Rhodesia Television
Rhodesia Television (RTV) was a live-broadcast, television station operating in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as a private company. Established on the 14th of November, 1960 first in Salisbury (now Harare), with transmissions in Bulawayo beginning seven months later. It was only the third TV service in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Egypt, and the first such service in southern Africa, since South Africa did not introduce television until 1976.[1]
| Type | Television network |
|---|---|
| Country | Rhodesia forerunner to Zimbabwe |
| Availability | National |
| Owner | Argus Newspapers and Davenport & Meyer |
Launch date | 1960 (as Rhodesia Television Limited) |
Former names | Federal Broadcasting Corporation |
Official website | pre internet |
Rhodesia Television (Pvt) Ltd
RTV broadcast on behalf of the then Federal Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), with its major shareholders being South African companies, including the Argus Group of newspapers, parent company of the Rhodesia Herald,[2] and Davenport and Meyer,[3] which also operated LM Radio, based in Mozambique. TV was funded by advertising, sponsored programmes and a television licence fee. Television reception was confined mainly to the large cities, and most viewers were whites. Umtali (now Mutare) only received television in 1972, by which time it was estimated that more than 90 per cent of the white population had access to the service. By 1973, RTV was broadcasting 42 hours a week from three transmitters.
The station originally provided live monochrome news and entertainment and was instrumental in maintaining public morale after the nation's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) on 11 November 1965 and during the subsequent liberation war from 1972 until 1980, when the country gained its independence. The first programming created for the majority black viewership was introduced when RTV was taken over by the Rhodesian government[4] in 1976, becoming RBC TV, when the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) initially acquired a 51 per cent stake in the service.
Salisbury
Occupying a position high in the hills above the Salisbury racecourse, the Pockets Hill television station was built just a few metres away from its original 'Alexandra Palace-style' transmitter mast. This was later replaced by a much taller, guyed structure. The HQ of the Rhodesian Broadcast Corporation occupied the nextdoor building.
Engineering
Operating in a country under United Nations International Sanctions from 1965, which prevented free trade with the major broadcast manufacturers of the world, RTV electronic engineers had to be particularly resourceful in an ever-challenging battle to keep the station on air. This led to constant sanctions busting by the directors in order that vital equipment could be replaced and that a good stock of spares and consumables could be maintained. The resources available to the programme producers and their crews of camera, lighting and sound operators, in order to produce regular weekly productions, were minimal to say the least.
Programmes
The station initially operated ‘live-to-air’ as it had no facility for video tape recording. Imported light entertainment and documentary content[5] was sourced from 16mm film and broadcast live from Rank Telecine units. As a result, in the early years, viewers were familiar with seeing the caption 'Please Do Not Adjust Your Set. Normal Programming Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible' when the 'technical gremlins' upset the broadcast flow.
A small group of programme Producers and their Director/Vision Mixers organised weekly and sometimes daily studio productions. Transmissions opened at 17:00 and ran until just after the late-night news. The British national anthem would be broadcast at station opening and again at closedown.
The studio production crew most often consisted of three cameramen, a single audio operator and two African floor managers. There was also the small set design and creation team in the props area. On occasion, the station would host a broadcast from the Prime Minister, other government ministers, or foreign dignitaries, whereupon the studio staff would turn up in jackets and ties in stark contrast to the regular shorts and tee shirts.
As this was live TV, the crew would sometimes build a set at one end of the studio, in absolute silence, in readiness for an upcoming programme, whilst another completely unrelated live programme would be playing out at the opposite end of the studio. Pressures became even more complicated with the addition of live commercial breaks from the same studio area.
Studios
Based around a single studio and a small news and continuity announce booth, each studio was equipped with a complement of tungsten luminaires suspended from an overhead lighting grid and controlled by a small board of analogue dimmers. These luminaires included 2kw fresnel spot / key lights, 1kw 'scoop' fill lights and back lighting from banks of 5 Par38 type lamps. Microphones were connected on wall-mounted or multi-core terminated stageboxes. The latter being bulky (clumsy but indestructible) Philips connector strips.
Early monochrome cameras were mounted on three wheeled dollies, but these cameras were later replaced with RCA or Bosch monochrome cameras with image orthicon tubes, mounted on gas powered studio pedestals. The oldest camera was usually designated as Camera 3, with its turret of fixed focus lenses, delegated to holding wide shots and for shooting the caption stands. Cameras 1 and 2 had more useful zoom lenses, so were at the heart of programme production. These old cameras often ran very hot and were often operated with both side covers left open in an effort to assist with cooling. There was a mobile video monitor used not only for lighting reference, but also to provide a location for the studio countdown clock.
Audio foldback and talkback monitors were overhead above the lighting grid. There were caption stands for each camera to hold title captions, photographic images for news and simple commercial designed images.
The cyclorama did not have an 'infinity curve' until the mid-1970s and was painted a basic pale blue, which equated to a mid to light tone grey for the monochrome cameras. On the unused studio wall were racks for camera and audio cables, as well as double-glazed viewing windows to connect the technical areas visually with the studio floor.
Control Room
One single room held production, vision mixing and audio mixing areas, with no partition. All cues were verbal although intercoms connected both video and audio desks with Studio, VT (video tape) and Telecine areas, as well as with the Master Control suite next door. Camera direction from the control room, in the very early days, was via a radio transmitter up in the lighting grid and with cheap domestic medium wave transistor radios strapped to the heads of the crew members. This system was replaced by cabled 'Cans' which plugged directly into the camera, receiving its signal from the multi-cored camera cable. Each camera was also able to talkback directly to the director if necessary.
The early vision mixing desks were rudimentary and home-built, in front of an array of wall-mounted CRT monitors.New vision mixing consoles were installed progressively, that could also provide basic dissolves and keying functions.
A Studer 12-channel stereo audio mixer was added to the sound mixing suite in 1972. This controlled a wrap-around console incorporating: two EMT broadcast turntables, two Ampex quarter-inch full-track tape recorder / players, and two Spot Master cartridge players for instant playback of theme music and stings. Microphones were mostly AKG D202 and Beyer M 201, with bulky RCA Lavalieres. A couple of AKG C414 and one Neumann U87 mic was added for higher quality use. There was only one handheld VHS Telefunken wireless microphone. This had a 50 cm long flexible antenna cable that would often be ripped off accidentally during transmission, causing an explosive cacophony of white noise.
Recording to videotape
Telecine content was upgraded with the coming of the videotape era in 1975, using man-sized RCA Quad video machines that consumed 10½" spools of 2" magnetic tape. These were still monochrome machines, but enabled advertisements to be inserted at will – lengthy pre-roll times permitting. These huge machines, operated by dedicated 'VT Girls', were the workhorses for recording of entire TV and current affairs programmes. As there was no post-production editing available on the Quad machines, all content had to be pre-compiled from the studio floor and control room.
Under the guise of RBC TV in 1976 the station joined the 'video cassette' era when Sony Umatic 'low band' recorders, cameras and an edit suite were installed. This in turn progressed to the 'high band' Umatic recorders and edit suite. In 1979 / 1980 the station took delivery of its first Sony 1 inch 'C Spool' edit suite – and the earliest content was shot and produced in colour, though still broadcast in monochrome. RTV was one of very few stations worldwide still broadcasting in black and white.
Telecine units, videotape and camera control
There were two Rank telecine units, each comprising: 16mm projector (optical and magnetic sound), 35mm slide carousels and epidiascope (for caption cards), transferring to video cameras. These units fed imagery to both the studio and transmission control areas, so both must always liaise closely to gain their use.
The VT room had four of the aforementioned Quad recorders where two girls usually operated and cued tapes for recordings or transmission. This room was heavily air conditioned to keep the machines cool and so it also housed the archive / main store for videotaped content. Contained also within this technical area were the camera control units or 'CCUs', where a duty engineer would manage the video signals from studio and telecine cameras.
The newsroom
A small group of studio newsreaders, location news reporters, film cameramen, office editors/scriptwriters and a duty director handled the day’s latest events. Monochrome film, shot on 16mm cameras (Auricon, Bolex, Arriflex) would be developed on site in the station's film-processing laboratory and left in negative form. This was cut/edited by the director, and broadcast in this state by reversing the Black and White scanned imagery in telecine. A cheap but effective method. Such films were always mute in the early days, so commercial mood music would be played off acetate or vinyl discs to match the action or emotion. Music library discs were few and far between, so this music became very overused. At a later stage when the film department progressed to CP-16 cameras, the 16mm film also included a side-stripe magnetic audio track. In the final period before the advent of location video cameras and recorders, there was a period where 16mm 'reversal film' was shot for local content.
Bulawayo
Facilities expanded to the second largest city, Bulawayo, in 1961, with its studio in Montrose.
Outside broadcasts
The First Live Broadcast
The Bulawayo crew managed the first live outside broadcast in Rhodesia. It was a broadcast from the Rhodesian Grand Prix from the old Bulawayo airport (Brady Barracks). Achieved on a monochrome low-resolution surveillance camera and one Shibaden video recorder, the tiny camera was fitted with a very limited zoom lens that was operated with a small handle underneath, which also acted as the focus pull.
The camera was mounted on a luggage trolley “borrowed” from the Bulawayo train station. This was all hauled up three floors, onto the top of the old airfield control tower. The pictures were fed by cable from the camera down to the recorder (housed in the back of a Ford Taunus station wagon.) This had a transmitter and roof-mounted dish. With line of sight to the new microwave tower at the Bulawayo post office in Main Street, the signal was then sent into the studio in Montrose.
In the morning during practice, the cars were filmed going around from the bottom corner into the main straight. This 16mm film was made into a loop and used for fill during transmission. The luggage trolley/camera dolly caught the cars going up the main straight, whilst being pushed across the tower platform of around 4m. The presenter, Peter Rollason, stood out of shot alongside the camera with a mic doing his commentary and would walk into shot when required. The trolley was then pulled back again as the cars went down the back straight and onto the long corner sections all the way around and down to the corner at the bottom of the main straight. Here, the director back in the studio, cut to the film loop whilst the trolley was moved back to first position and all the cables were unwound. History does not relate if anyone noticed the loop of the same cars going around the bottom corner every lap.
Mobile Control Van
The OB Van
The Salisbury crew also took their studio cameras out on outside broadcasts from time to time., unique to Salisbury Studios, was an Isuzu panel truck that had been converted as a mobile control vehicle for sound, vision and engineering. The annual Opening of Parliament was always covered along with important international games of rugby or cricket, the ballroom-dancing championships and the annual Trade Fair held in Bulawayo.
The unit was reliant on external 3-phase power, so it was never able to go off the grid too far. During the independence war, the Station produced an annual variety show, initially called the "Mayor's Christmas Cheer Show" to raise funds to assist various local charities. In later years these grew into the "Bless 'em All Troopie Shows" alternating annually from Salisbury and Bulawayo studios. The final Troopie Show was a nationwide tour over a two-week period. The variety of challenges thrown up by these recording venues would tax the fundamentally simple OB Van and its crew to its limits.
Commercial television
At its inception RTV contracted an independent British/Rhodesian company, International Television (Pvt) Ltd (ITV), as its commercial managers. The company was headed by David Pinnel (Managing Director) and had registered offices in Salisbury, Bulawayo, Kitwe and Johannesburg. This agreement with ITV was terminated on 7 February 1968 and a new wholly owned subsidiary of RTV was formed known as Commercial Television (CTV) which absorbed all the ITV staff members. Managing director of the new company was John Terry and Peter Lockitch Sales Director, later to become Managing Director.
The broadcasting act stated that advertising content was not to exceed 10 minutes in every hour and commercial breaks during programmes were limited to a maximum of three per hour. Initially all commercials were supplied on 16mm film and were spliced into programme reels. To satisfy the retail market slide/camera card commercials with durations of 7 secs, 15 secs and 30 secs with pre-recorded voice over or live by the duty announcer were also broadcast during these breaks. Retail advertisers were also accommodated with an advertising magazine (Admag) programme broadcast live during early and later transmission times. Admags ran for a maximum of 10 minutes with a series of advertisers grouped into a mini programme. Programmes were hosted by a presenter and many of these presenters later went on to further their television careers hosting local TV programmes.
The introduction of video tape and the acquisition of United Film Industries, a local production house, later expanded the scope of the commercial capability and many additional innovations were introduced to further improve the scope of the commercial opportunity. The content of commercials was strictly enforced under a set of principles which had some interesting rules. For example, a toilet was not permitted to be featured in any visual presentation and the word toilet was prohibited in ad copy. Intimate female products were not permitted for advertising, along with any political advertising. Comparative advertising was also prohibited and competing products could not be transmitted in the same commercial break.
CTV employed a small team of copywriters, sales personnel and directors/producers to service both the advertising agencies and the local direct clients. A rate card divided into time segments was published each year[6] and market research studies were conducted to determine viewership in each segment and region.
In a 1975 market research survey the peak adult viewership in the Salisbury/Midlands/Umtali region averaged 68,000 and in the Bulawayo region 25,000. Advertising cost based on a 30-second spot was approximately ZWD 1.00 per 1,000 viewers.
CEOs
John Terry, David Pinnel, Peter Lockitch, Lin Mehmel
Presenters
With a few exceptions, presenters were employed on a freelance basis: Alan Cockle, Allan Riddell, Barry Taylor, Bill Franklin, Bonnie Van Rooyen, Brian Cooper, 'Cabby' Caborn, Clem Tholet, Dave Patterson, Derek Partridge,[7] Donna Wurzel, Elaine Gillespie, Frank Selas, Gail Adams, Geoffrey Atkins, Glenn Irving, Ian Salmon, Ian Warren, James Thrush, Jill Baker, John Batwell, John Bishop, John Pank, John Wooton (Wooty), Joy Cameron Dow, Lawford Sutton-Pryce, Len Rookes, Leslie MacKenzie, Leslie Sullivan, Jimmy Robinson, Libby Railton, Liz James, Malcolm Russell, Margaret Kriel, Martin Locke, Mike Westcott, Noreen Welch, Patrick McLaughlin, Pauleen Bailey, Paul Tingay, Peter van Aswegen, Rick Fenner, Ross Campbell, Roy Brassington, Sally Donaldson, Sarah Thompson, Simon Parkinson, Stan Higgins, Stan Trethowan, Ted Patterson, Toni Fairfield, Trish Johns, Vic Mackeson, Wrex Tarr[8] Peter Tobin, Gerry Wilmot, John Aldridge Vic Thomas
Locally produced Programmes
Bric-a-brac, Cabby, Culture Vulture, In Studio Minor, Juke Box Jury, National Foods High School Quiz, Nightcap, Pets Parade, Quirks and Quiddities, Sea Battles, Small Talk, Surf Pick-a-Box, Talkabout, Tele 5 Club, Wooty, Wonderama
RTV Community
A small, ever-shrinking community of ex-RTV staff keep in touch regularly. Most have gone on to successful careers in a wide range of industry-related spheres in many different countries. The Rhodesia Television page on Facebook (although currently a private group) remains highly active and shares a variety of anecdotes, photographs, keeping the RTV family vibrant and alive in these modern times. Physical reunions have taken place in South Africa, UK and Australia with some members travelling many thousands of kilometres to rekindle their former relationships. The station now operates as Zimbabwe Television. Mouthpiece of the Zimbabwe Government.
References
- https://lowvelder.co.za/239861/history-television-sa/The History of Television in SA - The Lowvelder
- Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman, Geoffrey Nyarota, Zebra, 2006, page 45
- Viewing the Foreign and the Local in Zimbabwe: Film, Television, and the Shona Viewers, Katrina Daly Thompson University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2004, page 125
- Media, Public Discourse and Political Contestation in Zimbabwe, Henning Melber, Nordic Africa Institute, 2004, page 15
- , Zimbabwe's Cinematic Arts: Language, Power, Identity By Katrina Daly Thompson, page 49.
- RTV/CTV Rate card 1975 RTV Diary Panel survey 1975
- "Tantor Media - Derek Partridge". tantor.com.
- , Wikipedia - Rhodesian Television Presenters.