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Southern Television
Southern Independent Television

Based in	Southampton & Dover
Broadcast area	South of England
Launched	30 August 1958
Closed	31 December 1981
Replaced by	Television South
Owned by	Associated Newspapers, Rank Organisation, D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd

Southern Television was the first ITV holder for the south and south east of England from 30 August 1958 until 1 January 1982. It also used the name Southern Independent Television, on-air, from 1964 until its demise. Southern Television ceased broadcasting on 1 January 1982 after a review by the 1980 franchise round gave the contract expiry date to 23:59 on 31 December 1981. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Southern Television colour logo (1969 - 1981) In the animated version a small circle expands into the middle of a plain blue screen, followed by the four cardinal points of the compass, then the four semi-cardinal points, and finally the word SOUTHERN appears below the compass rose. ... For other uses, see Southampton (disambiguation). ... , Dover is a major channel port in the English county of Kent. ... Southern England is a vague term referring to the south of England. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Associated Newspapers is a subsidiary of Daily Mail and General Trust and publishes five major UK newspaper titles; Daily Mail Mail on Sunday Evening Standard Ireland on Sunday Metro External links ANP Home ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... D. C. Thomson & Co. ... Independent Television (generally known as ITV, but also as ITV Network) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting... The north, the midlands and the south Southern England is an imprecise term used to refer to the southern counties of England. ... South East England is one of the nine official regions of England. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...

1950s: Launch

When the Independent Television Authority advertised for applicants to run the south of England station in 1958, Southern Television beat eight other applicants for the contract. Its initial shareholders were Associated Newspapers, the Rank Organisation and the Amalgamated Press, each holding one third of the company. Associated Newspapers was allowed to remain a shareholder in Southern, only on the condition that it sold its remaining 10% stake in Associated-Rediffusion to avoid owning parts of two ITV companies (a very different situation from today). The Amalgamated Press dropped out of the consortium before the station went on air. This led to Associated Newspapers and Rank increasing their stakes to 37.5% each, and D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd taking the remaining 25%. The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was a body created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of Independent Television (ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. ... Associated Newspapers is a subsidiary of Daily Mail and General Trust and publishes five major UK newspaper titles; Daily Mail Mail on Sunday Evening Standard Ireland on Sunday Metro External links ANP Home ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British Independent Television (commercial television) contractor for London, on weekdays between 1954 (transmissions started on September 22, 1955) and July 29, 1968. ... D. C. Thomson & Co. ...

Programming

Notable programmes produced by Southern over the years included: the Flagship evening current affairs programme Day by Day presented by an able team of presenters including Barry Westwood and long-serving weatherman Trevor Baker; Out of Town, a countryside programme introduced by Jack Hargreaves[1],who would later join Southern's board of directors; How, a children's science programme also featuring Hargreaves along with Fred Dinenage, Bunty James (later replaced by Marian Davies) and Jon Miller; Freewheelers, a children's spy series; Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years; and Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee as the eponymous walking scarecrow. Trevor the Weather was the popular soubriquet for the Welsh [1] weather forecaster, Trevor Baker [2]. He joined the Met Office in 1941 and worked all over the UK (as well as a stint in Hong Kong between 1953 & 1956) before being seconded to the BBC[3] in 1962. ... Jack Hargreaves OBE (born 31 December 1911, died 15 March 1994) was an author and television presenter in the UK. His interest was with nature and agricultural practices, especially those used in the southern counties. ... Fred Edgar Dinenage is a television host and newsreader, based in the south of England. ... Worzel Gummidge is a British childrens character, a walking, talking scarecrow, who originally appeared in a series of books by Barbara Euphan Todd. ... John Devon Roland Pertwee (7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996), better known as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor. ... Scarecrows in a rice paddy in Japan For other uses, see Scarecrow (disambiguation). ...

Generally, the company produced more networked children's programmes than adult programmes, scoring a particularly strong seller internationally with an adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five. Also worth noting was the children's programme The Saturday Banana, hosted by Bill Oddie (then at the height of his fame as one of The Goodies) which saw the placing of a twenty foot high fibreglass banana outside the studios, supported by its peeled 'skin', they also produced the children's game show Runaround which was hosted by Mike Reid. Enid Mary Blyton (August 11, 1897–November 28, 1968) was a popular English childrens writer. ... The Famous Five is a fictional group of child detectives, composed of four children (Julian, Dick, Anne and George) and their dog Timmy, created by Enid Blyton. ... William Edgar (Bill) Oddie, OBE (born 7 July 1941 in Rochdale, Lancashire), is a British comedy writer and performer, author, composer and musician. ... This article discusses the Goodies trio and the origins of their comedy TV series For information about the television series, see The Goodies (TV series) The Goodies are a trio of British comedians (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie), who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British... There is a disputed proposal to merge this article with glass-reinforced plastic. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Runaround was a UK childrens television game show, produced by Southern Television for ITV between 1975 and 1981. ... This article is about the entertainer. ...

Studios

Its original studios were a converted cinema in Northam, Southampton. With the advent of colour in 1969 the company moved to purpose-built new studios next door to the existing site, built on land reclaimed from the River Itchen. The company also had production offices and a studio in Dover, to serve the eastern part of its region (this closed in 1983 and was demolished a year later; the site is now a car park). Dover went live in 1960 and from the outset was producing split news bulletins and dedicated inserts into Day by Day. Southern was the first ITV company to do this. For other uses, see Southampton (disambiguation). ... The Itchen near Ovington. ... , Dover is a major channel port in the English county of Kent. ...

The studios at Northam were sold on to TVS in 1981, and sold again by TVS to Meridian Broadcasting in 1992. Meridian relocated to new facilities in 2004 and the site at Northam stands empty, awaiting demolition with the site expected to become residential accommodation. TVS may stand for: Television South TVS, India topological vector space transvaginal ultrasound transient voltage suppressor diode This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... ITV Meridian Ltd (formerly and more commonly known as Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for South and South East England[1]. It has been broadcasting since 1 January 1993, when it replaced TVS. The main headquarters were situated at studios in Northam, Southampton (previously used by...

Unique in ITV and reflecting the area's maritime history the company converted a Second World War motor torpedo boat into a floating outside broadcasting unit named Southerner. The company had sales offices at Stag Place, London and Oxford Street, Manchester. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB) was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the US and Royal Navies. ... Southerner was a unique marine outside broadcast unit operated by Southern Television in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... This article is about the City of Manchester in England. ...

There were also regional offices in Maidstone, Dorchester, Brighton and Reading. For other uses, see Maidstone (disambiguation). ... The main road through Dorchester Dorchester is a market town in south west Dorset, England, situated on the River Frome and A35 road 20 miles west of Poole and five miles north of Weymouth. ... For other places with the same name, see Brighton (disambiguation). ... , Reading is a town, unitary authority (the Borough of Reading) and urban area in the English county of Berkshire. ...

1980 Franchise round

Southern's failure to win a renewal of its contract in the 1980 bidding session was met with anger and disbelief by its board of directors. Although the Independent Broadcasting Authority gave its standard reason for these decisions (which was that the competitor offered a better mix of programmes and greater investment), it was believed the station's non-local ownership may have swayed the balance against it. Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 - cable and satellite television were the responsibility of the Cable Authority) and radio broadcasts. ...

Another factor may have been the company's very conservative (and possibly dull) nature and that, with a new decade dawning, the south of England would be a radically different area (which it turned out to be); it was felt that Southern's application was, understandably, more of the same reliable formula, which in time would not have reflected the possibilities for the area. Yet another possible factor was the incumbents' complacency: its original application was a mere 16-pages long. Tactfully the IBA invited them to re-submit, this time asking them to go into more depth with their plans.

The winning bidder was Television South (TVS), who spent months trying to persuade Southern to sell its studios; until it finally succeeded, TVS was forced to use portable offices in Southern's car park. Finally, Southern agreed to lease its studios for the production of TVS programmes and sell them to TVS outright at the end of 1981. The handover was tinged with acrimony on behalf of Southern, who appeared to take their anger at the decision out on TVS, rather than the IBA who had made the actual choice. In their final programme, And It's Goodbye From Us, a song was featured, deriding the incoming TVS as Portakabin TV (composed and performed by Richard Stilgoe), and mocking them for choosing Maidstone as a production base in the newly-enlarged dual region (deliberately not mentioning that Southern themselves had already purchased the site in Vinters Park, Maidstone, for a planned studio complex - if they had won the 1982 franchise - and had sold it on to the TVS consortium at a considerable profit). This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Richard Stilgoe OBE. Richard Stilgoe OBE (b. ...

The End of Southern

Southern's final programme, And It's Goodbye From Us, ended at 00:43 on 1 January 1982, with the show's host Christopher Robbie, normally a continuity announcer, making the last announcement of Southern Television: is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... Christopher Robbie is a British actor, television announcer, theatre director and designer, playwright and photographer. ...

"We said at the start that we tried to celebrate, and I think we have. We've enjoyed remembering, and I'm sure you won't forget. So, with a final farewell smile from those Southern people who've become to many of you, true friends, it's goodbye from us."

Afterwards, the camera panned to show many of the on-air talent and company executives standing (rather solemnly) as their names were displayed on-screen and instrumental music played in the programme's final minutes. When the music came to an end, the illuminated logo signs and lights on the set were turned off, fading to the Southern Television Colour Production slide, which faded into an animated version of their starburst logo, spinning away into a starry sky. The acoustic guitar jingle played for what would be the final time with a deep extended echo, and the screen slowly and silently faded to black. There were no closing or shut-down announcements, no suggestions for viewers to switch off their television sets, nor even the customary playing of God Save the Queen. The transmitters were simply, and abruptly, shut down. Southern Television had ceased its broadcasting. Acoustic guitar can refer to the following musical instruments: Nylon and gut stringed guitars: Renaissance guitar Baroque guitar Romantic guitar Classical guitar, the modern version of the original guitar, with nylon strings Flamenco guitar Steel stringed guitars: Steel-string acoustic guitar, also known as western, folk or country guitar Twelve... A jingle is a memorable slogan, set to an engaging melody, mainly broadcast on radio and sometimes on television commercials. ... Publication of an early version in The Gentlemans Magazine, 15 October 1745. ...

Current Status

In 2005, the old Southern studios were closed and scheduled for demolition, after the relocation for their current owners, Meridian Television, to a facility at Whiteley. The site of the old studios is expected to become luxury flats.In a strange twist all Meridian News including Meridian Tonight will be broadcast from Whiteley for the entire region. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Whiteley is a community in the county of Hampshire, England, near Fareham. ... Meridian Tonight is the flagship news programme in the ITV Meridian region. ... Whiteley is a community in the county of Hampshire, England, near Fareham. ...

Southern Television's programme archive was sold to Southern Star Group [2]. The names "Southern Television Ltd", "Southern Independent Television" and "Southern Television" and star device idents (1958-81) all transferred to Art Attack producer Nic Ayling in 2004 [3], and Southern now trades as an independent production company. Neil Buchanan on the Art Attack Art Attack was a British childrens television series about art. ...

See also

• Ashtar Galactic Command, a famous interruption of Southern's broadcasting by an outside force.

Vrillon, representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command was the name used by an unidentified voice who broadcast on the transmitters of Southern Television in the United Kingdom for about five minutes at 5:10 PM on Saturday November 26, 1977. ...

External links

• Animated Southern Television Idents from 625.uk.com (Requires Macromedia Flash version 4 or later).