Alastair Yates Midlands News 1978 from pebblemill on Vimeo.
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.
This clip courtesy of TV Ark, was recorded in 1978 in the Presentation studio (adjacent to the Midlands Today studio) as I was reading a bulletin into Midlands Today.
I joined the regional newsroom team in 1978, from BBC Radio Derby, and as well as my TV duties I also read the Midlands news on Radio 4 VHF.
Before long I was also invited to present the morning show on BBC Radio Birmingham (now WM). I left Pebble Mill in 1980 to join Selina Scott as co-anchor of North Tonight at Grampian TV in Scotland.
Doesn’t my voice sound plummy: I put that down to David Stevens, Head of Pres., who was trying to rid me of my Burton upon Trent accent. Seems to have paid off though as my career took me to SKY NEWS, where I was the first male presenter on air, then on to BBC NEWS CHANNEL and WORLD. I also joined Deutsche Welle World TV in Germany for a couple of years and am now at Classic FM news.
Alastair Yates
I remember in one of my early appearances, when I was petrified, introducing a programme featuring the heir to the throne as… Princess Charles!
Dear Alistair!
Joan Collins walked out crying from his WM Morning Show –thus achieving the Station’s ONLY ever national tabloid headline.!!!
cp