Andy Walters – Page 5 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Birmingham Focus – Radio WM supplement

This Radio WM supplement in the Birmingham Focus newspaper of October 1991, features the station’s presenters, left to right: Jenny Wilkes, Gordon Astley, Paul Brighton; front row: Tony Butler, Ed Doolan, and Pat de Whalley.

Thanks to Pat de Whalley for sharing the paper.

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

Andy Walters: ‘Jen and Ed still work at WM. Paul is seriously ill after a stroke. I hear Tony isn’t too great either.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘I too am distressed to hear about Paul….we worked the old Wolverhampton studio together in the mid 80s when I was the producer there.’

Radio WM goes stereo

This article is from the Pebble Mill News from 1984. It tells about the refurbishment of the Radio WM studios, and the installation of stereo equipment by two BBC engineers: Roger Maynard and Bob Croom.

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

Andy Walters: ‘The stereo studios were BBC Local Radio Mark 3 and were used until Pebble Mill closed. The transmitter at Sutton Coldfield was also made by BBC Designs Department and is still in use today.’

Steve Dellow: ‘Looks like most of the Comms staff in the left hand pic! John Noble too…and Glyn Benbow!
Dave (?) Robinson, Mr Noble, John Nestor, Chris Donovan, Jeff Woods, Ian, Glyn, Roy Winson, Jon Parker, Bob Allison, Fred Norton, Nigel Harris, Paul Wheeldon, John Malby, Derek Smith, Malcolm Hickman
Any more?’

10 years since the beginning of the end for Pebble Mill

Photo by Philip Morgan, November 2004

Photo by Philip Morgan, no reproduction without permission.

Yesterday, saw the tenth anniversary of Radio WM leaving Pebble Mill. It was on the 4th July 2004, at 10am, that Radio WM signed on for the first time at the Mailbox.

The Pebble Mill building was emptied gradually during the summer of 2004, as programme runs ended, or logistics would allow. Former TV programme exec, Mark Kershaw, oversaw much of the removal process, particularly for Network Factual TV.

Thanks to Andy Walters for the reminder about this anniversary.

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

Becky Land: ‘Where has that decade gone? I remember discovering that the WM Newsroom was sandwiched between the toilets and canteen. In the early days,if the queue for lunch got too long it snaked passed the news booth and we used to ask people to pipe down as it would come out on air. Also people used to nick the chairs from that booth for others nearby meeting rooms. Nothing like running in for a bulletin and then realising that you had to do it standing up…’

Emma Taynton-Young: ‘My dad was a radio WM presenter, but left before they moved to the. Mailbox.’

Gregory Hallsworth: ‘I had the privilege of working on your Dad’s show at the ‘Palace of Broadcasting’ for five years before we were disbanded in the summer of ’96. He was a great guy and he’s very much missed!’

Studio 6 – Presentation Suite

Thanks to Peter Poole for sharing this facilities list for Radio Studio 6 at Pebble Mill, which was a self-op studio, used for Radio 2’s night time programming. It was quite a nice studio and sometimes used by audio unit for SM driven shows. It had a small kitchen to keep the presenters happy.

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

Pete Simpkin: ‘I believe it was used by Alex Lester for his very early morning show on R2.’

Andy Walters: ‘Those two studios were replicated in the Mailbox and are now used mainly by the Asian Network. Studio 6 and 6+ could work as two independent studios and did the last live radio programmes to come out of Pebble Mill running as late as December 2004 I think (Local Radio and Asian Network were the first to leave in Summer 2004). The sound desks went to Cardiff prison for the fledgling prison radio project. The digispot system was upgraded to a basic RCS playout system as used in some commercial radio stations. I think Janice Long used 6+ and Alex Lester used the slightly smaller 6. Radio 1 at Yalding House also used those Eela sound desks until 2005 as did the Asian Network in Leicester when they were based at Epic House.’

Chris Marshall: ‘You’re right Pete, it was primarily used for R2 overnights. Alex Lester, Annie Nightingale, Mo Dutta, Katrina (she of the waves) er, I can’t remember any others! R2 we’re always hugely suspicious of the digital play out system, believing that anything other than DJs playing their own CDs was the work of the devil. We always were way ahead of our time. Trying to recall the name of the consultant (and subsequently producer) who set it up. Robin Valk, I think? And in the day, we used it mostly as an editing suite, I think. Can’t remember recording in there.’

Kulwant Sidhu: ‘Remember it well. Often in there with mo dutta on the early Saturday and Sunday morning shows for R2.’

Soundtech Series A Desk

Photo by Paul Vanezis, no reproduction without permission.

This photo is of a Soundtech Series A audio desk, circa 1990.

There was one apparently in Studio 9, at the TV end of the Newsroom.

Andy Walters added the following information on the Pebble Mill Facebook group: ‘Studio 9 was in operation until the end of Pebble Mill. I believe those desks were still made until fairly recently by Alice Soundtech. The guy who ran the company was previously an Engineer at Beacon Radio.’