Hemswell Broadcast Museum Blog

By Darren Wong

New Media Lincs Trip to Hemswell Broadcast Museum 25th October

I went to the Hemswell Broadcast Museum on a Tuesday morning, not knowing anything except that there would be some giant old-school cameras and broadcast equipment. That’s what I got, sure. But the tour helped me learn that these were more than just outdated machines. Several decades ago, they captured and recorded historical moments on live televised broadcasts where the British population could watch at home.

Our museum guide, who had worked in the industry for many years and was one of the leaders for this preservation project, spoke in detail about how people worked with the equipment, and shared some amusing anecdotes of certain artifacts that they preserved. For example, before zoom lenses became popular, some cameras had a rotating part to swap lenses quickly.

These large cameras, monitors, and editing stations were heavy, clunky, noisy, and its media output obviously does not compare with the quality of what we have. Yet, there is still a certain charm about it. You can imagine how difficult it was to work with them, but it goes to show how amazing the specialists at the time were, to be able overcome these difficulties and work with what they had, and it does make you appreciate how far camera and broadcast technology has come.

It’s an important part of history that should still be preserved, as a testament to all the hard work in the industry that was done to make live broadcasts happen. Currently, the museum is far from being completed, as the tour guide showed us when he took us past the exhibits and into the backrooms of the building, passing by some volunteers who helped refurnish the place, so there is still much to explore in the future.

If you would be interested in visiting the museum or hearing about volunteering opportunities, please contact: hdonnelly@lincoln.ac.uk