As 主播大秀 Scotland gears-up for one of the biggest years in its history, with the independence referendum and the Commonwealth Games, journalist and presenter Graham Stewart offers a sneak preview of Pacific Quay鈥檚 redesigned news and sports studio, which launches on-screen on Monday.
I recall when we moved to our new purpose-built headquarters on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow in 2007, it was hailed as one of the most modern, state-of-the-art digital broadcasting facilities in the world. Since then however, we鈥檝e seen the move of network 主播大秀 News to New Broadcasting House (NBH) in London, and 主播大秀 Sport to MediaCityUK in Salford, both with their impressively futuristic-looking studios. In juxtaposition with our Scottish output, Studio C at Pacific Quay was in danger of looking a bit dated. So, with a big year ahead of them, the bosses here decided now was the ideal time to bring the visual look of their flagship news and sports programmes up-to-date. No sooner had I finished reading one of our weekend bulletins at the end of the festive period, than the designers and technicians came in to take the old set apart 鈥斕齛nd for the past three weeks we鈥檝e been decamped from our familiar home.
The old set re-built in Studio B at Pacific Quay, set up for an independence referendum webcast
When you consider that Studio C is in almost constant operation 鈥� from our bulletins on听主播大秀 Breakfast, through to听Politics Scotland听on a Wednesday afternoon, the main lunchtime and teatime editions of听Reporting Scotland, the 8pm, the 10.25 补苍诲听Newsnight Scotland,听not forgetting听Sportscene听across the weekend 鈥� you get an idea of how potentially disruptive the upgrade could have been.
To make the transition as seamless as possible, the existing set was carefully taken apart piece-by-piece and transported four floors down, where it was re-built in Studio B 鈥� normally home to network productions such as听Eggheads听补苍诲听Nina and the Neutrons. The idea was that the viewers would be oblivious.
Of course, behind the scenes it was all planned like a military operation; Will Smith, the lead designer, has been working on the logistics for months. "We spent,鈥� he says, 鈥渁round six weeks off-site making a kit of parts, so that when we came to install it in the studio the turnaround was as tight as physically possible.鈥�
Will was brought in from BDA Creative, the same design company responsible for the new sets at NBH and Salford. In fact, Scotland鈥檚 new Studio C is loosely modelled on Studio B at NBH, home to听Newsnight,听The Andrew Marr Show听补苍诲听Sunday Politics. Like its London counterpart it has two areas 鈥� a so-called 'hard set', with the traditional news desk, for programmes like听Reporting Scotland;听and a more relaxed 'soft set', with comfortable chairs and a coffee table, for sports and discussion programmes. It鈥檚 very much like the set used by our colleagues at听Wales Today.
The master plan for Studio C with its two separate yet connected sets
Will explained to me his philosophy for the new look: "The idea was to create a set which would be fully flexible for lots of different programmes. It made sense to use the longest wall in the studio and make use of the depth. That way you can create a linking shot from one end to the other, making full use of the available space."
It鈥檚 certainly captured the imagination of Andrew Browne, the newly-appointed editor of听Reporting Scotland, who鈥檚 been thinking about how best to use that space during this week鈥檚 intensive rehearsals. 鈥淚t gives us much more flexibility,鈥� he told me. 鈥淪o in our forthcoming referendum coverage we could, for example, have a presenter cross from the news set to a specially-branded referendum discussion area."
Attention has also been paid to the visual aesthetics. While Studio C has always been HD-ready - indeed, it was the 主播大秀's first HD news studio -viewers were unable to benefit from the improved picture quality until transmission facilities were upgraded and 主播大秀 One Scotland moved to HD in January 2013. According to Will Smith that, in turn, has informed some of the studio's new features:听
"The light-boxes we've installed give a deeper, richer saturation of colour, which will hopefully differentiate the various programme brands more successfully. We've replaced the old rear-projection screens, which weren't in HD, with ten high-end 103-inch HD plasma screens. That will make the background pictures and graphics, such as the weather maps, much sharper. In addition, the studio also has a touch-screen monitor which can be used by presenters and reporters."
Reporting Scotland presenter Sally Magnusson rehearses in the new Studio C ahead of the launch
鈥淭he screens,鈥� says Browne, 鈥渃an help us tell stories more clearly to audiences, with improved graphics and the ability to move around the set to make it all more visually interesting. It鈥檚 going to be an exciting year for news and sport in Scotland and our new set is only going to add to that. The team here have been really energised, so I think our viewers are going to appreciate the change come Monday.鈥�
Graham Stewart is听a broadcaster and journalist with 主播大秀 Scotland
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- Join Jackie Bird for the new-look on Monday 27 January at 6.30pm.
- Other programmes from Studio C include , , and .
- Read Graham's blog 40 years of .
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