South Today Oxon opt out

Yes, I know there is an official South Today forum somewhere, and I am sorry I'm not posting this on there, I did my best to find it.

Just a quick question... On BBC South Today for the Oxfordshire region, is the first bit of the main programme pre-recorded, as Roger or Sally hand over to Geraldine for the Oxon opt-out, whereas viewers in the rest of the South don't see Geraldine, do they?!?!

I'm sure it is ... the same applies in the Channel Islands.

Yep - the whole opening sequence is pre-recorded - there are separate headlines for the Oxford region presented by the main presenters,who then hand (as part of the pre-record) to the Oxford presenter, who picks up live. Viewers in the Southampton region see a different set of headlines (which may also be pre-recorded)

Many BBC regions pre-record their opening sequence (short headlines require lots of VT machines) - as do ITN for their main ITV1 bulletins I believe.

North West Tonight's headlines often rewind back to the ident and start again [I've seen it happen several times], to the amusement of Gordon Burns, so yes it's a bit of a giveaway.

Don't know about Scotland/Northern Ireland/London, but Wales' headlines are always done live, and I have to say I cannot recall any slip up from them. Of course Wales can't cheat because the clock on the church behind them would give them away! And there aren't any recordings of the church, the weather/lighting is always right etc.

The 6pm and tomorrow preview are recorded though of course, nearly always at 5.20pm.

Midlands Today record their headlines or the start of the show and also the 6.00pm and 6.15pm headlines are recorded.

EMT has a strange set-up in that some is recorded and some isn't. At 6:00, 6:15 and 6.30 - the first link from the studio is live but then goes into a pre-recorded section where the presenter(s) have voiced the headlines beforehand. You don't see them again. So bizarrely you get the presenter sitting down at 6pm to do the "and in the East Midlands...a cat runs up a tree" and then goes back to checking and rehearsing scripts before doing the same thing again at 6.15 and 6.30. Madness.

I think Look East normally record their 1800 and 1815 bits entirely, as well as the beginning of the 1830. There is no reason why they can't do the 1800 and 1815 live - but I think they like to record them so that they don't have to interrupt their script conference which happens 1800-1830 (though of course it has to be interrupted to play them out...)

Look North's (Leeds) pre-recording of their opening sequence is always very noticeable in Autumn and Spring when it gets dark between 6 and 7.

Often you'll see them saying 'good evening' with the shot of Leeds on the screen behind them in full daylight. By the time the titles have run, it's twilight or even dark!

Another big giveaway for anyting pre-recorded is the sudden lack of scripts. The presenters will probably have one or two sheets of A4, and some notes if they're doing an interview. Then cut back to the live output and hey-presto a full set of scripts on the desk!

Look North do a lot of pre-records, at least I seemed to notice a lot of them when I lived in Leeds. Especially interviews with people who aren't available later in the day. It also means they have exact times of items and it's thus harder to over-run.

Shortly before 1800, two different versions of the South Today 1800 headline insert are pre-recorded. One featuring two main headlines from anywhere in the south except Oxfordshire (and the immediately surrounding area, e.g. NE Wiltshire, W Buckinghamshire etc), and one version featuring two main headlines from the Oxfordshire area only.

There is a single, region-wide, 1815 headline insert, featuring three (usually) lighter stories (e.g. sport, human interest, cute) from anywhere in the entire South Today region (I think this may be live, but it may be pre-recorded along with the two 1800 ones).

Two different versions of the opening moments of the programme are recorded (presumably shortly before 1830). Each version features the appropriate main two headlines (as seen in the 1800 headline insert).

The non-Oxford version also features one of the lighter headlines (as seen at 1815), making a total of three headlines. Whereas the Oxford version only features their two main headlines prior to the title sequence (but if it did have a third, it would be the exact same third one as on the non-Oxford version, presumably).

On the non-Oxford version, everything after the endcap of the title sequence is live. Whereas the pre-recording continues on the Oxford version: Main presenter says something generic about what else is coming up (e.g. the weather), rather than a specific story, then verbally hands over to Oxford presenter, who is not pre-recorded.