BBC North West Tonight

The Radio Times is a bit vauge, in the Frequency listings:-

96.1 (Hampshire), 103.8 (Dorset) MW 999, 1359 (Dorset)

Yes, that just looks like an indication that 103.8 and 1359 are the frequencies to hear Radio Solent in Dorset, rather than necessarily carrying Dorset programmes.


Overall, I think the Radio Times local frequency listing is a bit of waste of space anyway. They still list Sussex and Surrey as one block with no indication which frequencies are Sussex and which are Surrey. Until recently they listed the frequency for the commercial station Radio Essex as one of the frequencies for BBC Essex (easy mistake to make though when a commercial station insists on calling itself something very close to the BBC station). And they still list Smooth Radio as being available on 1521 in Crawley, even though it closed back in 2011 when it was Gold!

I think the commercial station got the name first, hence it being BBC Essex rather than BBC Radio Essex

Yes, it was Essex Radio that got there first, but with that station now assimilated into Heart, and BBC Essex now long established, it seems a bit daft when a commercial station that could call itself almost anything it likes, decides to name itself something that's almost the same as the BBC station. It can only lead to confusion - as it did for the Radio Times frequency list compiler!

The current commercial incarnation of 'Radio Essex' are the two former small scale radio stations for Southend and Chelmsford.

In any case, after radio deregulation, it's likely the station owner will sell the licence to Global for their Capital Radio brand as the station already plays Top 40 music.

How long has NWT had its current title sequence? Does it pre-date the move to Salford, or did it launch coinciding with the move? (Please remind me when they moved?)

The current NWT titles seem more dated than their actual age, because of how much tinkering most/all other BBC English Regions have made to their respective "generic" (Pah! More like "increasingly diverging"!) titles and/or theme music in the time that NW has been at Media City.

Are they now the only BBC English Region still using monochrome location footage in their news titles?

They updated the titles and new music when they moved to Media City in November 2011. No updates to anything since they moved. Completely dire since its heyday with GB and Ranvir.

Here here, haven't watched it since they left, always have Lucy and Tony on in my house!

Yes, the ILR was Essex Radio and there was an offshore pirate called Radio Essex in the 60s too, so the BBC didn't use the word Radio in the stations name

I wonder if this is related to the BBC no longer having any involvement in the production of the Radio Times (they sold it a good few years ago)

No, I don't think so. If they still owned it, the technical information wouldn't be any better. I'm old enough to
remember the RT from the late 60s/early 70s. There were transmitter coverage maps, and a lot of detail about
the expansion of 625/colour. All compiled by the then excellent BBC Engineering Information dept.

We're in an age now, where (despite the internet) it's actually quite difficult to get definitive up to date information from official sources. It's trusted enthusiast sites now such as a516 and mb21 that rule that domain.

I can just about receive 1359 Bournemouth here, I've just tuned in to it, and yes, it's carrying Julian Clegg's show (same as 999 and 96.1)