Note - some stations use a single talks table.
In the North West, Lancashire and Merseyside had the square layout and Manchester had the linear one.
Tilting the two cubicles in towards each other in the square layout was very clever. Acoustically it cut down on standing waves and made them less boxy.
But it also gave you better sight lines between the desks, so with a quick glance you could see more than just a profile of the person working next door. Very useful.
Is there any reason why Radio Birmingham/WM at Pebble Mill had a completely different naming convention, with names like "Area 2"?
ReplyDeleteRadio WM had those assignments as they were on the original building drawings which were made in the mid 1960's. Obviously before the days of BBC Local Radio when those studios were built for the Radio 4 Regional opt outs. By the time the building was being built the first stations were on air and their use changed but the naming convention never did. Essentially Area 1 was the equivalent of a Studio 2 (The Man Ed's office in Mk2 set up), Areas 2 & 4 were 1A & 1B, Area 3 was a phone in room (and originally apparatus in the Mk2 set up). Area 5 was the studio to 1B's Cubicle. They did have an NPA that was called an NPA so stuck to convention there.
ReplyDeleteThanks Andy - that's really helpful.
ReplyDelete