Studio 1 – Martin Fenton

Studio 1 control room

Studio 1 control room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Studio 1 light

Studio 1 light

Studio 1 Neumann U47s

Studio 1 Neumann U47s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Martin Fenton, no reproduction without permission. Martin took these photos in 2003. Radio Studio 1 was the largest radio studio at Pebble Mill, and was also used for some television series in the latter years of Pebble Mill.

“Studio 1 was once a venue for glorious orchestral recordings, but by this point it had been deliberately priced out of the market (Abbey Road number 1 was cheaper) and was used for little more than Farming Today

The Neumann U47s , I was told were used at the insistence of Radio 3, when Studio 1 was regularly used for orchestral concerts.” [The mics may be Neumann U87s, see comment below from Andy Groves.]

Martin Fenton

(The Neumann U47s were condenser mics apparently well known for their clear sound. They were apparently the favourite mic of the Beatles manager, George Martin.)

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

Caroline Feldon Parsons: ‘Lots of happy memories doing programmes for Radio 3 in that studio. Everything from live Lunchtime Concerts to live drivetime programmes like In Tune, and lots of recorded chamber music. I did a fair bit of page-turning for pianists too!’

Chris Marshall: ‘Yes, it was really busy with Radio 3 programmes until the bizarre decisions around Producer Choice and bimedia put paid to that. Tony Wass could give lots of info on the technical stuff.’

Jane Ward: ‘Occasionally larger scale orchestral and brass band sessions for Radio 2 took place in there as well. I produced a fair number and, like Caroline, was involved in other ways before that, either page turning or acting as orchestral librarian before I became a producer… I arrived at Pebble Mill in February 1987 as the Music Assistant, a post which not only served Radios 2 & 3 but which ultimately extended to become a research and support service for the whole building.’

Andy Groves: ‘I think you will find the mics are a Neumann U87 rather than 47. Both fine microphones.’

Peter Trevena: ‘I think that the lamp is still working on Doctors

 

 

 

Phil Sidey Obituary

Phil Sidey (HoB) & John Wood (press officer). Copyright resides with the original holder.

Phil Sidey (HoB) & John Wood (press officer). Copyright resides with the original holder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission. This obituary was published by The Independent in 2011.)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-phil-sidey-1579330.html

Obituaries: Phil Sidey by Leonard Miall

The Independent Saturday 22nd October 2011

 

As the Head of the BBC Network Production Centre at Birmingham, Phil Sidey was the man who converted Pebble Mill from a structural white elephant into a thriving source of daytime television. He was the first manager of Radio Leeds and played a leading role in establishing lively local broadcasting on a financial shoestring. He was a programme innovator with a spate of lively ideas and an abrasive tongue which tended to upset some of his colleagues. He was also an accomplished public speaker and a successful chairman of the Royal Television Society.

 

Sidey’s first experience of broadcasting was in Austria immediately after the Second World War. As a sergeant in the Royal Artillery he was in charge of the Army Broadcasting Station at Klagenfurt for three years. He then had a variety of journalistic posts including three years with the Associated Press before joining the BBC’s External News Service as a sub-editor in 1956. In 1963 he transferred to Television News, becoming a Duty Editor in 1964.

 

In 1966 Harold Wilson’s Labour government decided to inaugurate eight experimental local radio stations. They were only to broadcast on VHF and their meagre annual revenue of pounds 50,000 for each station had to cover staff salaries and all programme expenses. That sum was not to be a charge on either the BBC Licence income or the rates. It had to be found from other local sources.

 

In 1967 Sidey was selected to manage the new local radio station at Leeds. His application was a surprise, for many thought that he had abandoned radio for television, and he had no connections with the north of England. But he was ambitious to run his own operation and he feared he had made too many enemies in television news ever to reach its top position.

 

Sidey had a great flair for publicity, including self-publicity. In order to get the name of the experimental station regularly mentioned in the local press, albeit only on the sports page, he bought a greyhound and named in Radio Leeds. 24 Hours, the television magazine of which Sidey had been the news producer before moving to Leeds, sent a camera team to make a sequence about the programmes he planned to introduce. One was a record request show called Bring-a-Disc in which, because his library was limited, listeners had to bring their own records to be played. Sidey was filmed outside the door of Radio Leeds urging passers-by to come in with their favourite discs. The film was shown on the day the station opened in June 1968.

 

Sidey recruited a team of Yorkshire journalists to provide a valuable service of local news. The naïve idea of the Government that provincial newspapers would gladly provide the new experimental radio stations with copies of the local news they had gathered for their own us had soon evaporated.

 

One of his innovations was The Only BBC Programme the Money Can Buy. Listeners would telephone the studio and demand a favour, promising in exchange to pay a sum of money to any charity of their choice. This worried the authorities in Broadcasting House, who feared it might upset the central scheme that ensured fairness among charity appeals. Another was Teenage Week, presented entirely by schoolchildren, which caused Sidey to be dubbed “Fagin” and accused of exploiting cheap child labour.

 

In 1969 Sidey wrote a memorable article for the New Statesman, then influential with Harold Wilson’s government, on making community radio effective. Frank Gillard, the former managing director of BBC Radio, said that Sidey’s points convinced the entire Labour hierarchy of the success of the BBC’s local radio experiment.

 

In a lovely book, Hello, Mrs Butterfield……, published last year, Sidey also told the story of Radio Leeds. He described in detail the work of creating cheap local radio. “The rediscovery of radio and infliction of new communication ideas on to the city of Leeds,” he declared, “was surrounded by so much good-humour and lively, not to say outrageous, behaviour, that the station soon became dubbed ‘Radio Irreverent’.”

 

Sidey’s own lively, not to say outrageous, behaviour caused him trouble with the authorities at Broadcasting House on various occasions. After Radio Leeds he worked as the Deputy Editor of Nationwide until 1972, when he became Head of the Network Production Centre at Birmingham.

 

The Pebble Mill complex, newly opened but planned some 10 years earlier and built at a cost of pound 8m, has a marble entrance hall with a vast glass foyer which is reached via a footbridge. But by the Seventies visitors mostly came by car and had to park at the back of the building. Sidey’s appointment coincided with the Government’s de-restriction of broadcasting hours and he seized the opportunity of putting Pebble Mill on the broadcasting map by offering to mount a live daily magazine from the idle space of the glass foyer. The London technicians had grave misgivings about the lighting and acoustics. But the difficulties were overcome, and Pebble Mill at One became the first important daily current affairs programme to be produced outside London for the BBC. Viewers were surprised to see elephants participating and studio guests arriving by parachute.

 

Sidey insisted that every new programme originating in Birmingham should carry the name Pebble Mill in its title. As his successor, David Waine, put it, “He had a deep belief in the importance of regional broadcasting being independent of London and he pursued that belief with an acerbic and occasionally wounding wit.” It was Sidey’s defiant independence of London that led to his premature retirement in 1983.

 

The Royal Television Society, founded in 1927, was originally a group of television enthusiasts intent on furthering this new scientific discovery. It consisted entirely of engineers. In 1978 Sidey was the first non-technician to be elected chairman. With the vigorous support of Sir Huw Weldon, who succeeded the Duke of Kent as President of the RTS in 1979, Sidey threw open the society’d doors to programme people and made it representative of the whole television industry.

 

Sidey was chairman of the RTS for four years, twice the normal span. His speech on the retirement of Wheldon included a translation of Madame de Pompadour’s word “ Apres nous le deluge” as “After us that shower takes over.”

 

Phil Sidey was a trim, athletic man who loved walking along the Pennine Way. Hw was on a walking tour of the Peak District at the time of his death.

 

Leonard Miall

 

Philip John Sidey, broadcaster: born London 11 January 1926; staff, BBC External Service News 1956-60, Teelvision News 1963-67; Station Manager, Radio Leeds 1967-70; Deputy Editor, Nationwide 1970-72; Head of Network Production Centre, Pebble Mill, Birmingham 1972-83; Chairman, Royal Television Society 1978-82; President, Birmingham Press Club 1979-81; author of Hello, Mrs Butterfield….1994; married 1951 Daphne Finn (two sons, one daughter): died Castleton, Derbyshire 15 October 1995.

 

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

Chris Marshall: ‘That is the most wonderful call to arms for regional broadcasting!’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘A great man indeed and i did not realise he had died. John Wood in the picture too. He was my wonderful boss at the Beeb when I worked in the Press Office. Typical John and Phil poses in the bar!’

Ian Wood: ‘Would that Birmingham had a Phil Sidey in the 21st century. He’d have had a thing or two to say about the draining of production at London’s behest.’

Jane Mclean: ‘Fabulous photo. I only just missed him at Radio Leeds but his legacy lived/lives on. A great man.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘Worked with Phil for a while at Leeds on attachment, he was full of the great gimmicks…I recall a world Gargling competition!’

 

 

 

Heads of Pebble Mill

There were six heads of Pebble Mill during the building’s lifetime, although some were Heads of Network TV, rather than Head of Building. Their tenure seems to get progressively shorter. This information was taken from the BBC Written Archives in Caversham. They were:

Phil Sidey – 1972-82 Head of Building

David Waine – 1983-1992 Head of Building

Rod Natkiel – 1992-1998 Head of Network Television

Kate Marsh – 1998-2001

Paresh Solanki – 2001-2002

Tessa Finch – 2002- end of Pebble Mill

Phil Sidey (right). Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Phil Sidey (right). Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

David Waine. Copyright resides with the original holder no reproduction without permission

David Waine. Copyright resides with the original holder no reproduction without permission

Rod Natkiel. Copyright resides with the original holder

Rod Natkiel. Copyright resides with the original holder

Paresh Solanki. Copyright resides with the original holder

Paresh Solanki. Copyright resides with the original holder

Kate Marsh. Copyright resides with the original holder

Kate Marsh. Copyright resides with the original holder

Tessa Finch. Copyright resides with the original holder

Tessa Finch. Copyright resides with the original holder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Lynne Cullimore: “My favourite is – Phil Sidey who put Pebble Mill on the map! and I liked David Waine who was a very nice man.”

Jane Upston: “I was there during David Waine’s tenure and part of Rod Natkiel’s. I worked in HR (was Jane Morgan then). The people I remember most though were Colin Adams and Jock Gallagher.”

Chris Marshall: “Agreed, David Waine was great to work for. Is that really Rod Natkiel? As for Kate Marsh…”

Carolyn Davies: “David Waine was one of the best ‘heads of’ anything I have ever met. Once you’d met him he always remembered your name and what you did and made a big effort to see those on the shop floor…..”

Dharmesh Rajput: “Wow – I thought there would be more… I started working in TV just end of 1998 whilst still working in radio and having done some work experience in Press & Publicity with Donald Steel’s team – so I remember Rod Natkiel from having to take press cuttings to his office. And then I was in TV and Online till the move to The Mailbox.”

Jane Ward: “Agree with Carolyn… David Waine was a great People Person…”

Viv Ellis: “I agree David Waine rocked. Lovely boss”

Save

Warren Clarke 1947-2014

Actor Warren Clarke died 12 Nov, aged 67, after a short illness. Warren Clarke appeared in several BBC Pebble Mill dramas including: Battle of Waterloo 1983, Nice Work 1989, and perhaps most famously, Dalziel and Pascoe 1996-2007.

Warren was born in Oldham, and began acting at the Liverpool Playhouse. He appeared in the controversial, 1971, Stanley Kubrick film, A Clockwork Orange. He has been described as having a ‘hangdog’ expression, perfect for rather grumpy character parts, like Vic in Nice Work, and the detective,  Dalziel, in Dalziel and Pascoe.

I remember seeing Warren Clarke at several Midlands, Royal Television Society Awards ceremonies, where he was frequently nominated, and often won awards – he seemed to enjoy a good party!

(Copyright on the photographs resides with the original holders, no reproduction without permission)

Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne. Nice Work

Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne. Nice Work

 

Warren Clarke, Battle of Waterloo

Warren Clarke, Battle of Waterloo

Warren Clarke, Nice Work

Warren Clarke, Nice Work

Warren Clarke, Colin Buchanan, Dalziel & Pascoe

Warren Clarke, Colin Buchanan, Dalziel & Pascoe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Julia Jones: ‘Very sad. I worked with Warren on four series of Dalziel and Pascoe. He certainly did enjoy a party and was always a great supporter of Pebble Mill.’

Mark James Southall: ‘Was a great friend of Pebble Mill and was one who was always fond of the talent that was in the area.’

Chris Marshall: ‘Nice Work was fabulous and Warren Clarke was fabulous in everything he did.’

Steve Peet: ‘Was lucky enough to see the great man at work on D and P back in 2002/3, a complex soul and totally committed to the role, but in a sometimes difficult arena when you’re the trainee he found time for a chat and words of encouragement.’

Patricia Hodge Robinson: ‘He also starred in ‘The Locksmith’ with Chris Gascoyne and a very young John Simm. Made by Fair Game Films but staffed out of Pebble Mill. I have very fond memories of working with him on this and D & P. He leaves behind an impressive body of work and was an excellent character actor.’

Veronica Butt: ‘I went to meet Warren from B’ham New Street when he appeared as a guest on the pilot series of The One Show, created in Birmingham! He insisted we had a couple of drinks at the bar at the Malmaison before we went through! He was a lovely, down to earth man and a great actor.’

Nick Hennegan: ‘My partner was an actor in The Locksmith and a mentor produced D and P. He was a lovely man.’

Roulla Xenides: ‘He and Nigel Havers were guests on Pebble Mill together when they appeared as Soviet agents in the BBC1 comedy drama Sleepers in 1991. I remember we used some outtake clips of them talking in Russian. I think the series concept was Warren’s.’

Studio 6 – Presentation Suite

Studio 6 PP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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.’