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A report on the decline of the Belfast Markets area in 1978
Ends with a song specially written for this short film by the late Tony McAuley.
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David Capper reports on the closure of Northern Ireland's last Coal Mine in 1970 This was also the first filmed report in colour.
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Wendy Austin reports on the launch of the De Lorean Sports Car - 1980
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Nicholas Witchell reports in 1979 on the rebuilding of Harry Ferguson's 1910 aeroplane
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An amateur archaeologist panning for Gold in the Sperrins (1967)
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Wendy Austin talks to Lord Dunleath about his new book on the Ards TT in 1976
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A report on the introduction of computers into H&W shipyard (1970)
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Sean Rafferty reports on the last operational weaving mill in NI (1983)
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Richard Lightbody talks to shoppers in Belfast's Variety Market (1978)
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A report on Hillsborough being declared a conservations area. (1976)
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Nicholas Witchell reports on the decline of the disused Newry Canal (1980)
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Barry Cowan interviews "The voice of Radio Ulster", Duncan Hearle on his last day at the 大象传媒 after 30 years (1976)
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Liz, the Scene Around Six floor manager goes through a script check with the presentation team in the final seconds before transmission. Seated at the studio desk can be seen (from left to right): Sean Rafferty - main programme presenter, John Ashe - Newscaster and Brian Walker - Political Correspondent.
As with all television programmes, there is always a sizeable team of unseen technical and production people working hard in the background (and often in the dark!). Although it might look like the bridge of a submarine, this was the production gallery of Studio 8 where Scene Around Six came from every night.
The coming of 大象传媒 TV to Northern Ireland was via a small transmitter in an old Nissen hut which was installed so the Northern Ireland population could watch the Coronation in 1953.
The first regular news magazine for 大象传媒 viewers in Northern Ireland was "Ulster Mirror" which started on 26th November 1954. It was a fortnightly programme of events filmed in NI but rarely would have included what we now refer to as hard news. Although the material was filmed here, 大象传媒 Northern Ireland had no processing facilities so the exposed film rolls had to be carefully packed and shipped to London, where they were processed and edited before being returned to Northern Ireland in a 'ready to view' state. |
It was not until 30th September 1957 that 大象传媒 Northern Ireland had its first local TV news when its first presenter was Maurice Shillington. Even then there were still no facilities for film and the only illustration would have been an occasional B&W photograph.
The first news type magazine programme hit then quite small screens on 20th February 1959 when Robert Coulter introduced the very first edition of "Studio Eight", the snappy title of a news programme direct from the 大象传媒's studio 8 in Belfast. Studio 8 was a remarkably small studio but the hardware, particularly the cameras, in the late 50s were huge and production of programmes from such a small floor space became a triumph of ingenuity over adversity. (Some four years later "The Beatles" broadcast from the same studio). |
Over the next few years the programme title changed, first to "Six O'clock" and then to "Six-Five" with Michael Baguley as presenter and then to "Six-Ten". Having a name or 'brand' that would attract people was perhaps not such a priority in the days when there was just the one TV channel to watch and, sure enough, everyone certainly did watch.
A significant change came to our screens around this time. On the 18th March 1967 大象传媒2 colour was extended to the Divis transmitter. It wasn`t until 12th March 1969 that true local TV colour production began, with Maurice Leitch`s film "Fit-Ups", featuring the last of the travelling drama companies in Ireland. |
On the 1st Jan 1968 the more sophisticated "Scene around Six" came on air and remained with us for sixteen years. It's a name that's still remembered today. This programme made household names of people like Wendy Austin, Barry Cowan, Margaret Percy and Sean Rafferty and, in spite of great difficulties and danger to reporters and camera crews, never failed to bring on the spot reports from every corner of Northern Ireland during the very worst of the troubles.
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In 1984 the Ulster viewers enjoyed a remodelled news/magazine programme with a sharper news edge called "Inside Ulster". This was broadcast from Belfast's new state of the art Studio B. The lifespan of this programme's saw significant improvements and breakthroughs in broadcast technology. Videotape quickly made film obsolete and the era of "Electronic News Gathering" was born. With no film processing time, news stories could be turned around for transmission much more quickly than before. It was also possible to have more items in a programme. This era also allowed the introduction of live "at the scene" injects, bringing news to the viewer with an immediacy that had ten years earlier been quite unthinkable. For a while its catchline was "first with the news". Inside Ulster thrived on the high calibre of its journalism and the reportage was second to none. During its 12 years it won many awards and much respect from a large audience.
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On 12th February 1996 "Inside Ulster" was replaced by a completely re-branded programme called "Newsline 6.30". As the title suggests it saw a new transmission time of 6.30 as opposed to the previous slot of 5.35. This new programme also promised a revised editorial stance to reflect the evolving changes in the post-ceasefire news agenda in Northern Ireland. Later it dropped the "6.30" from the title and became simply "大象传媒 Newsline". It also underwent a few subtle adjustments to its look and feel. It's still on air today as the news flagship of 大象传媒 Northern Ireland.
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