Service Information was a regular programme in the early days of colour television in the United Kingdom that gave out engineering information for the Radio & Television trade. These announcements were made by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 continuity announcers of the time and were read over in-vision captions. The programme was broadcast on BBC 2 three times a day, 10.00am, 11.30am, and 2.30pm each weekday from 23 October 1967 to 1975, then once a day at 10.30am from 1975 until the final broadcast what was on 23 December 1982. The UK Commercial Network ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 had a similar programme titled Engineering Announcements

Engineering Announcements

Engineering Announcements for the Radio and Television Trade, sometimes abbreviated to Engineering Announcements, was a weekly magazine of news and information intended for technicians and salespeople, produced and transmitted by the Independent Television Authority from 23 November 1970 until 31...

.

Format

In the days of early colour television in Great Britain the BBC2 daytime periods were filled with the colour test card

Test card

A test card, also known as a test pattern in North America and Australia, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast...

 and trade test colour films

Trade test colour films

Trade test colour films were broadcast by the television network BBC 2 in the early days of colour television in Britain during intervals when no regular programming had been scheduled. The goal of these transmissions was to provide colour broadcasting in these intervals for use by television shops...

 to help viewers and dealers to test and tune-in their television receivers.

Clock

Service Information bulletins would be preceded with a clock for two minutes and a catchy theme which was called Walk & Talk, played by the Syd Dale Orchestra, later replaced with Swirly by Roger Limb.

Transmitters and relays

The bulletin would then start with information regarding current transmitters and relays being either on reduced power or off air. This would then be followed with news of brand new transmitters and relays and when they were due to come on air. Details of trade shows or exhibitions next and anything else related to the technical development of colour television at the time. Then there would be a recap of the day’s transmitter news followed by a caption showing the address of the BBC Engineering Information Department.

Trade test colour films

The bulletin would then end with a rundown of the trade test colour films being shown on that particular day. And now we are returning to the colour test card and music until Play School at eleven o’clock would be a familiar closing phrase.

Bulletin length

Service Information bulletins generally lasted an average of two or three minutes but on Wednesday 25 August 1971, the longest Service Information bulletin known was aired, which ran for 11 minutes.

Tuning information

A Monday to Friday Tuning Information bulletin was added to BBC2 in the heyday of Colour coming to BBC1 and ITV from 10 November 1969 to 31 December 1970 at 6.15pm. with an extra transmission for a two-week period from 17 November 1969 until 28 November 1969 broadcast at 4.30pm (Mondays to Fridays).

Continuity announcers

The Service Information spots were often looked at by the BBC as a training ground for their new continuity announcers. Here they could deliver concise and informative speech for a few minutes at a time and broadcast relatively safely to a smaller than usual viewing audience.

Amongst the continuity announcers who could be heard during this period were: -
David Allan

David Allan (broadcaster)

David Allan is a British television continuity announcer and radio presenter.-Radio career:...

, Michael Birley, Peter Bolgar

Peter Bolgar

Peter Bolgar is a British television and radio announcer, married since 1962 to Archers actress Angela Piper. He announced for BBC Television from 1967 to 1995, and since then, he has announced for the BBC World Service...

, John Braben, John Brand

John Brand

John Brand was an English antiquarian.Born in Washington, County Durham, he was educated at the Royal Grammar School and Lincoln College, Oxford. He wrote Observations on the popular antiquities of Great Britain: Including the Whole of Mr. Bourne's Antiquitates Vulgares , generally referred to as...

, Peter Brook

Peter Brook

Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...

, Andy Cartledge, Malcolm Eynon, Michael Gamble

Michael Gamble

Michael Gamble was an Ohio Democratic Party politician and a member of the Ohio General Assembly. Formerly a Canton City Councilman, Gamble was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1966. A member of the 107th Ohio General Assembly, Gamble was a member of the first state legislature...

, John Glover

John Glover

John Glover may refer to:*John Glover *John Glover , American general*John Glover , English-Australian painter*John Montgomery Glover , U.S. Representative from Missouri...

, Martin King

Martin King

Martin King may refer to:*Martin Luther King, Jr. , Baptist minister and civil rights activist*Martin Luther King, Sr. , Baptist minister and the father of Martin Luther King, Jr....

, Keith Martin

Keith Martin (broadcaster)

Keith Martin is a broadcaster born in Sandwich, Kent.Keith was involved with offshore radio from the earliest days, but later became a continuity announcer for various regional TV stations....

, Roger Maude, Tim Nichols

Tim Nichols

Tim Nichols Tim Nichols Tim Nichols (born in Portsmouth, Virginia is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active since the late 1980s, Nichols has written for several country music singers, including Keith Whitley, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina, and Alan Jackson...

, Mel Oxley, Clive Roslin, John Ross-Barnard, Clem Shaw, Peter Shoesmith, Ian De Stains, Richard Straker, John Trevor

John Trevor

John Trevor may refer to:*John Trevor I, mid-14th century Bishop of St Asaph*John Trevor II, late 14th century Bishop of St Asaph*Sir John Trevor , MP and Surveyor of the Queen's Ships...

, Colin Ward Lewis and Robin Whitting.

Transcript of a bulletin

Here's a sample transcript of a 10 o'clock Service Information bulletin from Friday, 24 August, 1973 which includes the announcement concerning the last day of Trade Test Colour Films being shown.

It's ten o'clock and a very good morning to you from BBC television. It's time for Service Information for the Television Trade.



First, transmitter information concerning Stockland Hill and Beacon Hill: BBC-1 UHF Stockland Hill has been on reduced power since nine o'clock and will continue so for some time this morning.
BBC-2 Beacon Hill has also been on reduced power since nine o'clock remaining so for some time today. I'll just repeat those -- BBC-1 UHF Stockland Hill has been on reduced power since nine o'clock and will continue so for some time this morning and BBC-2 Beacon Hill has also been on reduced power since nine o'clock remaining so for some time today.



The BBC Wales 625-line Colour Television Service from Preseley Relay Station in Pembrokeshire has now opened. The BBC-2 Service opens tomorrow. Both channels are subject to engineering tests until the full programme service begins on the 1st of September. Preseley will serve about 89,000 people mostly in Pembrokeshire but including some in the Western parts of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire. Group B aerials with horizontal rods are required for receiving the 625-line transmissions from Preseley and they should be directed towards the site of the station which is about nine miles South of Cardigan. Group B aerials are suitable for both BBC channels, 46 that's BBC Wales and 40 for BBC-2 as well as the other two channels assigned to Preseley 43 for ITV and 50. They should be carefully positioned for optimum reception on the different channels.



Following successful Test Transmissions the full stereo programme service will be broadcast from the BBC's Holme Moss and Belmont transmitting stations starting tomorrow. Relay Stations at Scarborough, Sheffield, Wensleydale and Windermere will also radiate the stereo programmes. These six stations serve most of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and parts of adjacent counties and they will bring stereo on Radio One when that's transmitted on VHF, Radio Two and Radio Four to more than eleven and a half million listeners in the North. Radio Three has been transmitted in stereo from Holme Moss for several years but from now on it will use the new pulse code modulation distribution system along with the other programmes giving a consequent improvement in technical quality. This improvement should also be noticeable to listeners with monophonic equipment. At some receiving locations near the limit of the service areas of the transmitting stations concerned the change from monophonic to stereophonic reception may introduce additional background noise and this can often be reduced by using a more efficient aerial system and listeners in these circumstances should seek the advice of their local radio dealer. Monophonic reception of stereophonic transmissions is not effected in this way.



Well, today is the last day of the trade test colour films which have been transmitted regularly by BBC Television since 1954. But now that there are colour programmes shown on one channel or the other for most of the day the time available for transmission of the test card has been considerably reduced and the need for high quality moving pictures during Trade Tests has diminished. So after consultation with representatives of the Television Trade it's been decided that from next week available time on BBC-2 will mainly be filled by the test card together with Service Information announcements and the Service Information in the afternoons will be at 4:30 instead of 2:30 but will remain at ten o'clock and 11:30 in the mornings. Full details of the new schedule will shortly be published as an information sheet.



Well, today there's more Service Information at half-past eleven and at half-past two this afternoon. And those Colour Films, well the Colour Films being shown in today's Trade Test Transmissions are at eleven-thirty-five Journey Into The Weald Of Kent, at ten-past-twelve Cantagallo, at two-o'clock North Sea Quest, at 2:35 Giuseppina and the last Trade Test Colour Film at 3:30, Coupe Des Alpes.



At four-thirty instead of the usual Trade Test Colour Film BBC-2 opens-up with coverage of the second day's play in the third test at Lord's.



Well now the colour test card and music are with us until our first scheduled programme of the day Play School at eleven o'clock".

(note that in fact Coupe des Alpes - which had been revived as a finale having not been shown since 1968 - was not shown because cricket coverage began earlier than scheduled, and Guiseppina became the last Trade Test Colour Film ever shown.)

External links

• http://www.testcardcircle.org.uk/ttcf.html
• http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/halcyondays/1970s/hidden.php