On this Day 1983: ITV prepare to launch TV-am

OTD, January 31st 1983…

Central News reporter Richard Hudson-Evans paid a visit to Camden Lock in London to discover more about the new ITV breakfast company TV-am which was to begin broadcasts on February 1st.

Good Morning Britain went to air just weeks after the BBC had rushed in a breakfast show to beat ITV to ‘being first’ with Breakfast Time. At the time TV-am, bound by the television regulator, was unable to launch transmissions until February which gave the Beeb the upper hand to get to screens before the commercial offering.

Despite this, the staff of TV-am forged ahead with the launch of news programme Daybreak, as well as the magazine show Good Morning Britain and later lifestyle show After Nine. Ahead of launch day the team in Camden were buoyant about the launch of the station.

Presenters Michael Parkinson, Angela Rippon, Richard Kee, Lynda Berry and weatherman David Philpott all talked to Richard about the new morning service Richard. Central News also spoke to the chairman Peter Jay and the director of programmes Michael Deakin about the new venture.

Ultimately Good Morning Britain failed to lure in viewers with the Beeb offering ratings ahead. Following a revamp – or three – TV-am became the most-watched morning show in the UK and the corporation eventually gave in and revamped Breakfast Time into Breakfast News with a more serious offering.

TV-am, having survived strikes, low ratings, not enough advertising revenue and several staff changes, was by 1991 finally settled – and profitable – until the television regulator the IBA threw in another televisual bomb, giving the licence to broadcast from January 1st, 1993, to rival GMTV. The Good Morning Britain name was revived by ITV Daytime in 2014.