BBC News: Presenters & Rotas

I listened to XFM today, one of the Global stable which targets the BBC3 demo as it's being replaced by the Moyles centric Radio X in a couple of weeks.

Top 'story' - Radio X replaces XFM with Moyles joining the station, Syria then the shortest amount of music news possible.

Signal 1 isn't too bad around here while Real Radios were much better than Hearts before it got Globalfied!

That's what the BBC should do - let Global run the BBC for a week and the BBC bashers will soon realise what a world without the BBC would look like.

LBC and LBC London News is as close as it gets to the BBC, but not on a par with Radio 4 or BBC News.

Fiona Bruce on a rare outing. Don't often see her out of the studio unless there are antiques involved.

And Laura Kuessenberg introduced as Political Editor.

Is it my imagination or has Reeta been presenting less frequently recently too? Still pops up every now and then, but a couple of months ago she seemed to be doing at least one bulletin a few days a week. Comparatively more of Clive and Simon, as you say, and Jane too. Jane and Simon do a lot more of weekend BBC 1 bulletins than either has the last few years, as well.

Notice Ellie Crisell has now moved over to South East Today. Is the London opt of the 8pm bulletin usually Riz Lateef, or a mix?

Yes, it now seems that Ellie has left her role on the 90 second update since only just returning from maternity leave. She's now a presenter/reporter for South East Today as Rebecca Williams replacement.


The London opt is done separate to the national section. Normally Ellie does 60 seconds on one side of Studio A and then cuts to a camera shot of Riz at the other side of A once all other opts have opted out.

Be interesting to see who the replacement for Ellie will be. Most probably Sophie Long, she covered Ellie earlier in the year during Ellie's maternity leave.

Is there any reason why the London presenter couldn't do the national bit too, particularly if it's somebody like Riz?

I'm sure that the national presenter doesn't just turn up, read the Autocue for 90 seconds and go home, but it looks to an outsider like somewhere that cuts could be made that have little impact on the viewer.

I wouldn't rule out Sam Naz or Tina Daheley. Alice Bhandhukravi covering tonight maybe another live audition.

Considering most of th London presenters tend to be young and/or female, which seems to be unwritten requirement for that bulletin, it would make sense.

Having said that it would also make sense for that night's 60 seconds presenter to do it, although maybe they might be too young and trendy for BBC One.

And yes it is notable that Reeta is presenting less, a few months ago she was all over the place, presenting every bulletin under the sun. Now at least in terms of the Six/Ten Sophie Raworth and Clive Mirie covered the main holiday period.

I remember Sam Naz covering the old 3pm bulletins on BBC One and those were hardly trendy.

It seems Crisell went because the position was eliminated - and remember there won't be a 60 Seconds team by next year.

The dedicated 8pm presenter was announced as going back when the News Channel were losing 'five presenters' in DQF, with the shift being covered by an existing team, so I'd assume it'll now just be the BBC London presenter if that's who was used the week after Crisell left. Makes perfect sense as a way of reducing costs.

I'd also suggest to anyone wondering whether the 8pm presenter will do other things on the bulletin before it goes to air - it wouldn't take long to write the script of a 60 second bulletin, so I can't imagine there are any responsibilities that couldn't be shifted around to make it work.

Considering Asad Ahmad has presented London's 8pm opt on plenty of occasions, it'll be interesting to see if this leads to men appearing once in a while. The one part of the 8pm idea I haven't understood is why it requires a (relatively) young woman, rather than young person. Sends an odd message.