October 2013 – Page 2 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Radio Outside Broadcast Rate Card

This Radio Outside Broadcast Rate Card from 1995/6 shows the charges of various radio resources to be charged to programmes. This dates from the John Birt era of Producer Choice, and the sell off of BBC Resources.

Thanks to Peter Poole for sharing the document.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook group:

Peter Poole: ‘Producer choice generated a lot of paperwork. At the end of the studio session all tapes and batteries etc. used were noted. This was charged to the production. Then the office staff spent time invoicing it. Other effects were that radio studio 1 became too expensive for radio use! Crew sizes were reduced to the minimum. If you needed extra help the production had to pay. They would be charged a minimum 4 hours crew cost. Paying £100 for 30 minutes work was not popular. In the end the floor manager often put the mics on the guests. At a time when Pebble Mill was trying to save money John Birt found many ways to waste it. At great expense all staff were instructed to travel to London for a PR event. This was run by an independent company. This event was about “The New BBC”. I never went to it, but the general opinion was a total waste of time. I did go on a customer care course. This gave me vital information about how to answer the phone. Another course was about marketing. More vital information for resources staff.’

Gordon Astley: ‘I remember it was cheaper to buy albums than hire them from the BBC library. The albums then just went….well..er……??’

Nanny polaroids

Photos by Janice Rider, no reproduction without permission.

These polaroids were taken by costume designer, Janice Rider for continuity purposes during the filming of the drama series, Nanny. The series starred Wendy Craig, as Nanny, and was set in 1930-40s Britain. It was a London series, hosted by BBC Pebble Mill. There were three series, transmitted between 1981-3.

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Second Floor Plan of Pebble Mill – 1971

Negative, Second Floor Plan, 1971. This digital resource is available under a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 3.0 license, with kind permission of the Birmingham & Five Counties Architectural Association Trust, thanks to the Architectus project (part of the Jisc Content Programme 2011-13).

This is the Second Floor Plan of the Pebble Mill building 1971, from the architect, John Madin’s office.

Pebble Mill Magazine 1978 – Alastair Yates

Pebble Mill Magazine 1978

This article in the Pebble Mill Magazine is from 1978. Alastair Yates presented his own show on Radio Birmingham on weekday mornings from July 1978. The show included guests as well as discussing topical issues. The article talks about how the show dealt with the Whooping Cough vaccine scare, presenting all sides of the argument: parents from children affected by Whooping Cough, or damaged by the vaccine, as well as doctors.

Style Challenge

Photo from Julia Versluis, no reproduction without permission.

Style Challenge was a BBC 1 Daytime make-over show, which ran on weekday mornings from 1996-8. Contributors had a clothes, hair and make-up makeover. The key format point was a revolving mirror, meaning that the contributors could not see their transformation until the very end of the show.

The presenters of the show included John Leslie (centre in the photo), Kirsty Young, Caryn Franklin, Shauna Lowry and Oz Clarke. The stylists included Trevor Sorbie, Ollie Picton Jones, Charles Worthington (on the left-handside in black), Hilary Alexander (next to Charles Worthington),Anthony Mascolo, Teresa Fairminer, Robert Frampton (at the front), Patrick Cameron, and Karen Mason.