this is Granada....
From May 1956 until recently, this was the beating heart of regional telly in this part of the North West on the ITV network, but now all that has been transferred to the characterless and frankly unprepossessing Media City on the other side of the Irwell in Salford Quays - a venue shared by the BBC, who also broadcast from the iconic (and should never have been closed) Television Centre. Anyway. this was Quay Street Studios, home to a television station named by founder Leonard Bernstein after his favourite place - the Sierra Granada mountain range in the Andalusia region (pronounced 'Andaloothia') of Spain.
"What Manchester sees today London will see tomorrow" was his proud boast in the year when Britain and France invaded Suez, only for America to tell them to get out of there. Because it wasn't a war they started, they had to get jealous but I digress.
This was also where Richard Madeley (big, BIG fan of Tesco!) met Judy Finnegan who cheerfully told him on his first day at the station back in 1982 that she 'was his mummy' and, let's face it, the years haven't exactly been kind to her!
Of course, I should really have taken a few photos of this in the past when it was an active TV studios but what spurred me into action was Peter Kay's tribute to the station Goodbye Granadaland and that was a week before I took these shots. Why a week you may ask? Well, because I forgot to charge my camera battery the night before I first went (June 16), I had to make do with the camera on an old mobile phone. I only took a few photos with that because I was used to MY camera. Anyway, long story short, as soon as I got home that day, I put the battery on charge and it was ready the following week. This shot is of the main entrance on Great John Street and, if you click on 'All Sizes' you can just about make out where the letters 'GRANADA TELEVISION' would have been on the canopy.
Oh yeah, you may be wondering how the title came about. Well, years ago when the telly started at half nine in the am, they were the words you would have heard uttered in the dulcet tones of Graham James or whoever was announcer that day.
Showing my age, aren't I? But hey, I don't give a fuck!
this is Granada....
From May 1956 until recently, this was the beating heart of regional telly in this part of the North West on the ITV network, but now all that has been transferred to the characterless and frankly unprepossessing Media City on the other side of the Irwell in Salford Quays - a venue shared by the BBC, who also broadcast from the iconic (and should never have been closed) Television Centre. Anyway. this was Quay Street Studios, home to a television station named by founder Leonard Bernstein after his favourite place - the Sierra Granada mountain range in the Andalusia region (pronounced 'Andaloothia') of Spain.
"What Manchester sees today London will see tomorrow" was his proud boast in the year when Britain and France invaded Suez, only for America to tell them to get out of there. Because it wasn't a war they started, they had to get jealous but I digress.
This was also where Richard Madeley (big, BIG fan of Tesco!) met Judy Finnegan who cheerfully told him on his first day at the station back in 1982 that she 'was his mummy' and, let's face it, the years haven't exactly been kind to her!
Of course, I should really have taken a few photos of this in the past when it was an active TV studios but what spurred me into action was Peter Kay's tribute to the station Goodbye Granadaland and that was a week before I took these shots. Why a week you may ask? Well, because I forgot to charge my camera battery the night before I first went (June 16), I had to make do with the camera on an old mobile phone. I only took a few photos with that because I was used to MY camera. Anyway, long story short, as soon as I got home that day, I put the battery on charge and it was ready the following week. This shot is of the main entrance on Great John Street and, if you click on 'All Sizes' you can just about make out where the letters 'GRANADA TELEVISION' would have been on the canopy.
Oh yeah, you may be wondering how the title came about. Well, years ago when the telly started at half nine in the am, they were the words you would have heard uttered in the dulcet tones of Graham James or whoever was announcer that day.
Showing my age, aren't I? But hey, I don't give a fuck!