Adey, Dave

Dave was a BBC TV network announcer in the early 1990s. He was the duty announcer at closedown for the final playout of the BBC One COW (Computer Originated World) symbol in the early hours of 16th February 1991.

The following year, he moved behind the microphone as a network director and assistant editor, BBC Worldwide Television (1992 – 1995) and later, a presentation editor (1995 -1997). His next move would see him take on the role of head of broadcast operations, ITV Digital. Subsequent roles were: senior solutions manager at BBC Broadcast and Red Bee Media (2002 – 2006); head of business development at Red Bee Media (2006 – 2011), and later head of playout services. Since 2011, he has been media consultant at Dave Adey Broadcast Solutions; although it was originally set up in 1999, to provide consultancy and interim management solutions to broadcasters, service providers and content owners.

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with Dave in August 2017 and asked him about his broadcasting career: “I did BBC One/BBC Two network announcing from 1990 through to about halfway through 1992. I also did some network promotion voiceovers and some of the letters for Points of View (1992). I was even Pudsey one year for Children in Need, doing a live in-vision announcement into the programme! I then went on to be a network director for BBC Worldwide. During that time, I was also an announcer for BBC World and BBC Prime, as it was in those days.

“The network directing night shifts were fun. At about 3am, there was a long documentary programme slot on BBC World. Whilst this was on, we used to congregate in the newsroom and do a pretend bulletin with everyone swapping roles. I would read the news, the director would do the autoscript, the vision mixer would direct, etc, etc. During this time, I also voiced many of the BBC Worldwide promos. I also became a freelance BBC World Service radio continuity announcer and newsreader. After a stint of presentation editing and working on the digital switch over, I left the BBC after 10 years to become head of presentation at Granada Sky Broadcasting. I left Red Bee Media about 2011 and concentrated on my consultancy which included doing some work for the government and a spell at WRN Broadcast.

“In 2012, I was contracted to help develop an app for Formula 1. This took me around the world in 2013 to 19 F1 races. This was a one-year contract, after which I consulted for FIA Formula E (an electric version of F1, if you like) who were starting a new City Street Racing Championship. This is a global race series with events in iconic cities such as London, Paris, New York, Moscow, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Miami, Long Beach, Beijing, Malaysia, Uruguay, Mexico City and Berlin. Next season we include Rome, Santiago and Sao Paolo. I have been there for over three seasons now with responsibility for broadcast and technology. So there you have it. Still involved in TV, but in Motorsport. Loving it. And I get to travel the world!”

Personal Information

Online Presence

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Video Clips on the Internet

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