Last updated at 12:12, Thursday, 02 October 2008

If ever ITV bosses were in doubt about the strength of feeling for Border Television, their questions would have been answered in Cumbria yesterday.

Phil McKay, from Lakeside Film and TV Casting Agency

Scandalous, sad and the end of an era were just some of the expressions used as the county came to terms with the crushing changes that will kill the station as it is known.

Controversial plans to merge Border’s news operation with Tyne Tees’ in Gateshead mean 51 jobs will be axed at the Carlisle base, with the studios which have been its home for 44 years facing closure.

The new setup will see the end of the flagship Lookaround news magazine as it exists. Other non-news programmes will also no longer be made in Carlisle.

ITV and broadcasting watchdog Ofcom say the changes are needed to compete in the digital age. But personalities who made their names at Durranhill are among those who have rounded against the decision.

National broadcaster Eric Robson, who began work as an assistant to the head of presentation at Border aged 19 – 42 years ago – was among the most scathing.

He progressed through the ranks, becoming a Lookaround reporter before going freelance and making many programmes for Carlisle and securing massive shares of peak-time audiences.

Mr Robson fears Ofcom buckled under pressure from ITV chairman Michael Grade to back its proposals instead to listening to the massive campaign against Border’s merger.

He described the decision as “tragic” and said: “The fact is that it is being portrayed that funding regional TV is letting ITV down. It is actually the reverse of that – ITV has let Border down. I find it all quite scandalous. One thing people in the Border region can expect is that the service will be a great deal worse.

“For the 35 years I have been doing network broadcasting I have always kept a proportion of my broadcasting on my home patch because I felt loyal, having started at Border and enjoyed making the programmes. Sadly I will not be able to do that any more.”

Border was the launchpad of influential Guardian Media Group chief executive John Myers’ career. He worked there as a presenter between 1984 and 1989, often appearing alongside his puppet sidekick Eric the Monkey.

Mr Myers described the jobs’ blow and studio closure decision as the end of an era, but said the new digital world was forcing the media industry – TV, radio and broadcasting – all over the country to consolidate.

“It is not something that’s unique to Border,” he added. “While I am personally very disappointed to see this – because I think Cumbria will have less news coverage than before – it’s just a sad reality that the future is coming.”

Veteran former Border announcer Clive Champney worked at the station in its heyday with some of the biggest names in its history, including Eric Wallace, Derek Batey and Richard Madeley.

He said of this week’s announcement: “It is an absolute disaster – not only for Border viewers, but for the 51 staff.

“I came to Border from the south of England not long after it started. I signed a six-month contract and stayed 25 years. So many of the personalities you see on national television started at Border. Eric Wallace was Mr Border and John Myers has gone on to big things.”

Phil McKay was recruited to Border in 1984 with his children’s quiz show Pick a Number and remained until 1987 before moving to Grampian Television in northern Scotland. He was also part of the team that hosted Border’s Telethon fundraising shows in 1992 and 1994.

He now works as a casting agent – running Carlisle-based agency Lakeside Castings – and returned to the studios last week to help promote ITV drama A Place of Execution, for which he cast supporting roles.

But he said that what he found was a shadow of the studios he once knew.

The former presenter recalled: “I got my first break at Border and I had never seen such a busy place. There were so many different people – from producers and directors to editors, dinner ladies and cleaners. It was buzzing.

“Border Television then did a lot of programmes for the network – the likes of Ghost Train, Get Fresh and Studio One. It’s appalling that they are taking away a valued TV station that covers a huge area. It has brought so many things together – not just news, but light-hearted features that have helped the community. All that’s going to go.”

Political pressure also remains against Ofcom and ITV’s decision.

Carlisle MP Eric Martlew said: “I have spoken to some of the people at Border and they are devastated. One of the things that angers me is that Ofcom will not make a final decision until the end of the year, yet ITV is going ahead.

“It was important to the city that we had a television station here. I think we will miss it.”

Penrith and the Border MP David Maclean has called on the Government to step in and save the Carlisle station.

He said: “How can we the taxpayer pour billions into badly-managed banks when a successful business like Border and ITV only need a few million to survive? If we lose Border the Cumbrian economy will suffer. Border TV is more important to Cumbria than Bradford and Bingley.”

The establishment of Border Television – and its first broadcast on September 1, 1961 – was the realisation of a 10-year dream by Carlisle newspaper publisher Sir John Burgess. He had been inspired by a visit to America to establish a television company in Cumbria. One of the station’s key values was local news – first with the Focus news magazine, then Lookaround.

By the end of its first year, Border’s audience had grown from 64,000 homes to more than 110,000. It now broadcasts to more than 500,000 people.

Border Television was independently owned – with the News & Star’s parent company CN Group a substantial shareholder – until it was bought by Capital Radio in 2000. The firm was, however, only interested in the four radio stations then owned by Border and immediately agreed a deal to sell the TV business to Granada, which took control in 2001.

Border became part of ITV Plc following the merger of Granada and Carleton in 2004.

CStory@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:50, Thursday, 02 October 2008
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk