Opening of new Crystal Palace transmitter

28 March 1956 saw the official opening of the new Crystal Palace television station, designed to provide increased coverage to a large swathe of London and the south-east. Since the opening of the BBC Television Service, twenty years before, programmes had been broadcast across London from a transmitter on the tower at Alexandra Palace. Now the station at 'Ally Pally' was to be switched off, not to operate again as a regular transmitting station until 1982.

For many years, live programme production from Alexandra Palace had suffered from interference because of the close proximity of the transmitter to the studios. Now there was a solution. Stable and more reliable pictures could be sent from state-of-the-art transmitters, located some twenty 20 kilometres away. The site was also a safe distance from the BBC studios at Lime Grove. By 21 December 1957 the formal commissioning (opening) of the Crystal Palace television aerial, meant the BBC was well placed to face commercial competition from ITV which had opened nearly two years earlier.

Nearly 215 metres high, the tower, confined to a small area of Crystal Palace Park, was erected by British Insulated Callendars Construction. Soon after opening, its transmitters were equipped to broadcast test programmes in colour late at night, after regular programming was over for the day. It was also adapted to 625 line operation in time for the launch of BBC Two in 1964, and colour in 1967. Today the transmitter continues to serve London and the Home counties, reaching over 12 million people. In April 2012 the analogue signal from Crystal Palace will be switched off, and the station will become an entirely digital operation, fit for service into the twenty first century.

The slideshow above contains many images of the Crystal Palace transmitting station, with thanks to Derek Brice, Mike Jordan, Tony Stamp, and Robert Whittaker. The music used in the slideshow was heard before the regular transmitter 'Service Information' programme broadcast on BBC Two from 1967, Monday to Friday at 10am, 11.30am, and 2.30pm.

The track is called 'Walk and Talk' by Syd Dale, and was used until 1978, when it was replaced. 'Service Information' helped television engineers with information about transmitters going on and off the air, and other relevant information for the radio and television trade. 'Service Information' was finally dropped from the BBC Two schedule when daytime TV programming started.