Another Switching Centre story - this time relating to the coverage of the 1970 Mexico World Cup (although it could have been the 1968 Mexico Olympics - but it was definitely Mexico):
In those days trans-Atlantic satellite capacity was limited and therefore expensive, so there was no 'wall-to-wall' round-the-clock coverage of these major sporting events. Typically, given the time difference between UK and Mexico, there would be some live coverage from late evening until about 2am and then, after some frantic editing by the VT boys in Mexico, edited highlights would be pumped over from 5am.
Between 2am and 5am there was nothing to do in Switching Centre. Different shift pairings would pass those three hours in different ways. Some would wander out to one of the all-night eateries in Oxford Street, others would make use of the Beeb provided camp beds and get their heads down. The night in question featured Dave Mount (Comms Dept's ultimate Mr. Unflappable) and myself on shift. Dave's preference was always for a few hours shuteye, so, come 2am, we dragged out the camp beds and settled down.
I went off fairly quickly and the next thing I remember was being roused from my slumbers by Dave's voice: "Ken! Ken! Ken!“ he was calling. I prised my eyes open and looked across to see Dave still ensconced in his bed. "What's up“, I asked.
Did you plug up everything for the five o'clock satellite feed before you got your head down?“
Yes“, I replied, or, more to the point, I didn't clear it down after the 2am transmission ’cos the set up's exactly the same.“
"Oh, good“ said Dave, settling himself back down in his bed. Somewhat puzzled, I was forced to enquire "Dave, why did you wake me up to ask me that?“
"Because it's half past seven!“
This one is a pre-ATA story:
I'm not sure of the exact date, but it must have been 1967 or earlier as it took place in the old 2nd floor Sound Test Room before that area was combined with the Telecomms Room to form the ATA. The incident in question was a rush radio OB one afternoon. Alf Brookman was despatched to the OB site to do a lines test but we weren't sure that he would get there in time. The circuits were extended through from Control Room to the Test Room and we sat and waited for Alf to arrive at the far end. Given the urgency of the task, Colin Seabright was taking more than a passing interest in the proceedings.
Radio OBs had arrived on site and connected their gear to the lines. They had a mike faded up and we could hear general chatter in the background. Transmission time was approaching and still no sign of Alf.
We were about to tell Control Room to use a standard default equaliser setting (EV3, .006 and 20 or .012 and 10) when a new voice was heard in the background chatter. "That sounds like Alf“ someone said.
"Right“ said Colin. "Don't bother with a proper squeak - just tune for maximum Alf!“
The knobs on the equaliser were spun until we got the closest approach to the original Alf and the settings were passed rapidly to Control Room just in time for the transmission.
We sat back and relaxed. Twenty minutes later the phone rang: "Hello,“ said the voice, "Alf here. Sorry, the taxi got stuck in traffic - I've only just arrived!“