And now, the weather – Part 1 

29 March 2006 tbs.pm/3492

The weather has become a staple part of regional programming, and Tyne Tees makes no exception. For many years the face of weather in the region has been Bob Johnson, the main weatherman to this day, although now he has backup in Leeds.

1990

Weather map from 1990.

From 1990, a rather classy weather map with a complete lack of Tyne Tees branding. The weather was preceded by a small animation and jingle, in the style of the Northern Life titles and music of the time. The weather is also voiced over by Northern Life anchor man, Paul Frost.

1992

With a new logo, a new news programme and a whole host of new graphics across the station, it’s not surprising that the weather graphics also got tarted up too.

Weather titles from 1993

This weather title graphic featured the animated Tyne Tees ident of 1992 – initially full screen, then, as the animation progressed, scaling down to the size in the final caption.

Weather titles from 1991.

The initial title graphic was later dropped when Legal and General sponsored the weather on the station. Tyne Tees was just one of many regional ITV companies who got a sponsorship deal with the company at this time.

Tyne Tees’s legendary weatherman stands in front of the satellite photo of the British Isles. Such photographs would soon disappear from TV screens in the country, replaced by more modern computer imagery.

Bob standing in front of the local weather map. In contrast to the map from 1991 which showed a huge chunk of Scotland, the 1992 map focuses much more tightly on the North East.

An outlook slide from the same period, with an interesting but slightly curious shadow effect on the lettering.

Weather map from 1992. A weather map from 1992

When Bob wasn’t around, forecasts would be done out of vision by the duty continuity announcer – with a Tyne Tees logo clearly visible on the right. In the second example (complete with voiceover by Bill Steel), the graphics appear to be slightly different – brighter green and different day label. The reasons for this are unknown.

1993

In 1993 a new weather man appeared on the station for viewers watching the new Network North – Dr Dennis Wheeler was a climatologist at the University of Sunderland who popped over to the Network North studios to let us know what the forecast was.

Dennis Wheeler with the Network North weather graphics

The weather graphics used were similar to those used by Bob, but with a bright blue sea and, for some reason, a grey land.

Dennis Wheeler with the Network North weather graphics

The checkered effect used on the sea background on these maps, is the same used in the Network North title sequence.

Network North weather outlook slide

And an outlook slide – not quite as colourful as Bob’s!

Dennis didn’t remain with Network North very long. After six months he was replaced by Bob Johnson, who did forecasts for both news programmes.

1998

In 1996 Tyne Tees got some new graphics, which matched those given to Yorkshire at the same time. In 1998, at great expense, they replaced the Channel 3 North East ‘3’ with the new TTTV logo.

Weather caption from 1999

Notice Bob’s ‘caption of the day’. Just one of his little quirky features on the weather maps.

Weather caption from 1999.

Sometimes the captions would get a bit more obscure, and be spread over two screens, as with this caption: “March buys Winter’s cloak and sells it three days letter.” Okay Bob, whatever you say.

Bob Johnson stood in front of a picture of the Tyne Bridge.

We didn’t always get the welcome caption. In the way that weather presenters like to do, we sometimes got welcomed with Bob standing in front of some nice scenic shot. According to Bob is not just one of the most famous bridges in the world, but one of the most famous in Teesside.

The weather map showing Europe. North East map.

Viewers in Yorkshire may spot similarities in these maps to those from YTV. The first set were commissioned for both stations at the launch of Channel 3 North East. However I doubt Yorkshire ever had ‘us’ on their map of Europe!

North East weather map. North East weather map.

Bob is well known for his rather silly use of town names on the weather maps. Originally selecting towns that all started with the same first letter, he soon moved on (while others copied) to spelling out words with the town names, hence when you view the large versions of these images, you’ll see ‘Coo’ and ‘Salad’.

Viewers who watched both the 5:30 and 6:30 bulletins at the time may have noticed that the two town lists were linked together. ‘Salad’ was from a 6:30 bulletin, preceded at 5:30 by ‘Potato’ whilst an appearance of ‘Alo’ was of course followed by ‘Vera’! The 6:30 weather names were usually used for the late weather after News At Ten.

Weather Warning.

Watch out, there’s going to be a giant explanation mark in a red triangle across the North East!

Weather Summary.

And finally, a weather summary – just in case you weren’t listening to Bob while he did his stuff.

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