Studios go through a network before being passed on
to the transmitters: in the World Service these networks are
colour-coded for reference. The continuous English broadcast is coded
Green and unlike most of the others (which merely switch between
language transmissions at set times) has an announcer to link
programmes, read trailing material, and so on.
Here we see the Studio Manager's desk in the World Service in English
('Green' network') continuity, in 1972. Based on Type B studio
technology from the late 1950s, the facilities are pretty basic: three
tape playback machines (they don't record), three channels each capable
of selecting the outputs of any studio, recording channel or incoming
landline (including Big Ben) and keys to insert the Greenwich Time
Signal, and Interval Signal (to fill time as a last resort).
© Roger Wilmut. This
site is not associated with the BBC