BBC World News - to 14th January 2013

This month did not make a "best of the year" or a special Nobel prizes, what happened?

They've been randomly using that ident for about 3 months now. As I noted in one of my earlier posts, it has a 2010 watermark in feint at the bottom RHS.

Does anyone know if Asia Today still airs on BBC World at all? I haven't seen it in several years now; it was always a staple of the BBC World schedule in the early/mid-2000s. Would be a shame if those fantastic titles and theme music are gone forever.

No, it doesn't air, Rob. Not since the launch of Newsday. Asia Business Report still airs at the bottom of the hour, then is followed by Sports Today.

Asia Today is no more.....................alas.

Awww, that's such a shame. I may be wrong but I'm sure Asia Today had been around in one form or another since the early 1990s. In tribute to the passing of one of BBC World's greats, here is a selection of clips from the past...

The flagship 1430 GMT edition:







The 1030 GMT edition (my favourite, as the on duty news presenter hosted the programme, hence you never quite knew who was going to pop up):

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh! How I miss that brand. I particularly liked the Indian-esque shrill in the midst of the theme and stings. Reminds me of the voice of Indian playback singer, Asha Bhosle.

AND, not to be forgotten, but not necessarily linked to Asia Today alone: the voice of Adrian Finighan, who was the "voice" of BBC World (continuity announcer).

Rare clip of Aruna Iyengar in the top shot.

I know what you mean, James. That theme tune was perfectly suited to the programme. I wonder when it was first used? It's definitely been used as long as I've been watching BBC World (2000-present). But I suspect it could have been used for longer than that.

I'd forgotten all about Aruna Iyengar until I re-watched that clip. I wonder what happened to her? The same for Anya Sitaram. I know Anya was at ITN in the 1990s and she's also had stint(s) with Sky News as well as BBC World, but I haven't seen her for years.

I've just been having a nostalgic look-back at the 2000-2002 period of BBC World, which was the period during which I first discovered the channel. The first David Lowe theme music used by BBC World was absolutely fantastic.

I really miss Adrian Finighan from the channel as well. Easily the best newsreader on at the time. He had such a great personality and brought BBC World to life whenever he presented.

BBC World News now Simulcasting in the UK, News at 10 delayed.

Isn't that the PBS bulletin?

Don't think so, IIRC World News America goes out on PBS since they moved its broadcast times.

This video has a widescreen copy of that Asia Today theme:

Thanks for that, Phil. I've never seen the titles in widescreen before; the last time I saw Asia Today, BBC World was still in 4:3 aspect ratio. I may be wrong but it doesn't look like they have zoomed in to create those widescreen titles either. I guess they must have made them in widescreen back when they were first used (in 2000, if not before).