Grapevine

Grapevine was the name for YSTV's service of still advertisments and promotions between programmes.

This was first used some time in the 1980s using primitive Teletext-style technology, and old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started are thought to be the only evidence of this system.

Versions

It has been revamped a number of times, usually to improve graphics.

The PC version was by Adam Baxter written in Visual Basic, and updated in 1998Unverified or incomplete information by Chris Parker still in Visual Basicbut this time supporting a wider range of sizes and colour depths of display bitmaps. However this version suffered from storing a running ticker (below the bitmap portion) in a CSV file which wasn't escaped, so ticker items enclosed in quotes would crash the program leaving a Windows 3.11 error box being broadcast.

Later in 1999Unverified or incomplete information it was migrated to a Linux machine by Alex Hudson after the cache memory failed on the old machine, and at this point it was renamed from Grapevine to Inform.

Most recently in 2005 when it was made possible to manage it online and use full-resolution photographs for the first time.

Naming

The name is thought to originate thought the way the service spread information across campus - ie. "Heard it through the Grapevine".

From 1999 and again from 2002 it has been known as primarily as Inform, although is essentially the same service. When it switched back to being Grapevine (the actual software was never rebranded) is unclear, but it was always Grapevine by 2002. The name Inform had been in use for the conference service provided by YSTV for sometime, however the name of the student service was changed to match as it was felt to more accurately describe the service.

Grapevine Valentine's Day Special

For a short period in Autumn 2003, the service was replaced by a message service where students could upload messages to be displayed on screen. However this proved to be hard to police and was unreliable, so the previous system was reintroduced.

Student advertising is free, however companies wanting to advertise must pay a fee.

When nothing is scheduled on YSTV, the network reverts to showing this service, in a similar way to BBC Two showing Pages from Ceefax when it closes down.

In 2003 there was an attempt to provide some variation in the service when a "Valentine's Day Special" was held, offering students the chance to declare their romantic intentions on air. However most had to be made up, and these were played out accompanied by slushy music all day on the 14th.