The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Sunderland Echo: It's Your Evening
Hot off the press! An old Radical newspaper embraces new computer technology in the daily race against the clock to bring out the Sunderland Echo.
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Overview
From fact to hack and into print Its Your Evening follows the daily miracle of publishing the Sunderland Echo, a paper that styles itself as the voice of Wearside with a tradition that dates back to 1873. In the new 1970s open plan offices, with obligatory cheese plant, computers are introduced, and printers hot metal gives way to the new era of web offset litho production.
Carefully shot and edited by Turners Film Productions, this long-form documentary promotional reinforces the message of Sunderland Echos time honoured traditional base as a family newspaper with local interest stories and loyalties. Amongst the reports is a performance at the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle by one of Tynesides favourite comics, Bobby Thompson, also known as The Little Waster. In 1976 the Echo moved from Bridge Street, Sunderland, to a purpose-built newspaper office at Echo House, Pennywell Industrial Estate, which enabled the switch from letterpress to web offset printing and from linotype to computer typesetting and photo-composition, all pictured in this film.
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