Rediffusion

[keith lockey]

Can anyone remember when the Rediffusion shop closed in Bedlington? It used to stand where Tyred & Exhausted is now. We got our first television off them and Billy Hempstead and his son (Also Billy) lived in our street and worked for the company.

[threegee]

Yes!  And, they were at Front Street East before that, and of course 40c Front Street West since the early 1970's.

[keith lockey]

The first colour TV we got from them only showed red and green. I was listening to the stereo one day and one of their vans parked outside. All of a sudden I got this bloke's voice asking for confirmation of an address.

 

The dates for the vans are 1964, 1967 & 1973.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2014 by keith lockey

[Reedy]

Rediffusion next to the Post Office on Front Street.

[tonyg]

then became NVR owned by Jimmy Millne's son

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Heh heh! Tony,that's a blast from thi past....Jimmy Milne's Son!!! [a forgot aboot him!]

Aav got 2 Meccano sets,[ Nos 4 and 6 sets] ,combined into the original No 6 box,with instructions and plans for thi models,wat Santy brought me for Christmas,aroond 1954,a wudda been ten years aad.

Santy got them off Jimmy Milne,at his shop next door ti thi Northumberland Arms.

Wat did NVR stand for?[...nice valve radios?....neat valve radios?.. no-valve radios?..Nae valve radios ......heh heh]!!

[tonyg]

Northern . Vision .Rentals.

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Thanks Tonyg! As a keep sayin'..ignorance is bliss!!

Can anybody mind wat thi Rediffusion was originally?

It was the original form of "piped music",and of course,other light radio [..NOT WIRELESS MIND!..]..where your radio programmes comprised the "Light,Home,and Third" BBC radio programmes....oh!,AND!, if you were lucky,you got Radio Luxembourg,when propagation conditions allowed it!![or else,you had to put up with it fading,and coming on strong,then fading,all the time!!].

The radio programmes were brought into your house via actual cables through your window frame,usually,where a small

box with a rotary switch was fixed onto your windowsill,usually but not always.

The switch allowed you to choose your desired radio programme,and you had freedom of choice,as long as it was the Light,Home,or Third![similar to cable tv?]

The reason I said,not wireless,was because it wasn't "Wireless"....it was cabled in!

When the "Wireless" radio sets came into fashion,they were the bees knees!...you could tune into "Hilversum",and "Oslo"

...heh heh!!

[keith lockey]

Yeah, HPW, I remember the dial on the window sill. No remote control in those days. I also remember Radio Luxembourg. Lying in bed at night with a hand-held radio and an earplug listening to Don McLean singing American Pie and the New Seekers warbling I'd like to teach the world to sing. Happy Days!!!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Aye,Keith,aav been a Shadows,[Hank Marvin] fan since the very first single they released,and well before that,when they were with Cliff Richard,as The Drifters,and a used ti want ti throttle the DJ's when they played a disc,and taaked aal owa it,then faded it oot before it ended....like they still dae noo,only it's different noo,cos a divvent need ti listen ti the radio ti hear me favourite music....aav got every track that the Shads ever played,and a also just play thi bugga's mesel,on me aan guitar,if a waant ti!!

...same wi aal otha music...DJ yakkin for ten minutes,loud and clear....then a gud track....then ...fade oot!!!

"H.Samuel watches presents Michael Miles on .......[dramatic build-up of music..]..."Take your pick..."...!!

Aye,them wor thi days of gud entertainment on wireless!

Edited May 11, 2014 by HIGH PIT WILMA

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

A used ti listen in on a huge pre-war wireless set,in me bedroom,ti thi short-wave bands,and mind,in 1956-on [for me i.e.],there was sum queer stuff on there,like the German and Russian numbers stations...cold-war clandestine activity,where naebody,and a mean NAEBODY!...,not the Yanks,nor us,nor naebugga else,cud find oot where they were being transmitted from..!

Just a week or two ago they were on aboot these stations,on a radio programme,and it was interesting ti hear that they STILL divvent knaa where they originated from,although one codebreaker gave his thoughts on the possibilities!

Aa was 12 years aad,[in 1956], when a forst hord.."Acht Noil Noil Seiben Seiben"....."Seiben Acht Noil Funf Seiben..",usually groups of five numbers,then a German female making a short announcement in between,then on it went,sumtimes for an hour or more.

My two Sons are also Shortwave listeners,and after aal thi years gone by,it was strange for me ti be still tuning in ti these stations,with me Sons also listening in!

Anybody else ever hear them..?...what about you...Threegee?

[Vic Patterson]

Aye,Keith,aav been a Shadows,[Hank Marvin] fan since the very first single they released,and well before that,when they were with Cliff Richard,as The Drifters,and a used ti want ti throttle the DJ's when they played a disc,and taaked aal owa it,then faded it oot before it ended....like they still dae noo,only it's different noo,cos a divvent need ti listen ti the radio ti hear me favourite music....aav got every track that the Shads ever played,and a also just play thi bugga's mesel,on me aan guitar,if a waant ti!!

...same wi aal otha music...DJ yakkin for ten minutes,loud and clear....then a gud track....then ...fade oot!!!

"H.Samuel watches presents Michael Miles on .......[dramatic build-up of music..]..."Take your pick..."...!!

Aye,them wor thi days of gud entertainment on wireless!

HPW, My first job as an electrical apprentice was on Jackson street flats in Gateshead, one of the Shadows lived near bye, would that be Hank? next job was in Elsmere Port (Vauxhall Motors) and one of the Beatles lived around the corner.

[Vic Patterson]

A used ti listen in on a huge pre-war wireless set,in me bedroom,ti thi short-wave bands,and mind,in 1956-on [for me i.e.],there was sum queer stuff on there,like the German and Russian numbers stations...cold-war clandestine activity,where naebody,and a mean NAEBODY!...,not the Yanks,nor us,nor naebugga else,cud find oot where they were being transmitted from..!

Just a week or two ago they were on aboot these stations,on a radio programme,and it was interesting ti hear that they STILL divvent knaa where they originated from,although one codebreaker gave his thoughts on the possibilities!

Aa was 12 years aad,[in 1956], when a forst hord.."Acht Noil Noil Seiben Seiben"....."Seiben Acht Noil Funf Seiben..",usually groups of five numbers,then a German female making a short announcement in between,then on it went,sumtimes for an hour or more.

My two Sons are also Shortwave listeners,and after aal thi years gone by,it was strange for me ti be still tuning in ti these stations,with me Sons also listening in!

Anybody else ever hear them..?...what about you...Threegee?

HPW I also built shortwave radios, (and had my first electrical shock)I listened to all the odd foreign stations, Marine Bands and learned Morse code, but never got good enough to take the licence, I started off building a crystal sets (using me Da's Blue Gillette blade instead of crystal) Over here I bought and built a "Heath kit†to listen to "Match of the day!†I joined 1110 ATC in Ashington, there we used an old army 19th set!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

 

HPW I also built shortwave radios, (and had my first electrical shock)I listened to all the odd foreign stations, Marine Bands and learned Morse code, but never got good enough to take the licence, I started off building a crystal sets (using me Da's Blue Gillette blade instead of crystal) Over here I bought and built a "Heath kit†to listen to "Match of the day!†I joined 1110 ATC in Ashington, there we used an old army 19th set!

 

WAHEY!,Vic,ye aad bugga!,ye just gave me a blast from thi past,AND a buzz!

My first big project,was a "transformer-board",whaat we caal a power supply nooadays.

It had two huge mains tranny's [ wi 300-0-300 v ac for HT valve anode supply],with multi-voltage outputs on flying leads,taken oot of pre-war wireless sets,humped from Barn't'n tip,reet owa aal the fields ti yor lass's place!,and ye knaa hoo far that was,aa was buggaa'd by thi time a got yem,but was it worth it!!

On me board,a wired them up,and switched aal the ootputs so a cud get loads more variation of voltage,and current draw,for experimenting.

It was a huge thing to be humping,but a tuk it on me bike ti school,ti show Mr Johnson,me science teacher,and electronics mentor[after school hours].

A used to feed 300 volts into the secondary [ootput],of a speaker tranny,and tek that ootput [a few thoosand volts ht] ti two carbon rods taken oot of ever-ready torch batteries..,and mounted on brackets almost touching,to set up a green arc.

A used ti see hoo far apart the arc would draw oot,usually over an inch,and fizzing like hell.

A knaa noo,it was cruel,but a used to put big black massive slugs oot thi garden,in between the electrodes,aal skip thi rest,for decency-sakes,but it was aal in the name of discovery and education.......

The buzz ye gave me is,that wor oldest Son,who lives in London,[he is a record sound engineer and producer],has a 19 set,in his own recording studio!

It sure as hell is noisy,when the motor- generator is running,but he has a de-noiser device,which looks at thi waveform and cleans it up a bit.

He has used it on records only this last few months,but not for listening to!!!! [canna give too many secrets away...!]

He got it from an old C.B-er,in Wooler,when he was 14 years old,and noo he is 46 years old next week!

Wait till a tell him about you,Vic,19 set user's are hard to come by for info about them!!![his is the mark 2A ..if a remember correctly.]

Sorry folks for all this off-topic chat,but it's hugely important to me,and interesting to Vic...a hope!

Dissimar metals Vic? ..[diode..?]...Gillette blade?gud idea,but first time i have heard of that one,although I have heard of other types of improvisation.

[Vic Patterson]

We used to use the accumulator (leclanche') or a car battery to make a "floodlight†using those carbon rods (after wiping off the gooey zinc) I was telt that that's how the wartime searchlights worked! we didn't spot any Messerschmitt as we weren't that bright! neither was our light!

The whisker for the "Foxhole receiver†(they must have used them in the trenches!) was a lead pencil! you could have got plenty of pyrite (crystal) doon the pit!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

 

HPW, My first job as an electrical apprentice was on Jackson street flats in Gateshead, one of the Shadows lived near bye, would that be Hank? next job was in Elsmere Port (Vauxhall Motors) and one of the Beatles lived around the corner.

 

Hi Vic,Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch..[ lead and rhythm guitarists] both lived at the toon,Hank lived in Stanhope Street,and I forget the street that Bruce lived...[ashamedly,seeing as I am a Mr Know-all when it comes to the Shadows..!!]

I met the Shads a few times at the City Hall,with my family,[Newcastle],and once I told Hank,that He was my hero and mentor,and that I knew more about the Shadows,than the Shadows knew about themselves!!....he just laughed,really good-natured,as they all were.

Can yor lass remember hearing me playing the guitar in my bedroom,every neet,when I was only 15 years on....it wasn't like Hank exactly,in them days,

cos a couldn't afford the same gear Hank had,but a hev noo,only me fingers winna gaan like a want them ti,wi pit-nackered hands!!

Ivry body in Hollymoont Square used ti be taakin ti me Mutha,when she went up the street shopping,aboot hearing me guitar gannin,mind,it musta been torture in the beginning!

In them days,ivry body loved the Shadows,that's hoo every record they released,went straight up the charts.

They WERE happy days,for me anywheh!

[Vic Patterson]

Can yor lass remember hearing me playing the guitar in my bedroom,every neet,when I was only 15 years on....it wasn't like Hank exactly,in them days,

Yes! why do you think she moved to Canada!!!

[HIGH PIT WILMA]

Ha ha!...nice one Vic,you are probably reet an aal. !!!!!!!!

Ah! ...but with thi power of thi internet.......a cud still torture you both,if a was ti e-mail ye a few tracks of me playing a mean Hank Marvin noo!!

Clean oot ya recycling bin ready for the onslaught!!

Cudn't dae that wi Rediffusion,unless Daniel Gooch was the engineer!!