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Channel 4 pre-launch announcement (2nd November 1982)

Posted on 5th January 2021
By The Rewind Team
Last updated on 28th May 2021
Filed under Channel Presentation
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ARCHIVE: Dave Baldwin

It’s launch day for Channel 4 – the UK’s first new terrestrial TV channel since the launch of BBC Two in 1964.

VIDEO: Channel 4 pre-launch announcement. Announcer: Keith Harrison. TX DATE: 2nd November 1982. COPYRIGHT: Channel 4 Television Corporation.

Video content

[00:00:00] TEST CARD: the Channel 4-branded version of the IBA ETP-1 test card. Note the absence of horizontal white lines above and below the ‘IBA:CH4’ text in the blue box. The lines were added later – not sure if this was for purely aesthetic reasons or if there was another explanation.

[00:00:03] GRAPHIC: one of the original team of announcers, Keith Harrison, tells us that the channel starts today, “offering a variety of new and interesting programmes, seven days a week”.

This is also one of very few occasions where we would hear a Channel 4 announcer say “…broadcasting through the transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority…”. Channel 4 did not indulge in the elaborate IBA-branded start-ups that were a common sight on ITV stations across the country for many years.

We then launch into the first track of the Channel 4 trade test tape of the same name, Almost Together.

Related

Acknowledgements

FEATURE IMAGE:
PICTURED: Channel 4 pre-launch graphic. COPYRIGHT: Channel 4 Television Corporation.

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Broadcaster/Channel: Channel 4, Channel 4 Television Corporation
Broadcast Area: UK: National

OSP Category: Channel Launch, Graphic, Partial Junction, Test Card

OSP Package: Channel 4: November 1982 - October 1996

On Air Talent: Keith Harrison

Decade: 1980s

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