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University of Wales Press - Elain Price

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151 pages

English

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This is the first study of the early formative years of one of Wales’s most important cultural organisations – Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C). The volume chronicles the decisions and activities of the channel during its trial period between 1981–5. Through a detailed study of minutes, correspondence and interviews with individuals who were key to the channel’s development during its early years, it chronicles the many challenges, successes and failures which faced the S4C Authority and its staff as they aimed to create a Welsh-language television service that would meet the desires and needs of the audience in Wales. S4C is no ordinary channel, and no other period in its history portrays this more effectively than the trial period given to it at the beginning of the 1980s.

List of Illustrations
Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: The campaign for a Welsh TV channel
Chapter 2 : The early days of the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority
Chapter 3 : First Broadcasts and Audience Response
Chapter 4 : Financial initiatives – securing fair terms and expanding to new areas
Chapter 5: Reviewing the Channel – Opinion Polls and the Home Office Review
Conclusion
Appendix
Bibliography

Sujets

Histoire

20th century

Great Britain

History

Wales

Europe

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Publié par	University of Wales Press
Date de parution	15 octobre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781786839664
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

BROADCASTING FOR
WALES
BROADCASTING FOR
WALES
THE EARLY YEARS OF S4C
ELAIN PRICE
© Elain Price, 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-964-0
eISBN 978-1-78683-966-4
The right of Elain Price to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 The campaign for a Welsh TV channel
2 The early days of the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority
3 First Broadcasts and Audience Response
4 Financial initiatives – securing fair terms and expanding to new areas
5 Reviewing the Channel – Opinion Polls and the Home Office Review
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix
Bibliography
List of Illustrations
1. Members of the Newyddion Saith team – Deryk Williams, 88 the editor, with presenters Beti George and Gwyn Llywelyn (image: © BBC Photo Library)
2. Y Byd ar Bedwar ’s production team meeting with Ramon 88 Castro Ruz, Fidel Castro’s elder brother (image: reproduced with permission from ITV Cymru / Wales and the National Library of Wales)
3. Image from the Joni Jones episode ‘Chewing Gum’ 115 (dir. Stephen Bayly) (image: reproduced with permission from S4C)
4. The cast of Coleg , one of the successes of S4C’s opening 120 week (image: reproduced with permission from ITV Cymru / Wales and the National Library of Wales)
5. Two of Pobol y Cwm ’s most popular characters Jacob Ellis 127 (Dillwyn Owen) and Harri Parri (Charles Williams) (image: © BBC Photo Library)
6. SuperTed , the major success of S4C’s first visit to MIP TV 158 in Cannes (image: reproduced with permission from S4C)
7. Dafydd Hywel (Alun) and Reginald Mathias (Dick) in 164 a scene from Yr Alcoholig Llon (dir. Karl Francis) (image: reproduced with permission from S4C)
List of Acronyms ABS Association of Broadcasting Staffs ACTT Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians AGB Audits of Great Britain BARB Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BBFC British Board of Film Classification BECTU Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union C4 Channel 4 C4UK Channel 4 UK CBI Confederation of British Industry DCMS Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport ETB Euskal Telebista GTHPC Dr Glyn Tegai Hughes Private Collection HTV Harlech Television IBA Independent Broadcasting Authority IMG International Management Group IPA Institute of Practitioners in Advertising ITA Independent Television Authority ITCA Independent Television Companies Association ITN Independent Television News ITP Independent Television Publications ITV Independent Television JMPC Dr Jamie Medhurst Private Collection LWT London Weekend Television MIP TV Marché International des Programmes de Television NAR Net Advertising Revenue NSSAW National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales NUJ National Union of Journalists OBA Open Broadcasting Authority PACT Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television PMM Peat, Marwick and Mitchell RPI Retail Price Index RTÉ Raidió Teilifís Éireann RTS Royal Television Society S4C Sianel Pedwar Cymru S4CC S4C Collection SVOD Subscription Video On Demand TAC Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru TG4 TG Ceathair TVG Televisión de Galicia TWI Trans World International TWW Television Wales and West WAC Written Archives Centre (BBC) WASC Welsh Affairs Select Committee WCC Welsh Consumer Council WFCA Welsh Fourth Channel Authority
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank a number of people for their support and assistance as I conducted this research. Firstly, I wish to thank the staff at S4C, past and present, who were especially helpful in assisting this research. In particular, I would like to thank Nia Ebenezer, Carys Evans, Iona Jones, John Walter Jones, Lynette Morris, Kathryn Morris, Jen Pappas, Gwyn Williams and Phil Williams for their help and support. I also wish to thank many of BBC Cymru Wales’s staff, past and present for responding so helpfully to my queries, Siôn Brynach, Karl Davies, Edith Hughes, Keith Jones, Yvonne Nicholson and Menna Richards. I would like to thank James Codd at the BBC Written Archive Centre for his help and guidance during my visits to Caversham. Thanks also to Phil Henfrey, Shone Hughes, Elin Llŷr, Owain Meredith, Siôn Clwyd Roberts and Huw Rossiter at ITV Cymru / Wales for their help. I also wish to acknowledge the invaluable advice and support I received from staff at the National Library of Wales, National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, the ITA/IBA/Cable Authority Archive in Bournemouth University and the Parliamentary Archives in Westminster.
I was very fortunate to meet and interview a number of individuals who were key to the Welsh broadcasting sector throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. I would wish to sincerely thank Wil Aaron, Huw H. Davies, Chris Grace, the late Dr Glyn Tegai Hughes, Sir Jeremy Isaacs, the late Geraint Stanley Jones, Eleri Wynne Jones, Huw Jones, Robin Lyons, Mair Owen, the late Rev. Dr. Alwyn Roberts and the late Euryn Ogwen Williams for sharing their time, memories and anecdotes and their generous support throughout. I also received invaluable help from the late Owen Edwards, who gave kindly of his time despite his ill health. Thanks are also due to the experts in the field who were also invaluably helpful, Ifan Gwynfil Evans, the late John Hefin, Dr Martin Johnes and Kevin Williams and a special thanks to Dr Jamie Medhurst for his continued guidance and for sharing and lending materials.
I’m indebted to the Centre for Welsh Medium Higher Education (now Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol) for the funding to complete the PhD which is the basis of this monograph. I wish to thank all of the staff for their support both financial and otherwise during the research. Thanks too to the HEFCW Wales Studies Publication Fund, Swansea University for funding the publication of this monograph, to Gerwyn Wiliams for all his support and guidance with the original Welsh version of this volume, to Elin Lewis for her expert eye for detail in the proof reading of this volume and to all of the staff at the University of Wales Press for their enthusiasm and unstinting support during the publishing process.
I am always grateful to my colleagues in the Media and Communication team at Swansea University for their support, friendship and good humour. Thanks are also due to Dr Gwenno Ffrancon for all her guidance and patience as my PhD supervisor. Her friendship and support was key as I undertook this research.
Finally, I would like to thank my close friends and family, especially Mam, Dad, Elfyn, Guto, Branwen and Caio. But most of all I am beyond grateful to my husband Nick, and sons Gruff and Deian – there are no words which can fully express how thankful I am for their love, encouragement, patience and for inspiring me to continue with this work. Diolch o waelod calon i chi’ch tri am bopeth.
Dr Elain Price Cardiff February 2022
For Nick, Gruff and Deian
Introduction
S ince its launch nearly forty years ago, Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C) has transformed broadcasting in Wales and entertained, educated and informed generations of viewers young and old. S4C is no ordinary channel: it was established due to a combination of political, social, cultural and linguistic reasons, and therefore its contribution must be considered in those complex terms and not solely on its appeal to the audience and its viewing statistics. No period in the channel’s history illustrates this better than the trial period given to it between 1981 and 1985. The channel broadcasting today is very different to the one launched in 1982, but the struggle is the same as it ever was, namely the ongoing effort to ensure fair terms and a secure future for broadcasting Welsh language programmes on one designated channel. As government finances continue to be stretched, and with the prospect of significant change, not least due to the threats to the very existence of public service broadcasting, it is vital to look back at the channel’s early foundational years in order to evaluate its successes and failures, and remember how and why these green shoots grew into a comprehensive service of programmes for the Welsh audience.
This volume, therefore, intends to analyse and interpret the history of establishing S4C as a new channel in the Welsh broadcasting landscape and the circumstances of forming a third broadcasting authority for Britain. It will look at the channel’s probationary period in detail, taking into account the challenges faced by the new authority, and by channel officials and their staff as they designed and delivered a comprehensive Welsh language television service, formulated policies, and forged effective relationships with broadcasters and other programme producers. The volume will also reflect on the audience’s reaction to the service and programmes by examining viewing figures and viewers’ letters, and it will also consider how the Home Office revi