TV-am facts for kids
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| Type | Breakfast television |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Breakfast Television Centre, London |
| Launch date | 1 February 1983 |
| Dissolved | 31 December 1992 |
| Affiliation | ITV |
| Language | English |
| Replaced by | GMTV |
TV-am was a British television company. It broadcast the morning shows for the ITV channel in the United Kingdom. TV-am started on 1 February 1983 and stopped broadcasting on 31 December 1992. It was the first company in the UK to offer commercial breakfast television. Its daily shows ran from 6:00 am to 9:25 am.
During its almost ten years on air, TV-am faced many challenges. These included frequent changes in management and big financial problems. However, by 1986, the station became more stable. It even started winning the "ratings battle" against the BBC's Breakfast Time. Despite a major strike in 1987, TV-am's main show, Good Morning Britain, became the most popular breakfast show in the UK by the 1990s.
In 1990, new laws changed how TV licences were given out. TV-am lost its licence and was replaced by GMTV in 1993.
Contents
How TV-am Started
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was in charge of TV licences. On 24 January 1980, the IBA announced it would offer a national licence for breakfast television. Eight companies applied. On 28 December 1980, the IBA chose TV-am for this new licence.
TV-am was supposed to start in June 1983. But the BBC launched its own breakfast service, Breakfast Time, two weeks earlier. To compete, the IBA allowed TV-am to start early, on 1 February 1983.
This quick start caused two main problems for TV-am. First, a union for actors, Equity, told its members not to work with TV-am. This meant TV-am had very little money from advertising at first. Second, TV-am thought the BBC's show would be very serious, focusing on news. So, TV-am planned a similar serious show. But the BBC launched a light, magazine-style show, like those in the United States. TV-am had little time to change its plans to match.
TV-am was led by five famous presenters, also called the "Famous Five." They were also shareholders in the company. These were Michael Parkinson, David Frost, Angela Rippon, Anna Ford, and Robert Kee. Another famous person, Esther Rantzen, was originally part of the group but left before launch. She decided the early morning starts would be too hard with her new baby.
The "Famous Five" faced their own challenges. Angela Rippon's contract with the BBC was not renewed because she joined TV-am. Anna Ford was fired by ITN, another company that wanted the breakfast TV licence. ITN was upset because Ford had secretly planned to join TV-am. There were also issues with how much each presenter was paid. Angela Rippon found out she was paid much less than Anna Ford. Both women were paid far less than David Frost and Michael Parkinson.
TV-am's main offices and studios were in London, at Breakfast Television Centre in Camden Town. The building used to be a car showroom. It was designed by Terry Farrell. It had large plastic "egg cups" on its roof, which became a famous symbol for the station.
TV-am had two TV studios. Studio A was bigger and used for the main Good Morning Britain show. Studio B was smaller and used for news.
Shows originally ran from 6 am to 9:15 am. Daybreak and Good Morning, Britain filled weekday mornings. There was a 10-minute break before regional ITV shows started at 9:25 am. This break was needed to manually switch the broadcast signals. Later, the process became automatic. From May 1983, TV-am's hours were extended to 9:25 am. Good Morning, Britain became a two-hour show from 7 am to 9 am. The 9 am to 9:25 am slot became After Nine, a lifestyle show for women.
Early Struggles
While the BBC's Breakfast Time was popular, TV-am's early ratings were low. TV-am's serious approach, called "mission to explain," didn't work well in the mornings. The BBC's show was more relaxed and fun, mixing serious news with light features.
TV-am's first day included news, a film, an interview, a comic strip, and a show called Through the Keyhole. Within two weeks, ratings dropped sharply. The only success was the weekend show, hosted by Michael Parkinson, which got 1.5 million viewers. This was mainly because the BBC didn't broadcast on weekend mornings.
Changes were made on 28 February. Daybreak was shortened. Good Morning Britain started earlier, at 6:30 am. Angela Rippon and Anna Ford became presenters for Good Morning Britain. David Frost stepped down to let them lead the show. Viewers increased for a short time, but then dropped again.
On 18 March, there was a big change in management. Peter Jay stepped down as chief executive. Jonathan Aitken, a politician, took over. Angela Rippon and Anna Ford publicly supported Jay, not knowing he had already left. Many people, including the IBA, were unhappy about Aitken's appointment because he was a politician. The IBA approved him for a limited time and watched the station closely.
On 1 April, a puppet character named Roland Rat appeared. He was created by Anne Wood to entertain younger viewers during the Easter holidays. Roland Rat became very popular and helped TV-am's audience grow from 100,000 to over 1.5 million. Many people called him "the only rat to join a sinking ship."
On 4 April, Greg Dyke became the director of programmes to improve the shows. The next day, sports presenter Nick Owen became a main presenter. He worked with Ford and Rippon. Viewers and the media criticized Rippon for being openly unfriendly to Owen on air. The comic strip The World of Melanie Parker was cancelled.
On 14 April, Jonathan Aitken's cousin, Timothy Aitken, became chief executive. This was because of IBA rules about politicians running TV stations. On 19 April, Angela Rippon and Anna Ford were fired. No official reason was given, but it was understood they were fired for supporting Jay and to save money. Michael Parkinson stayed after talks and became a director. Anna Ford later threw a glass of wine in Jonathan Aitken's face at a party. Both Rippon and Ford sued TV-am but settled out of court.
Anne Diamond joined from the BBC on 6 June to co-present with Nick Owen.
On 23 May, TV-am launched a new look. Daybreak was cancelled. Good Morning Britain started earlier, at 6:25 am. Wincey Willis became the new weekday weather presenter. Many new features were added, including:
- Today's The Day with Jeremy Beadle
- Exercise with Lizzie Webb
- Cooking with John Eley (later Rustie Lee)
- Fishing news with "Codfather" George Vella
- Newspaper bingo numbers with Nick Owen and Anne Diamond
By the end of the first week, TV-am's ratings had doubled to 200,000.
Despite improvements, TV-am still had financial problems. The company almost had its electricity cut off for not paying bills. Presenters sometimes didn't get paid. During the summer, TV-am broadcast from different seaside towns with Chris Tarrant as a roving reporter.
In September, TV-am joined other ITV companies, which helped with promotions. But advertising money still didn't increase. In November, new investors, including Ladbrokes, put over £4.5 million into the company, which helped solve the financial crisis.
Bruce Gyngell's Leadership
In early 1984, Australian businessman Kerry Packer invested in TV-am. In May, he appointed Bruce Gyngell as the new chief executive. Gyngell's goal was to make the company profitable. Greg Dyke left soon after.
Gyngell continued the popular, light-hearted approach that Dyke had started. This style was sometimes called "Snap, Crackle and Pap" by a newspaper. The children's Saturday morning show was changed to Wide Awake Club to save money.
Cost-cutting became a big problem in October 1984 during the Brighton hotel bombing. TV-am only had one camera crew covering the event, and they were called away. So, when the bombing happened, TV-am could only show a reporter talking on the phone. Other news channels, like the BBC and ITN, showed live pictures. The IBA was very unhappy and told TV-am to improve its news coverage or lose its licence.
Gyngell wanted to use new technology to reduce staff and save money. He believed fewer people were needed to operate modern broadcasting equipment. This caused conflicts with the TV unions. But he had support from Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. By 1986, TV-am became the most popular breakfast TV service in the UK. The BBC's Breakfast Time lost viewers and later changed its style to be more serious.
In October 1987, a huge storm hit England. The TV-am studios lost power. An emergency show had to be broadcast from another studio. Despite this, the show continued to do well. Gyngell eventually fired all the striking technicians and hired new staff who were not part of unions.
Worker Strike
On 23 November 1987, TV-am technicians went on a 24-hour strike. Management locked them out but kept the station on air. They used non-technical staff to broadcast a basic service. This included American shows like Flipper, Batman, and Happy Days.
Bruce Gyngell himself helped direct the shows. Secretaries operated cameras. Even though it was sometimes messy, this temporary schedule was surprisingly popular. Discussions with the unions continued. But on 16 February 1988, all the striking technicians were fired. Many found out from an announcement on News at Ten.
In the years that followed, TV-am became stable again. By the early 1990s, with fewer staff, it was one of the most profitable TV stations in the world.
Licence Change and End
In 1990, new broadcasting laws changed how commercial TV licences were given out. Instead of being chosen for quality, companies now had to bid money in a "blind auction." TV-am had to re-apply for its licence in May 1991. On 16 October, the results were announced. TV-am bid £14.3 million, but another group called Sunrise Television (later GMTV) offered £36.4 million. So, TV-am lost its licence.
By February 1992, the effects of losing the licence became clear. TV-am closed its own news service and paid Sky News to provide news instead. Children's programming also suffered, with fewer appearances by Timmy Mallett. A Saturday morning show hosted by Chris Evans, TV-Mayhem, was cancelled after only six weeks. It was replaced by back-to-back cartoons called Cartoon World.
Margaret Thatcher, who was Prime Minister when the law changed, wrote a letter to Bruce Gyngell. She apologized for TV-am losing its licence, saying she was "heartbroken" and responsible for the law. Gyngell made the private letter public, which caused some criticism.
Closure of TV-am
TV-am's final broadcast ended on 31 December 1992, at 9:21 am. The credits showed pictures of the staff and crew. The screen faded with the words: "TV-am: 1 February 1983 – 31 December 1992."
After the last commercial break, the famous eggcups on the roof were not shown. Instead, the final promotion was for GMTV, which began broadcasting the next day.
TV-am had its own expensive studios in Camden Lock. GMTV, however, used studios owned by one of its shareholders, LWT.
The Studios After TV-am
The Breakfast Television Centre in Camden Town was sold to MTV Networks in 1993. The famous eggcups stayed on the roof. MTV used the studios for its own shows and rented them out. The "TV-am" lettering on the building was covered up but could still be partly seen until 2012.
In 1999, a fire damaged part of the building, but the main studios and the eggcups were fine.
In 2011, MTV Networks made changes to the building. They removed some studios and added modern office space. The back of the building was repainted grey. The eggcups remained. The front of the building was rebuilt in 2012–2013. The original TV-am studio block was torn down and replaced with a new office building. MTV Networks continued to work from the building during these changes. After the renovation, Comedy Central UK and Nickelodeon UK also moved their offices there.
TV-am's Legacy
In August 1993, TV-am plc became a gambling company called Crockfords plc, now Capital Corporation Ltd.
The TV-am name and logo are now owned by journalist Ian White.
The huge collection of TV-am programmes from 1983 to 1992 is now managed by Moving Image Communications Ltd. AP Archive is in charge of licensing this footage. They say they have over 10,000 hours of TV-am material available.
Presenters You Might Know
Many famous people worked at TV-am. Here are some of them:
- Anne Diamond, a main presenter of Good Morning Britain.
- David Frost, who hosted Frost on Sunday.
- Ulrika Jonsson, a weather presenter.
- Lorraine Kelly, who started as a reporter and became a presenter.
- Timmy Mallett, known for children's shows like Wacaday.
- Nick Owen, who presented Good Morning Britain with Anne Diamond.
- Michael Parkinson, who hosted weekend programmes.
- Angela Rippon, an early presenter of Daybreak and Good Morning Britain.
- Chris Tarrant, a roving reporter and host.
- Lizzie Webb, the fitness guru known as 'Mad Lizzie'.
Children's Programmes
TV-am made several children's shows:
- Are You Awake Yet? (1982–1986)
- Cartoon World (1991–1992)
- Dappledown Farm
- Hey, Hey It's Saturday (1989–1991)
- Roland Rat
- Rub-a-Dub-Tub (1983–1984)
- TV Mayhem (1991, cancelled after six weeks)
- Wacaday (1985–1992)
- Wide Awake Club (1984–1989)
