Central years well into the late 90s.
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on Dec 24, 2021 19:55:47 GMT
Just looked it up, Yorkshire ITV was off the air for the Christmas period and BBC off as Sparks mentions. Don't remember the BBC strike. The BBC ACTT "shop" was on strike over pay and overtime, and used Christmas 1978 as the "pawn" in the battle.
Yorkshire Television was off air for similar reasons - something do do with overtime - again with their ACTT shop. That was the roots of what came along in August 1979 - which within a matter of a few hours had taken all ITV stations off air - and that lasted until October. I think some sackings were involved too, which tipped the balance and took YTV off air.
The 1979 strike began with ACTT and EEPTU members at Thames walking out; back then there was an unwritten rule that associated union shops at each station had to follow suit.
Their "pawn" in the battle was advertising, as they knew ITV would lose millions in lost revenue. ITV managers thought the strike would only last a few days as staff weren't getting paid, so would come crawling back when they were skint.
Not so. A lot of staff took 2nd jobs for the duration to keep afloat. Ironically for ITV, the Unions eventually won a much bigger pay deal than they were originally asking for.
With that out of the way - it was time for staff at ATV to start making waves.... and that lasted through the Central years well into the late 90s.
Was the BBC union at the time called the ABS (Association of Broadcasting Staff) ? I remember it affecting radio and the four national channels combined and simulcasted on all frequencies as "Radio 5", long before there was an actual station called BBC Radio 5.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Dec 24, 2021 20:00:39 GMT
I remember another strike in 79, can't remember if it was BBC or ITV.
Edit, just properly read Sparkys post!
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on Dec 24, 2021 20:11:06 GMT
I remember another strike in 79, can't remember if it was BBC or ITV. Edit, just properly read Sparkys post! In the 1979 strike in the Yorkshire region, I seem to remember staff allowed the blue apology screen to be interrupted every so often with a public information film appeal from the Police about the Yorkshire Ripper. Every so often with the blue screen we also heard a "Sorry for the loss of your programmes" which was definitely not from any of the regular announcers. It sounded more like the guy who changed the towels in the Gents.
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