2 December 1982 Ch4 - In vision closedown & presentation phone call! 

Don't want to sound too serious, but swearing was a lot less common in those days than today.

@@ajs41 If my father caught me swearing in those days i would have my mouth washed out with soap,

Sounds Delightful

Didn't they use it for Channel 4 News in the first year?

Because the phone is in the studio and the microphone has been left on

David Stranks would frequently be seen presenting Preview 4 in jeans, and often cross-legged as seen here, while the other announcers dressed more formally when they were due to present a programme in vision. I'm not sure if something was said to Stranks, but he began getting suited up and tried to keep both legs on the floor after a few months. He wasn't a poor announcer, but certainly at first seemed somewhat uncomfortable with his craft.

@@CaptainSiCo Do you know when the last time they did in-vision continuity was?

That’s What I’d Like To Hear

Not exactly, but the regular IVC spot at closedown was gone by late 1983/early 84 (except perhaps for special occasions). In 1996 they experimented with showing the announcers booth while they made their announcement - this was only a couple of times per shift - and wasn’t really IVC in the traditional sense, just a camera filming the announcer from above.

@@CaptainSiCo Thanks.

I got my video on 7th September '83 and never got one apart for 1st birthday night but i'm guessing that it was pre-recorded. There is a late August '83 ivc closedown which presumably is around when the practice ended.

@@petetv8126 Thanks Pete. The first year of a new TV channel is often the most interesting because they try out lots of different ideas. Interesting about you getting a video machine in 1983 because that was the year sales of VHS machines really took off in the UK. My family got one that year as well. Ive still got the Christmas 1983 Top of the Pops show on a VHS cassette and the quality is still very good.

+The TV Museum You can just about hear someone saying "It's [name] here.. on the Channel 4 channel... we've still got.. sound coming out.. as if... someone... in the studio.."

+The TV Museum "This is the Banker here, in 23 years time I will offer you £1000. Deal?"

+MrAntbox I take it that cutting the sound wasn't as simple as turning a mic off or sliding a fader down then. Ah, the Cars that ate Paris - Paris, NSW that is, not France - a classic Aussie movie about mysterious disappearances in a small town in the outback.

+Fizzbin Player brilliant 😆

+CaptainSiCo That was one of those films they showed us at school in the late Noughties and we were like ''What is this?'' I don't think I ever saw what happened in the end! Maybe when you're 16, it's not the most engaging film.