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| New life for old landmark on the Leeds media scene? | New life for old landmark on the Leeds media scene? |
| (8 days later) | |
| An iconic fixture of the Leeds cityscape closed its doors last week. Journalists at the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post finally left the windowless, elephantine concrete block that has housed the newspapers and their staff on Wellington Street for over 40 years. | An iconic fixture of the Leeds cityscape closed its doors last week. Journalists at the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post finally left the windowless, elephantine concrete block that has housed the newspapers and their staff on Wellington Street for over 40 years. |
| It may not be long before another icon emerges on the edge of Leeds city centre to make its own mark on the media landscape. On Savile Mount at the bottom of Chapeltown Road stands the Leeds Media & Broadcasting Centre, a four-floor creative hub with its own television studio and recording studio. | It may not be long before another icon emerges on the edge of Leeds city centre to make its own mark on the media landscape. On Savile Mount at the bottom of Chapeltown Road stands the Leeds Media & Broadcasting Centre, a four-floor creative hub with its own television studio and recording studio. |
| The old home of the Leeds Jewish Institute, the building once played host to everything from barmitzvah parties to dance-offs and table tennis tournaments. It was renovated with a striking new façade and reopened as Host Media Centre in 2001 as part of Leeds city council's efforts to regenerate the inner city. | The old home of the Leeds Jewish Institute, the building once played host to everything from barmitzvah parties to dance-offs and table tennis tournaments. It was renovated with a striking new façade and reopened as Host Media Centre in 2001 as part of Leeds city council's efforts to regenerate the inner city. |
| Some £12 million was spent, funded jointly by Leeds city council, the Single Regeneration Budget and the European Regional Development Fund, to transform the old community centre into a modern, multimedia studio space. | Some £12 million was spent, funded jointly by Leeds city council, the Single Regeneration Budget and the European Regional Development Fund, to transform the old community centre into a modern, multimedia studio space. |
| Now under its new name, the centre is becoming a community institution. Local bands frequently make use of the studio space to rehearse and record. The Chapeltown-based Leeds Young Authors, made famous by the film We Are Poets which charted their progress to winning a poetry slam contest in Washington D.C., regularly practice in its rooms. | Now under its new name, the centre is becoming a community institution. Local bands frequently make use of the studio space to rehearse and record. The Chapeltown-based Leeds Young Authors, made famous by the film We Are Poets which charted their progress to winning a poetry slam contest in Washington D.C., regularly practice in its rooms. |
| Next year it could become home to an entire newsroom and production team, as the headquarters of Leeds's own local television station. Made In Leeds is the name of one group bidding to operate the service, aiming to launch broadcasting on Freeview channel 8 as early as next spring. | Next year it could become home to an entire newsroom and production team, as the headquarters of Leeds's own local television station. Made In Leeds is the name of one group bidding to operate the service, aiming to launch broadcasting on Freeview channel 8 as early as next spring. |
| Headed by Isi Abebe, who has been overseeing the direction of the studios at Leeds Media Centre since 2010, Made In Leeds promises a 24 hour schedule, with 14 hours of prime-time television every week dedicated to programming produced in-house at the media centre. Abebe says: | Headed by Isi Abebe, who has been overseeing the direction of the studios at Leeds Media Centre since 2010, Made In Leeds promises a 24 hour schedule, with 14 hours of prime-time television every week dedicated to programming produced in-house at the media centre. Abebe says: |
| I have watched so many talented artists and film-makers pass through the building since I arrived. A local television channel is the perfect opportunity for all this talent and for the centre to thrive, making use of all our facilties to make a 21st century multi-media operation that puts the community first. | I have watched so many talented artists and film-makers pass through the building since I arrived. A local television channel is the perfect opportunity for all this talent and for the centre to thrive, making use of all our facilties to make a 21st century multi-media operation that puts the community first. |
Studio manager Bukkie Dos Santos says: | Studio manager Bukkie Dos Santos says: |
| We have faced challenges in ensuring the media centre makes the most of its resources. We have experimented with using the centre as a base for media training schemes and for a record label, but none of these experiments have enabled us to take full advantage of the broadcast facilities we have at our disposal. If this building houses a local television station, it can reach its full potential. | We have faced challenges in ensuring the media centre makes the most of its resources. We have experimented with using the centre as a base for media training schemes and for a record label, but none of these experiments have enabled us to take full advantage of the broadcast facilities we have at our disposal. If this building houses a local television station, it can reach its full potential. |
Abebe adds: | Abebe adds: |
| We have spent months formulating our business plan to make our proposal commercially viable and sustainable, as well as forming productive partnerships with media operators across the city. | We have spent months formulating our business plan to make our proposal commercially viable and sustainable, as well as forming productive partnerships with media operators across the city. |
| Top of the Made In Leeds' agenda is local news and current affairs coverage as per the original focus of the government's local TV plan. John Baron, who ran the Guardian's local microblogging experiment in Leeds and contributes to the Guardian Northerner, has developed a newsgathering strategy for the channel which would see six multimedia journalists covering their particular patch under the stewardship of a news editor and an anchor. | Top of the Made In Leeds' agenda is local news and current affairs coverage as per the original focus of the government's local TV plan. John Baron, who ran the Guardian's local microblogging experiment in Leeds and contributes to the Guardian Northerner, has developed a newsgathering strategy for the channel which would see six multimedia journalists covering their particular patch under the stewardship of a news editor and an anchor. |
| The reporters on Chapeltown Road would not be alone. News updates provided by 96.3 Radio Aire and locally-made short films would keep the Leeds tone outside prime-time. Made In Leeds has signed up the Leeds Online network as well as the hyperlocal website and magazine South Leeds Life among other partners. | The reporters on Chapeltown Road would not be alone. News updates provided by 96.3 Radio Aire and locally-made short films would keep the Leeds tone outside prime-time. Made In Leeds has signed up the Leeds Online network as well as the hyperlocal website and magazine South Leeds Life among other partners. |
| Proposed programmes include shows on culture, lifestyle, property, cooking and sports to be made from the media centre as outlined in the bid to Ofcom. Made In Leeds would broadcast a flagship magazine show in partnership with the Carriageworks Theatre and other players in the region's cultural scene, with a different local band playing out from the recording studio every evening. Local talent would take centre stage: Capital FM's JoJo Kelly is one of the Leeds figures in the bid, lined up to present a cookery show which may be shot at the Dean Clough Cooking School in Halifax. The new Trinity Leeds shopping centre is set to stream Made In Leeds on its big screens. | Proposed programmes include shows on culture, lifestyle, property, cooking and sports to be made from the media centre as outlined in the bid to Ofcom. Made In Leeds would broadcast a flagship magazine show in partnership with the Carriageworks Theatre and other players in the region's cultural scene, with a different local band playing out from the recording studio every evening. Local talent would take centre stage: Capital FM's JoJo Kelly is one of the Leeds figures in the bid, lined up to present a cookery show which may be shot at the Dean Clough Cooking School in Halifax. The new Trinity Leeds shopping centre is set to stream Made In Leeds on its big screens. |
| None of this is in the bag. Made In Leeds is one of five bidders currently being considered by Ofcom to operate the service for the city. Two other groups applying for the Leeds licence are bidding for multiple cities across the UK: YourTV, chaired by ex-BBC Trust chair Sir Michael Lyons, and Metro8, offshoot of Canadian broadcaster Channel Zero. | None of this is in the bag. Made In Leeds is one of five bidders currently being considered by Ofcom to operate the service for the city. Two other groups applying for the Leeds licence are bidding for multiple cities across the UK: YourTV, chaired by ex-BBC Trust chair Sir Michael Lyons, and Metro8, offshoot of Canadian broadcaster Channel Zero. |
| TV NORTH is led by Andrew Shaw, in association with independent production company Attaboy TV. Leeds TV meanwhile is the fourth bidder, a Buckinghamshire-based station launch specialist linked to Leeds United FC and its existing media empire which incorporates Yorkshire Radio and LUTV. Ofcom is expected to announce the successful candidate before Christmas. | TV NORTH is led by Andrew Shaw, in association with independent production company Attaboy TV. Leeds TV meanwhile is the fourth bidder, a Buckinghamshire-based station launch specialist linked to Leeds United FC and its existing media empire which incorporates Yorkshire Radio and LUTV. Ofcom is expected to announce the successful candidate before Christmas. |
| Back on Chapeltown Road, the top-floor gallery at the Leeds Media & Broadcasting Centre affords a fine view southwards across the city centre: from the clock tower of the Portland stone Parkinson Building at Leeds University on one side, to the uncompromising brick of the Quarry House 'Kremlin' on the other; somewhere out of view, the old Yorkshire Post building lies concealed. | Back on Chapeltown Road, the top-floor gallery at the Leeds Media & Broadcasting Centre affords a fine view southwards across the city centre: from the clock tower of the Portland stone Parkinson Building at Leeds University on one side, to the uncompromising brick of the Quarry House 'Kremlin' on the other; somewhere out of view, the old Yorkshire Post building lies concealed. |
| Full details of all the Leeds bidders and their websites are on Ofcom's website here. The Guardian Northerner would be pleased to have posts from other local TV licence bidders. Please email us at northerner @guardian.co.uk | Full details of all the Leeds bidders and their websites are on Ofcom's website here. The Guardian Northerner would be pleased to have posts from other local TV licence bidders. Please email us at northerner @guardian.co.uk |
| Mark O'Brien is a Leeds-based writer and journalist and part of the Made in Leeds team. | Mark O'Brien is a Leeds-based writer and journalist and part of the Made in Leeds team. |
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