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TV mast is now part of the Yorkshire scenery
After dominating the landscape for 50 years, Emley Moor's transmitter has a new role in digital age
Ian Briggs
ON November 3, 1956 the first television transmission was made from Emley Moor to those fortunate to have a set of their own.
Today, up to five million people receive their television signals from the third tower to stand on the site in 50 years – including one which collapsed in bad weather – which dominates the Yorkshire landscape.
The Grade II-listed 1,084ft tower, the UK's tallest free-standing structure, provides television transmissions throughout the UK for channels including BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, Five, digital channels and the majority of independent radio stations.
The present tower stands a couple of miles from the West Yorkshire village of Emley and first transmitted on January 21, 1971, having been built after the previous 1,265ft tower, put up by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, collapsed on March 19, 1969 under the weight of heavy snowfall.
That one had only been put up four years earlier to improve coverage. Although it demolished a nearby chapel when it fell, fortunately nobody was injured, despite employees working at the tower at the time.
The maiden transmission on the site, from the original 450ft tower, was made for ITV.
The present tower is owned and run by transmission services firm Arqiva and its staff, clients and guests visited the tower yesterday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first transmission from the site.
Arqiva's chief executive, Tom Bennie said the tower still has an increasingly important part to play in the broadcasting industry.
"This is a site at the heart of broadcasting and will continue to be for many years as it will continue to be the core broadcast site for Yorkshire and the wider area," he said.
"Over the past 50 years there's been something of a revolution in terms of the amount of broadcasting content you can receive."
Mr Bennie said the mast delivered signals to a number of other sites which in turn transmit radio and television signals across the UK.
The company is now gearing up for the transition to digital television which will see the UK's entire terrestrial television structure replaced or upgraded by 2012.
The Government-mandated Digital Switch Over (DSO) will send digital television signals from all transmission sites allowing almost everyone in the UK to benefit from digital television.
Mr Bennie said: "The DSO is the single biggest thing the broadcasting industry has experienced in terms of the scale of the change and the timescale in which that change has to happen.
"The network that took 30 years to build is going to be replaced in five years and it is starting right now."
As well as television and radio transmissions, the site offers a number of other services.
Five major mobile phone operators use the mast and other wireless technology functions through the technology at Emley Moor.
Arqiva runs communications services, including radio, to emergency services, including police and coastguard, Government agencies and other commercial organisations from the site.
And a control room ensures signals being transmitted to televisions and radios across the UK are perfect.
Any blip and the problem can be fixed by experts in West Yorkshire.
Arqiva was formed last year when NTL sold its broadcast division to a consortium led by Australia's Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group.
The company, which has its head office in Winchester, employs around 1,400 people, including more than 100 at Emley Moor, which is manned 24 hours a day.
ian.briggs@ypn.co.uk
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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