Tv Times

[stearn]

And from 1968 onwards the TVT became very interesting with the addition of the regional variations , another reason I find the RT quite dull in comparison although the BBC listings themselves are nearly always of interest even when both channels barely managed 12 hours a day of tv broadcasts between them

Yes, because the RT was hardly regional at all:

Radio Times Timeline

Something else I knocked together whilst working on Genome.

[deltavega]

As we've already established you have an interest in the radio listings of the Radio Times I suppose you would think of it as regional.
Not having an interest in radio , let alone the BBC local radio stations , most of which spent a good amount of time simulcasting Radio 2, the sole area of my interest were the tv listings .
I expect I was far from alone is not looking at the radio listings even once which is why I suppose the original scanner chose to skip radio listings in many issues- because not many people care.
Which is why when I do get old issues of the RT I couldn't give a monkeys which English region they are although I do prefer not to have Scotland or Wales if possible.
Obviously the ITV regional variations I refer to were more substantial than the variations in BBC listings.

[Clive]

I expect I was far from alone is not looking at the radio listings even once which is why I suppose the original scanner chose to skip radio listings in many issues- because not many people care.

Really ?

[deltavega]

I expect I was far from alone is not looking at the radio listings even once which is why I suppose the original scanner chose to skip radio listings in many issues- because not many people care.

Really ?

I don't know.
Maybe you have a better reason . I expect if radio was of interest to enough people all the listings mags would cover the stations in as much detail as the Radio Times - but guess what ? They don't .
Maybe that's why even the RT eventually stopped including the radio listings next to the tv listings and put them at the back of the magazine - because thats where all the important bits go .
I'm only guessing of course.
All I'm saying is that radio is not as popular as tv so the listings take less precedence for all the magazines .

[stearn]

I was going to go into some detail about the regionality of the Radio Times but I thought, why bother when dealing with someone who is ignorant and only interested in putting 'their case' forward. It is why I haven't bothered very much since the board moved to new software, and it is why I am not going to bother very much now.

[JWG]

I admit that this could easily have split into three different threads,but it has been very interesting as it is.
I've appreciated the original research/information offered,as well as members' opinions and memories.

[ian b]

Does anyone know many TVTIMES EXTRA editions were done?

Here's the dedicated thread about them, and the RT ones, on the old forum...

http://www.mausoleumclubforum.org.uk/xm ... #pid117077

[Clive]

All I'm saying is that radio is not as popular as tv so the listings take less precedence for all the magazines .

Yep, there is a whole 100,000 peak audience difference between radio listeners and television viewers according to this graphic -

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/resources/ ... raphic.pdf

In fact I would suspect TV viewing has falling in the past couple of years, I rarely watch scheduled TV but the radio is always on. TV was always a passing fad....

[Brock]

However, the graphic shows that radio listening peaks at around 8am and then trails off sharply through the rest of the day (apart from a small upturn in the early evening). This means that the majority of radio listeners are unlikely to find listings magazines a great deal of use, since they're likely to be listening to the same programmes every day.

[Nick Cooper 625]

RT issues may be easier to get but people generally don't want them because they are dull in comparison.

Doesn't it ever occur to you that people buy old listings magazines because of the listings in them, rather than them being a "good read" in general?

As that's the reason I've been buying them for the best part of 20 years .....
And from 1968 onwards the TVT became very interesting with the addition of the regional variations , another reason I find the RT quite dull in comparison although the BBC listings themselves are nearly always of interest even when both channels barely managed 12 hours a day of tv broadcasts between them

Then you undermine you own argument. If you, me (when I did) and other people buy/bought old RTs for the unique content - i.e. BBC listings - then you can't say, "people generally don't want them because they are dull in comparison," to TVT.

[Nick Cooper 625]

Not sure how anyone can look at a TV TImes of the 70's and say the RT is better quality .
I would say its quality by a mile because as you can see from other opinions the RT issues of that era are as dull as ditchwater in comparison to the TVT .
The scans of TV Times make for interesting reading but Radio Times of the 70's - in general are as captivating now as they were when they came out .

Thanks for totally ignoring the points I made in favour of labouring with the one you want to push.

You're welcome. They spoke for themselves and didn't need a response . Neither your view or mine have any basis other than opinion

On the contrary, I and other have pointed out factual and annecdotal evidence that shows that, a) There were generally more copies of RT than TVT, and b) far more people seemed to have hoarded RT for them to be available for re-sale now.* You are arguing a qualitative opinion to explain the doisparity between current "value" of either magazine, but I and others are pointing the very real practical reasons why RT are more prevalent, and hence cheaper.

* On this point, there were a couple of occasions when I helped move or clear houses for neighbours/relatives, and unexpectedly discovered large quantities (20-50) of RTs that they had kept, but not a sniff of a TVT.

[brigham]

'Radio Times' is an excellent example of a trading style which has outlived its meaning, but become so well-known as to defy change. Venerable music magazine 'Gramophone' is another. In my own sphere of reference, 'The Motor' and 'The Autocar' are both names of magazines, not types of mechanical carriage.

As for 'The Carphone Warehouse'...

[sxbarnes]

As a side note, can anybody tell me the font used in the TVTimes programme listings up to Autumn 1981?
Ta

[D M K]

Looks like Impact to me, or something very similar.

7.40 Man About the House

[stearn]

I used what the font a while back and came up with the following:

12.0 Gammon and Spinach > Placard, although not quite right it is very close.
VALERIE PITTS > Undetermined but something akin to Ariel/Helvetica
Old MacDonald Had An
Apartment House > Franklin
Valerie Pitts continues with a
selection of her favourite picture
books. > Various serif fonts suggested

I have used the fonts available here to give an indication of the style in the magazine - they are not the named fonts.

[sxbarnes]

Cheers all, that'll give me a start! Thanks

[Simon Coward]

Different weights of Univers work quite well in, to use stearn's example, both VALERIE PITTS and Old MacDonald... Bold for the former and Black for the latter.

Plantin is very close as the main body type. When italicised it has the peculiar 'J' off to a tee, if you'll pardon the pun (or even if you won't). The type sizes, weights and leading used are very odd, though, you'll need to mess around quite a bit to get it exactly right.

For something I was doing, this was close enough:



It uses Placard, Univers Bold, Univers Black and Plantin.

The weight of the characters is particularly difficult to emulate because of the way the ink spreads on the paper. The crisp, sharp outlines you get on screen never look that "right" to my mind.

[markmcm]

Simon is spot-on with the typefaces he mentions. I did a few listings 'recreations' a couple of months ago and used those exact fonts.



The listing on the right (from the mid-80s) uses Rockwell and Rockwell Extra Bold.

[sxbarnes]

Wow , its only now you realise how many there were... cheers

[Simon36]

Simon is spot-on with the typefaces he mentions. I did a few listings 'recreations' a couple of months ago and used those exact fonts.



The listing on the right (from the mid-80s) uses Rockwell and Rockwell Extra Bold.

Very impressive, only just spotted this. Still wanna know what the fonts usedfor the middle one are, no-one seems able to answer that!

[David Boothroyd]

Still wanna know what the fonts usedfor the middle one are, no-one seems able to answer that!

The text of the middle one looks like Palatino.

[Simon36]

Could be right... just itching to know what is used for the programme title, it's lovely.

[markmcm]

In the middle column the typeface used for the programme title is Zapf International Heavy. For everything else it's Palatino Linotype.