BBC East Midlands is the
BBC English Region covering
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
(except
High Peak,
North East Derbyshire
North East Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. It borders the districts of Chesterfield, Bolsover, Amber Valley and Derbyshire Dales in Derbyshire, and Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire. The population ...
and the northern areas of the
Derbyshire Dales
Derbyshire Dales ( ) is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 71,116. Much of it is in the Peak District, although most of its population lies along the River Derwent.
The borough borders ...
),
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
(except
Bassetlaw),
Rutland
Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire.
Its greatest len ...
, southern parts of
South Kesteven
South Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Bourne, Lincolnshire, Bourne, Grantham, Market Deeping and Stamford, Li ...
in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
and some northern parts of
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
.
Services
Television
''BBC East Midlandss television output consists only of the flagship regional news service ''
East Midlands Today
''East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands.
The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham, also home to Radio Nottingham. Th ...
''.
The television area is bigger than the region's radio area, because of the coverage from Waltham over Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. In reality, Radio Leicester covers much the same area as TV reception from Waltham, including all of Northamptonshire.
Radio
The region is the controlling centre for
BBC Radio Nottingham
BBC Radio Nottingham is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire.
It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road ...
,
BBC Radio Derby
BBC Radio Derby is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Derbyshire.
It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on St Helens Street in Derby.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audien ...
and
BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Leicester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland.
It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...
.
On weekdays, each local radio station will have three standardised programme blocks with a total of three presenters for daytime as follows:
* 6am Breakfast
* 10am Mid-morning
* 2pm Afternoons
* 6pm Evenings
Online and Interactive
''BBC East Midlands'' also produces regional news & local radio pages for
BBC Red Button
BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...
and the 'BBC Local News' websites for each county.
History
The region itself used to be part of BBC Midlands as one large region controlled from
Pebble Mill Studios
Pebble Mill Studios was the BBC's television studio complex located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, which served as the headquarters for BBC Birmingham from 1971 until 2004. The nine-acre site was opened by Princess Anne o ...
but was served by a small television and radio studio based on the top floor of Willson House on Derby Road in Nottingham. This studio supplied live reporter pieces and interviews as injects into the BBC Midlands evening programme "Midlands Today", which were seen by the whole region - the Nottingham studio also produced some regional programming, including ''The Dog Show'' and ''Dennis McCarthy's Weekly Echo''.
However, to better serve East Midlands viewers, a few changes were made. Initially, the region was given an opt-out news service consisting of an opt-out within ''
Midlands Today
''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza.
Overview
''Midlands Today'' is produ ...
'' and some short bulletins, but this was expanded in January 1991, when a whole new region was created. The new region had a new news programme, although the programme's visual identity remained the same as its West Midlands counterpart. The region is now very much separate from the Midlands region.
Transmission service area
Although the East Midlands and West Midlands are similar in size, the Birmingham programme covers a larger area than the Nottingham programme because its region has three main transmitters, and the Nottingham programme has one, of which the eastern half of Waltham's TSA is outside the BBC East Midlands area. Waltham is on the eastern edge of Leicestershire, and is also the main transmitter for south Lincolnshire. North Northamptonshire is near to Waltham as well.
The journalistic coverage is different from the broadcast coverage because of the set of radio stations that are tied to the BBC East Midlands region, and which are not. Peterborough and north Northamptonshire, although mostly covered by Waltham, have their radio stations both tied to the
BBC East
BBC East is one of BBC's English Regions covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, northern Buckinghamshire, and the majority of Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. It is headquartered in The Forum, Norwich since 2003. It wa ...
region in distant
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
.
It began broadcasting in
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
format in July 2002.
Studios
In 1991 the TV studios, Radio Nottingham, and the BBC region's offices were at York House on ''Mansfield Road''. This became
Nottingham Trent University's Centre for Broadcasting & Journalism, with the TV studios left intact; NTU's centre opened in September 1999. York House was demolished in 2021. In 2009, NTU moved its broadcasting centre to its Chaucer Building on ''Goldsmith Street''.
New headquarters
The Nottingham headquarters were built after the region was created, and were state of the art. Construction began on Wednesday 3 September 1997, costing £4.5m, and built by
Simons Construction of
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
; the site had been bought originally from
Boots
A boot is a type of footwear.
Boot or Boots may also refer to:
Businesses
* Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England
* Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom
* The Boot, Cromer St ...
. The site opened on Sunday 10 January 1999 At the time Richard Lucas was HRLP for the region, and this region included Lincolnshire.
When constructed in January 1999, it contained the newsroom for ''
East Midlands Today
''East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands.
The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham, also home to Radio Nottingham. Th ...
'', a small studio for use by regional news, and accommodation for
BBC Radio Nottingham
BBC Radio Nottingham is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire.
It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road ...
. It is located on ''London Road'',
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
.
In addition to the main headquarters, the region has offices in St. Helens Street,
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
containing
BBC Radio Derby
BBC Radio Derby is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Derbyshire.
It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on St Helens Street in Derby.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audien ...
, and in St. Nicholas Place,
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
housing
BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Leicester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland.
It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...
. Both of these premises also contain news bureaux for East Midlands Today.
See also
*
BBC English Regions
BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local and regional television, radio, web, and teletext services in England, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. It is one of the BBC's four "nations" – the others being B ...
* The
East Midlands Television Centre
King's Meadow Campus is a university campus, which is part of the University of Nottingham, and is in Nottingham. From 1983 until 2005, the complex was an ITV studio complex called East Midlands Television Centre and later The Television House ...
, of
Central East, opened in November 1983, cost £23m, and officially opened by
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...
at 11.30am on 2 March 1984, after he arrived on the
Royal train
A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.
Australia
The various government railway operators of ...
at 10am, and later personally flying a
Hawker Siddeley Andover
The Hawker Siddeley HS 780 Andover is a twin-engined turboprop military transport aircraft produced by Hawker Siddeley for the Royal Air Force (RAF), developed from the Avro-designed HS 748 airliner. The Andover was named after the Avro Andove ...
from
East Midlands Airport
East Midlands Airport is an international airport in the East Midlands of England, close to Castle Donington in northwestern Leicestershire, between Loughborough (), Derby () and Nottingham (); Leicester is () to the south and Lincoln () nort ...
to
Heathrow
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...
.
[''Nottingham Evening Post'' Saturday 5 March 1984, page 5]
References
External links
BBC Local NewsEast Midlands TodayBBC East Midlands transmitter coverage map
{{Coord missing, Nottinghamshire
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
Culture in Nottingham
Mass media in the East Midlands
Organisations based in Nottingham
Organizations established in 1991
1991 establishments in England