Until 1954, there was only one television channel in the UK. It was the publicly owned BBC. In that year, the Government auctioned licences for commercial TV stations. These would be regional operations that could offer advertising on TV for the first time. Various companies were interested in this opportunity and, naturally, they focused on the regions with the best demographics – it seemed natural that rich regions would generate more advertising revenue. Sidney Bernstein was the managing director of a cinema chain in the south of England. He wanted to bid for a region, but he decided not to bid for the richest region. Instead, he bid for the wettest region in the UK, the north-west of England. He was successful and he established Granada Television, based in Manchester, serving the north of England.
He surmised that, if it was sunny outside, people might be in their gardens or go for a walk. If it was pouring down with rain, they were more likely to stay inside and watch television.
Bernstein was born into a large Jewish immigrant family who lived just outside London. His father was Swedish and his mother was Russian. Bernstein left school at 15 to work in his father’s cinema theatre business. At the age of 22, he took over the business, which had just four theatres. He was always adventurous and innovative. In 1930, he opened a super-cinema, seating over 1,000 people. Bernstein employed a Russian theatre designer to create opulent interiors for his cinemas with Gothic, Renaissance and Moorish influences. He was a pioneer in undertaking market research into the tastes and habits of cinema audiences. He launched Saturday morning shows for children.
Although a wealthy businessman, Bernstein was an active left-wing politician and anti-fascist. He served six years as a Labour local government councillor. During the Second World War, he was an adviser to the Ministry of Information and produced anti-Nazi films that influenced pro-British sentiment in the USA. Subsequently, he brought his friend Alfred Hitchcock back from Hollywood and produced some of his films in the UK.
Granada Television established a strong reputation for innovative high-quality drama and documentary shows. In 1957, Granada produced the top 10 programmes by ratings in its region. In 1962, it was the first television outlet to screen the Beatles on British television. Over the next 20 years, the company successfully diversified into television rental, publishing, bingo, bowling alleys and motorway service areas.
Sidney Bernstein retired from Granada in 1979 and died in 1993.
When everyone else is facing in one direction, deliberately look in another direction. The other companies bidding for franchises were asking, ‘Which is the wealthiest region?’ Bernstein asked, ‘Which is the wettest region?’ This is just like David Bowie’s song ‘Changes’, in which he sings about turning and facing the strange. This is what Bernstein did.
Popular does not have to mean low-quality. Granada Television pioneered some legendary new TV series, including Coronation Street, World in Action and What the Papers Say. Bernstein took a strong personal interest in each of the shows and insisted on high standards of content and production quality. Commentators of the day feared that commercial television stations would pander to the lowest tastes and cheapest shows, but Bernstein confounded them.