Look North and North East Tonight

Just a question, Steve Naylor, how come your TV regions are Tyne Tees/BBC Newcastle when you say your location is West Yorkshire? I know Tyne Tees/LN Newcastle both cover North Yorkshire, but you're not meant to get them in West Yorkshire!

Anyway I saw North East Today in full for the first time yesterday. It had far more from North Yorkshire than NE Tonight/NE News and LN Newcastle, but the item about an under 12's rugby team from York was featured on both North East Today and North East Tonight yesterday.
It wasn't featured on Look North (Newcastle), but was it featured on Calendar or Look North (Leeds)?

Oh yes, John Lawrence wasn't on the 6.30pm edition of Look North with Carol Malia. Tony Baker was on instead. Does anyone know if Carol Malia has had a day off from presenting Look North? She ALWAYS seems to be on the 6.30pm programme. If this is true, then she's Newcastle's answer to Peter Levy! She even presents the 10.25pm bulletin as well as the 6.30pm one from time to time, but not last night. Paddy McDee was on instead.

Wouldn't you be watching the southern version of North East today?

Yes, I would because I live in uni accommodation in York where the picture of Bilsdale is much better than Emley Moor. What's the difference between the northern and southern versions of North East Today?

Do Pontop Pike/Chatton viewers see more news stories from Tyne Tees' Teesside studios during North East Tonight?

There is a regional opt out on North East Tongiht. It used to be that Teeside got NETWORK NORTH which was an entirely seperate show. When i lived in Northumberland I had one arial pointng at Pontop and the other at Newcastle so I got both versions, dependng on what room I was in.

> What's the difference between the northern and southern versions of North East Today?

Completely separate programmes, one presented by Clare Montgomery on Teesside and one by Pam Royle in Newcastle. They cover different stories and events, and the formats are even slightly different, with the Northern edition having a mini-news bulletin during the programme and the Southern one having a rundown of what's in the evening press instead. Teesside tends to take one or two items from YTV's programme a week as well which are not shown on the Northern edition.

Thanks, Jason but what's the difference between the northern (Pontop Pike/Chatton) and southern (Bilsdale) versions of North East Tonight? Any at all? Plus, Jason, you live in Darlington so which transmitter do you get Tyne Tees from? Pontop Pike, Bilsdale or both?

I thought Darlington was a Bilsdale only area but when I typed in a Darlington postcode into dtg.org.uk's reception enquiry, it said:

The Pontop Pike transmitter is the best transmitter for your area.

Now, I'm confused. Do most people watch Bilsdale or do they watch Pontop Pike?

As i have already said in this thread and countless others - I am at university in Durham at the moment but live in West Yorkshire - I've just forgotten to change the location bit in my profile.



Carol is off occasionally and has holidays - unlike Peter Levy! Her replacement is usually at the moment Wendy Gibson as Anne Leuchers seems to have disappeared from often doing the lunchtime programme.

Well, that is actually quite a confusing one. I don't actually live in Darlington, I live in Heighington (look it up on a map ), it is a bit further north than Darlington and I am officially in Pontop country. But Bilsdale is much stronger than Pontop so my aerial is pointed towards Bilsdale. I can also get Emley Moor (YTV) fairly clearly from where I am though.

I can of course get Pontop from Sky TV anyway, so I get both versions.

I would say that 90% of people in Darlington receive programmes from the Bilsdale transmitter. Where I am it's around 70-30 in favour of Bilsdale, going north to Bishop Auckland probably 70-30 to Pontop.

North East Tonight has a 10 minute optout most nights between 6.05 and 6.15 (the break). On Fridays and some Mondays the optout is more like 15-20 minutes (ie most of the programme) to allow sub-regional sport coverage.

Viewers in the north don't see the join as they get Mike the whole way through. South viewers tend to switch over after a report, to make thinks seem as seamless as possible.

South viewers tend to switch over after a report, lol!

You know what I mean.....

The Bilsdale signal can be picked up as far north as Wearside, so viewers in some parts of Sunderland can also receive both versions (default one being the North version). It's most common around the Seaburn/Roker/Whitburn area where a number of aerials point to either Pontop, Bilsdale or both.

Sunderland also has its own relay station, at Maiden Paps in the Tunstall Hills on the south side of the city, for viewers whose 'main mast' reception is blotted by Tunstall Hill itself (only a small percentage) and this is fed by Pontop.

There is an interesting story regarding the Maiden Paps transmitter. When Channel 4 started, Pontop broadcast C4 but Maiden Paps couldn't due to technical problems, and it wasn't solved until 1986. Amongst those affected were a couple who lived right beside the Maiden Paps mast and found it ridiculous that they couldn't get C4!
It's the same problem now with C5; those on Wearside receiving from either Pontop or Bilsdale do get it while those served by Maiden Paps, can't. But I do find it odd that the Horden transmitter at Peterlee is fed by Bilsdale instead of Pontop, as the town has a Sunderland postcode and thus would have more links with Wearside than Teeside! However it does get mentioned quite a bit on the north version of NET, so it must lie in an overlap of the two sections.

I didnt thing C5 was broadcast via Pontop Pike, isn't from Burnhope the old VHF and FM site ?

You could be right. I'd assume that Burnhope isn't too far away from Pontop for the signal to be picked via up the 'main mast' aerials.