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The classic Engineering Announcements from the 1970s and 1980s were produced by the Independent Broadcasting Authority for the radio and television trade, but they provided an amazing amount of information on upcoming network changes and technology developments. I remember learning a great deal about NICAM digital stereo, Video Plus, and even the SCART plug from these broadcasts.
Through most of the 80s I was in the TV/hifi trade, and it didn’t take us long to figure out what NICAM *really* stood for:
Nasty
Intruder
Causes
Absolute
Mayhem
In my Tandy days we saw a pamphlet from the BBC with a NICAM FAQ. One of the questions was “How do I know my NICAM TV won’t be obsolete in a few years?” The answer said something like “We will be broadcasting NICAM into the 21st century.”
M’colleague decided to interpret this as a claim that the BBC had some special time-travel transmitters that were capable of broadcasting TV into the world of the future!
Can anyone tell me the name of the intro music used for the IBA’s Engineering Announcements please? Would like to get a good copy of it. Thanks and best wishes to all who worked in the TV industry and have loved their involvement with it!
Peter Dolman
“Current Affairs” by Francis Monkman.