After several years of fundraising and planning, this portakabin was purchased and installed in the grounds of the Hertfordshire and Essex Hospital as a studio for the recording of the Bishop’s Stortford and District Talking Newspaper.
The article below shows Brian Purkiss, founding member of the Talking Newspaper and leading fundraiser, with Bishop’s Stortford Mayor, Councillor R.F. Strong at the official opening on 12th February 1980.
The photograph below shows the tape deck used to record the first ever edition of the Bishop’s Stortford Talking Newspaper. Interestingly, because the present day studio tape deck developed a fault, this original deck was used recently to digitise the first cassette recording. It still works perfectly after 40 years!
For many years, the cassette tapes were distributed to listeners who played them on portable cassette players such as those shown below. Many listeners simply used the cassette deck on their own home Hi-Fi systems to play the tapes.
The article below appeared in the Bishop’s Stortford Observer in 2005.
The photograph below shows 4 readers in our present studio as seen from the technician’s side of the sound proof window.
This photograph shows one of our technicians operating the sound recording equipment in the studio. An editor is with him ensuring that the recording is going as planned.
The photograph below shows one of the players which are issued to our listeners with the memory stick inserted and containing the weekly recording in digital .MP3 format. Once listened to, the memory stick is placed in a zipper wallet and posted back to the studio for reuse. Our thanks go to Royal Mail for delivery free of charge.
Many modern home entertainment systems can accept .mp3 files on memory sticks instead of the player to provide a more wholesome listening experience.
Some views of the window display at the Bishop’s Stortford Independent Newspaper Office.
