Some around here in the States, Louisiana specifically, have started dispensing every note. I had to check so I asked for an $8 withdrawal. Yep. $5 and 3 - $1's 🤣🤯🤣
If you get a weak signal and grainy picture, you can always fix it by first banging the top of the TV and then giving it two sharp taps on the right hand side. Then just sit back down in your chair. Always worked for my old Dad.
Unless it was really cranky and you had to bust out the ol' "I swear I'll toss you in the trash and get a new one." as a last resort. It pretty much always worked after that.
I was their chief engineer from 2005 to 2012. The Salford University site had long since ceased operations by the time I joined. It was on air for about 18 months, from launch until late 2001 if memory serves. It also ran quite restricted hours, as the transmission facilities at the Maxwell building were unmanned, and relied on an automated DVCpro tape system, so they only had a few hours of content available for play out at any one time. The Cow Lane site also used local playout for a while. But that was a PC based playout system and had considerably more capacity. Typically almost a weeks worth. But once Channel M moved to Stockport, a line was installed to allow playout from there. No idea what the EIRP of the university site was. But the Cow Lane site was 4kW peak sync. The original installation at Winter Hill was 2kW running on QPSK, although we eventually moved to 16QAM albeit with increased FEC compared to the D-Book standard for that operating mode. No idea what the other dishes were for at the university.
You must be the one who filmed the shut down on analogue! I’d love to ask you some questions. Would you mind dropping me an email? RingwayManchester@mail.com
Hi Andy. I worked for GMG IT and was involved in the site survey and setting up comms control links for the original University analogue transmitter system. It was such a low budget operation they ended up with 2 x isdn2 lines and ChM staff used to go over with removable Iomega Jazz disks for local play out. Output was aimed at the South Manchester affluent so the Salford site would be in similar direction to Winter Hill. There was also a later News studio in the later Hardman Street GMG building with the old Manchester Evening News editorial in the background so they could see the hustle and bustle of a then busy newsroom. ChM was good idea but underfunded. The idea was to sell multi-platform Advertising with ChM, the Mcr Evening News. METRO and all the local Advertiser platforms, AutoTrader and Smooth Radio which were all part of the Guardian Media Group at the time. G6MEI
I used to watch channel M news in a morning it was like community radio but on the telly one presenter was so Manc and you knew she'd peed in a few shop doorways on a night out. A shame it vanished from air
Our university society was filmed by Channel M for a show called 'Interference', if I remember rightly; but I never asked for a copy of the footage at the time. Would love to see it now!
Regarding the antenna on the rooftop, it does look very similar to the digital self help relay at Old Trafford. Whilst it’s not marked on the MB21 maps, could it maybe be an older, long decommissioned self help relay? Or perhaps an experimental TX antenna, originally intended for channel M, but abandoned when reception tests proved poor and never removed? Complete stabs in the dark here, but hopefully this might jog someone’s mind!
Channel M was on Sky / the Astra 2 satellite for a while. I remember the modified live-action test card F overnight with Frank Sidebottom on it. I *might* have a screen grab of that somewhere on one of my old computers!
The only show I remember watching on the channel was a drama called Life as I Know It (LAIKT) that was based around student life at university, watching this video brought my back memories of this programme even though LAIKT didn't have an Bafta level budget. But the theme song was catchy and now I'm humming it 🎶
I studied Broadcast Engineering at university and I attended an interview at the University of Salford where Channel M was produced. I remember vividly them pushing it as a big attraction for choosing Salford. In the end I went elsewhere to study but it did seem an interesting initiative
Hi Lewis, I don’t know anything about channel M, but I remember Andy Crane .. a face you showed on there. You also mentioned NTL..a company I worked for back in the mid 2000s. They owned a cable tv company in Leeds during the digital tv roll out at that time. Later they merged with cable company from your side of the Pennines called Tele West. It’s all now known as Virgin Media. I’m always impressed by the detail of research you put into the vids you make. Many thanks 😊
NTL was originally National Transradio Communications Ltd, they took over IBA transmitters. True, they had fingers in the Cable TV pie. NTL sold off Cable and morphed into Arqiva
A few areas had stations like that - Taunton had one at some point - it just disappeared without trace - no warning of shutdown - had all sorts of technical problems, especially when it went automated at night and across the weekend - used to keep broadcasting Sky News and QVC, but later relayed the now-defunct ITN News Channel! It broadcast programmes from other stations, but not a live relay - they were sent copies - in later years, they had an obsession for showing programmes about films and such - its own programmes were not all that good - although, towards the end of their time on air, they had their own soap opera about art college students, written by and starring actual college students and their actual art teacher!
I did a weekend residential there when deciding what uni to attend and got to do a placement as cameraman, was fun. I chose to go to York instead though, where we had radio on site instead.
I heard of Channel M browsing Wikipedia articles many years ago now thought it was an interesting idea but I wasn't surprised to find out later it had been closed. What has been described as "hyper local TV" seems to have a pretty bad history in the UK. Many of them don't seem to last long at all having made little sense at the time and seemingly even less sense in the age of online media. They just don't seem to have the resources to be worth tuning into nor the income to be sustainable.
I have never heard about this TV M station, but love your telling about it, and the planes and the trails from airplanes you always make pictures of in your videos! Hope I can have a chat with you on 40m or 20m soon! The best from LB1NH 🙂
When Jam Master J from Run DMC was killed...Channel M came to the studio to film a piece about it. They also filmed at a couple of our station nights out.
lol the Much Music channel (music videos of current top 100 mostly) in Canada was ubiquitous in the late 90s/early noughties when I was a teenager. Even all the way west in BC.
I definitely remember it existing, I never watched any of its programming because I didnt have a TV set.. didn't feel I needed one because I was basically addicted to the internet! A shame, it would been interesting to tune in occasionally at least.
You sir are the real life Ford prefect. Anyone who knows you well would not be shocked when you whip out your Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic when the scary vogon constructor fleet is overhead
Is Channel M what became the GI Multiplex on Winter Hill CH27? I used to work for Canis Media which owns this multiplex in Greater Manchester and I remember something about this not being part of the local TV network that launched up and down the rest of the country. They had Showbiz TV on it when I worked there. We were based at Arqiva in Chalfont Grove, Buckinghamshire.
The Channel M freeview mux is what was sold to Canis in 2012. The local TV multiplexes that are operated by Comux are separate. Although the Channel M mux has changed hands a number of times. I'm not sure what the deal is with Canis. I thought they sold the mux recently, but on closer inspection, it might be that Canis themselves have been acquired. I'm pretty sure Canis ran the mux on behalf of the actual owner at some point. Entertainment Television Ltd. rings a bell.
i remember for around 2 weeks checking at night going across the analogue tv band a signal of the windows ME desktop i i wondered how why it was up checking it every night trying to figure it out then one night it changed to channel m so i came to the idea they was having tech issues my guess 2003 onwards as win xp was around and i thought why such as old OS is being used
That was their old 'Nightscreen' service. Which, I believe was literally a PowerPoint presentation on loop. They ended up moving to using Euronews for their out of hours service some point before 2005.
Manchester already had granada lmao. Didnt really need another channel for itself 😅 Jest aside i bet it was a good oppourtunity for students to get some hands on experience with the industry without going through the hoops of the stuffiness of bbc and itv, or the outright mediocrity that commercial radio in this country bar a few exceptions.
