Alan Towers resigns from Midlands Today 1997

Alan Towers BBC Midlands Today resignation broadcast 1997 from Mark Davies on Vimeo.

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

Alan Towers presenting Midlands Today in 1997, and resigning live at the end of the show. Apparently he asked to say something at the end of his final show, but no one realised that he was going to explain why he was leaving. His timing was impeccable, as usual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Becky Towers: ‘My LEGEND of a father! He’s been gone 9 years this month. Funny that you posted this. He always finds a way to let us know he’s still around!’

Robin Latchem: ‘I wish someone had the recording of when the VT went down on a Saturday sports show I was producing and Alan had to busk several minutes with no spare copy. He breezed through the empty time while I in the gallery could only thank someone’s God that he was presenting.’

Gordon Astley: ‘I remember watching this one Saturday afternoon. We all thought,”Hero”. The suits thought “Unprofessional “. Later on I interviewed Alan on my show after his return from from a motorbike trip abroad. After the show you couldn’t move for ‘suits’ welcoming him back into the building.’

Martin Fisher: ‘He was helpful to us in local radio for both news and sport and I am personally grateful for the assistance in my early years in broadcasting from Pebble Mill.’

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Front Room mug

Copyright resides with the original holders, no reproduction without permission

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Thanks to Jonathan Relf for sharing this mug from the series Front Room, which was presented by Jason Bradbury, who has gone on to find fame with the Gadget Show. It went out in 1999 on BBC Knowledge, which was one of the BBC’s first digital channels.

The series was recorded in Studio 1 (built as a radio studio). Studio C’s gallery was cross-wired to cover Studio 1.

Jonathan recalls that the show included, “the cutting edge of “new media” content. I can remember a segment involving the “Take Hart” gallery music too, but was internet related.” The show involved viewers sharing ideas via webcams, video diaries, online chat and email.

Jonathan thinks he was training as a lighting operator on the show, probably under the tutorship of  Dave Bushell.

I seem to remember that Tony Steyger was the Exec and Caroline Jones the Series Producer, with Bob Davies as Studio Director.

 

 

 

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