ARCHIVE: The TV Room
The late news and A Prayer at Bedtime, before RTÉ One closes down for the night.
Video content
[00:00:00] PROGRAMME PROMOTION: for Daughter of Darkness.
The film airs on Friday at 11.45pm on RTÉ One.
The trail was followed by a commercial break – which we’ve removed.
[00:00:17] PROGRAMME: we start with a still of the RTÉ News titles, branded ‘Late News’. This is accompanied by an audio jingle. This was pre-recorded on tape.
In fact, it’ll have been played off the same tape as the preceding trail. This was back in the days when RTÉ pre-recorded all junctions – ads and trails (and idents, where a still was not used).
The late news, presented from a CSO set-up in the Presentation department, by Colm Murray.
The backdrop is a still from the RTÉ News opening title sequence from this era.
At the end of the bulletin, Presentation inserts some stills of weather graphics, showing the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.
The bulletin ends with a still of the RTÉ News logo, with the ‘Late News’ sub-title added. This is slide-based – there’s no audio with this. It is prematurely changed to a programme menu. We’ll see this menu again shortly.
[00:04:09] IDENT: a still form of the RTÉ One ident then appears. This was burnt on to the title sequence for A Prayer at Bedtime.
Curiously, this still version of the ident was different from the standard slide version of the ident. The positioning of the “RTE” lettering is slightly different as are the light reflections on the ‘1’.
To the best of our knowledge, the ident used for A Prayer at Bedtime was unique to this junction each day.
[00:04:13] PROGRAMME: a full edition of A Prayer at Bedtime.
[00:05:04] PROGRAMME MENU GRAPHIC: the announcer takes us through the programme menu for Sunday evening. This is accompanied by music: The Journey by Brian Bennett – which will be familiar to viewers of ITV Schools on Channel 4 in the late-1980s and early 1990s.
[00:06:28] IN-VISION CONTINUITY: the announcer tells us that RTÉ One is back on air at 9.45am with Options followed by a range of language programmes – Portuguese, French and Spanish. She also mentions some programmes for the afternoon, including the Live at 3 Search for a Star.
[00:07:17] CLOCK: as well as providing a time check, the announcer wishes all mothers a happy Mother’s Day.
[00:07:50] PROGRAMME: the National Anthem is played. The visuals are a sequence of scenic shots which have long accompanied the National Anthem at closedown.
This is followed by a brief period of black and silence.
[00:09:25] TEST CARD: we cut (a non-sync cut – which was typically the case) to the ‘RTE 1’-branded test card – a standard Philips PM5544 – which is accompanied by the live audio of RTÉ Radio 1.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: RTÉ One programme menu.. COPYRIGHT: RTÉ.
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