Regional Names

RW

Robert Williams Founding member 14 December 2003 11:13am

DAS posted:

Essentially, the idea was to create a distinct BBC brand for London

and stuff the rest of the region who don't live in London.

Most of the names of BBC regional magazines we know today were established before the Nationwide era. The names Look East, Look North, Midlands Today, Spotlight (originally called Spotlight South West), Points West , South Today and Wales Today were all in use by the mid 60s. Reporting Scotland apparently started in 1968, Northern Ireland's programme was variously called Six O'Clock, Six-Five and Six-Ten before becoming Scene Around Six in 1969. The South East's first regional news programme in the 1960s was called Town and Around.

LI

Lee In SWF 14 December 2003 12:04pm

Robert Williams posted:

DAS posted:

Essentially, the idea was to create a distinct BBC brand for London

and stuff the rest of the region who don't live in London.

I couldn't agree more. I accept that where I live BBC LDN TV is supposed to cover my area, but my local radio station is BBC Essex not LDN 94.9 fm. LDN TV doesn't ever promote BBC Essex or any of the other radio staions in it's tv area.

BE

beefqueen 14 December 2003 12:10pm

Why does BBC LDN (or London or whatever!) news cover those areas and not simply Greater London? I guess the same question applies to Carlton and LWT, who I understand also cover parts of the Home Counties.

Is it technical - that the transmitters used for London overlap into these areas - or is there some other reason? Is the logic the people who work in London live outside it and therefore they should get the same service?

Surely it would make more sense, if it's technically possible, for London to have its own BBC and ITV regions that don't spill into the Home Counties - I would guess it's certainly large enough (8m viewers) to merit its own region.

:-(

A former member 14 December 2003 1:03pm

beefqueen posted:

Why does BBC LDN (or London or whatever!) news cover those areas and not simply Greater London? I guess the same question applies to Carlton and LWT, who I understand also cover parts of the Home Counties.

Is it technical - that the transmitters used for London overlap into these areas - or is there some other reason? Is the logic the people who work in London live outside it and therefore they should get the same service?

Surely it would make more sense, if it's technically possible, for London to have its own BBC and ITV regions that don't spill into the Home Counties - I would guess it's certainly large enough (8m viewers) to merit its own region.

Because the BBC and ITV have to cover the whole country, and the most efficient way of doing this is to have the fewest number of transmitters possible. The Crystal Palace transmitter is very high powered and has aerials as high as possible in order to cover the maximum area it can. hence it covers all of london and the surroundings all the way to the south downs and the chilterns.

Even if it was possible to do what you suggest (the geography of the area would make it problematic) it would make absolutely no sense technically or economically

(December 2003)