BBC National News: Presentation

I'm pretty sure they still do that to this day.

It was billed in the Radio Times as well, as News Headlines From The Nations And Regions. If anyone's trying to compile a list, Hull do the national headlines at the end of the programme now - and plug Newsnight at 10.30 too. The other thing about the 1999 revamp was that the national weather moved to 6.55. I was at university in ATV Land at the time and I remember Midlands Today moved their weather to 6.45 presumably so they didn't have two weather forecasts in quick succession (though they do that at 10.30, natch). Of course, Hull still do the weather at 6.45 as they share a forecaster with Leeds. I can't remember when it moved back to 6.25.

There was definitely a period when they had two weather forecasts, and I think that was from 1999. A shorter forecast at 18:25 and then a long one after the update at 18:55. Pretty sure the 18:55 forecast disappeared when BBC Weather relaunched in 2005.

Did that graphic in the report there really say GSCEs?

The graphics department obviously needs to take a resit, while he still can!

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f363/TheAxG/BBCNewsat10GSCEs.png

Erm, in the East, the CA said something like this into the Fen:

'And now on BBC One in the East, the BBC News, with Sian Williams, and Amelia Reynolds, at 10 O'clock.'

But to my actual question - does the Ten start at 10 on the dot, every night? I remember someone mentioning how NaT, when it came back in 2008, started at 10 exactly the first few days, but doesn't usually, and I've always been under the impression that it does start exactly on time.

99.9 percent of the time, yes.
Sometimes, usually because of dramas needing to start with a continuity warning that must start after the 2100 watershed, BBC1 need to start the ten a few seconds later, but it's rare.
Likewise if it's live programming, such as Crimewatch, Red Bee will no longer tidy the junction to fit, so will run seconds late to the ten.

Yes, the One, Six and Ten always start on the dot. The only times I've ever known any main BBC News bulletin not to start at its proper time is when something else in the schedule has unexpectedly overrun. It's practically unheard of for a BBC News bulletin to start late as a matter of routine.

You also have to to remember the BBC, unlike the modern ITV, have more timings to get right. BBC One and the BBC News Channel have to come together at some exact point for the bulletin, hence why the bulletin timings are so exact to th TOTH. The only time I ever remember a bulletin being late is after things like Children in Need, in which case sometimes the News Channel will run a report after the countdown or, if it's just a minute or so, you can see the countdown's logo end remain on screen for quite some time.

Although, the whole "news at when" fiasco at the start of the noughties was when the ITV News Channel existed so it's odd that timings were not more accurate. The News Channel simulcasted network bulletins didn't they? I'm sure they did.

Did the ITV News Channel, when simulcasting a bulletin at, let's say 5 past the hour, start the hour on time, with a report, then, joining ITV 1, restart the bulletin?

They took a break instead, didn't they?

Why can't the BBC NC do something running across the TOTH instead starting the hour twice within 5 mins?

It's bad enough when BBC One runs late, due to a sport event for example overunning, & the NC has to fill until BBC One is ready!

ITV News had a caption with 'assesmnet' written on it too the other day, with respect to GSCEs...

The Birmingham One Show pilot was quite interesting from a historical regional point of view. Firstly, they provided a graphic strap and a script for all regions to promote The One Show at 1845. The regions handed directly to The One Show without a junction then at 1925 there was a 5 minute regional opt which contained a mixture of national and regional stories plus a 1'30 weather forecast (if I remember correctly). There were off-air pilots of this 5 minute opt in the weeks leading up to the on-air trial which meant a lot of routing via contribution and talkback circuits so that all the regions could take part (we spectacularly cocked up one 'pilot' opt ISTR). They were all recorded and sent up the line to London so that a judgement could me made of how the whole thing worked I think.

The Six o'clock News Hour concept originally had a regional clock at 1759:50, national heads, regional heads, then 1815 halfway heads and regional heads. There was a presentation junction after the six followed by a regional symbol before the opt. After the opt there was a national recap of the top stories before a national weather forecast. This led to a few interesting possibilites for the regions: they could 'nick' the network trails between the six and the regional symbol to steal a bit more airtime if the programme was running long. If the regional programme ended with a regional weather it was separated from the national weather by a few minutes but it often led to comments that the BBC was doing things twice: something that could be said about the current arrangements at Ten. As has been mentioned, the nations often did their own 'national' headlines summary and didn't take the Six's recap but of course they have their own presentation departments to make up for any timing issues that come with that and meeting the on-air time of the 1900 programme.

I cant recall when the Six's recap of headlines ended, but there is still to this day a line booking so that the Six's headline pictures are sent out to all the regions so that they can recap the national stories. I'm not sure how many regions still do this. Given that the format of a lot of regional news shows is still a traditional 'magazine', ending with features and softer interviews etc, going all serious again for the national heads often jarrs and spoils the cosy banter associated with the end of the regional opts.

There was also a national recap of the Ten's headlines after the 2225 opt, regions handing directly back to whoever was presenting without an end sting. A few regions used to use the Ten branding in their plasmas/bigscreens to highlight the fact it was all one 'show'. Worked quite well IMO and also separated regional weather forecasts from the national one. A few years ago there was a big drive to recruit more regional weather forecasters and provide live forecasts into Breakfast and recorded ones into the 2225 (almost exactly the opposite of the current plans to record regional weather in fewer locations!). This has led to the current situation where there's a regional weather forecast seconds before a national one.