''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1,

1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban contemporary, urban music, including Hip hop music, hip hop and Contemporary R&B, R&B an ...

and

Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically younger audience of teenagers and early twenties.BBC Radio 1 Service Licence
BBC Trust, August 2009; Retrieved 31 March 2010 The fifteen-minute ''Newsbeat'' programme is broadcast at 12:45 and 17:45 during the week on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. Short bulletins are also heard throughout the day on three stations on the half-hour with extra bulletins broadcast at peak times.

History

BBC Radio 1's remit as a public service broadcaster meant it had to broadcast news. ''Newsbeat'' was launched on 10 September 1973 in response to the launch of a network of commercial radio stations across the UK which supplied a news service very different from the style of traditional

. The programme's first presenter was the Radio 1 DJ Ed Stewart and he was succeeded by Laurie Mayer and Richard Skinner. Although unconfirmed by the BBC, it is widely thought that the name "Newsbeat" was taken from the Radio Caroline news service of the same name, as was the concept of short bulletins on the half-hour. Caroline first used the name (and broadcast half-hourly headlines) in the 1960s.

Roger Gale Sir Roger James Gale (born 20th August 1943) is a British politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for North Thanet since 1983. He had a career in journalism and broadcasting from 1964, around the same time as he joined the C ...

, who had previously worked on Radio Caroline North, was one of the show's first producers. The launch editor was Mike Chaney. Until the start of the 21st century, the ''Newsbeat'' brand was only used for the 15-minute lunchtime and teatime bulletins as all other news bulletins, which were always broadcast at half-past the hour, were branded as ''Radio 1 News''. Also, for the first four years of the 1990s, ''Newsbeat'' was only broadcast at lunchtime as the evening bulletin was a 30-minute programme called ''News 90/91/92/93''. Following changes in September 2012, the vast majority of ''Newsbeat ''bulletins are simulcast on both BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. Previously, bulletins on 1Xtra were bespoke and branded as '1Xtra News', with bulletins on the half-hour (as with Newsbeat), but with 15 minute programmes at 12:30 and 5:30, a quarter of an hour before the Radio 1 equivalents. Each station continues to have bespoke bulletins during the weekday breakfast show, before shared bulletins begin at 10:30. Newsbeat won Gold for Best News & Current Affairs Programme at the Radio Academy Awards on 13 May 2013. It is believed that

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

will pilot a global edition of Newsbeat, a bulletin aimed on the station aimed at younger listeners. Newsbeat's The Story of Izzy Dix was named Podcast of the Year at the UK ARIAS 2016. Newsbeat also won Best News Coverage at the awards in 2021. In 2021 it was announced Newsbeat will relocate to Birmingham, signalling the departure of many on air staff and editor Debbie Ramsay. The move is due to take place in the Autumn of 2022.

Bulletins

Newsbeat has short bulletins broadcast on Radio 1 and

(Asian Network was added and merged due to staff shortages, as well as the BBC wanting to streamline news during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

) throughout the day, as well as the 12:45 and 17:45 main programmes. These are simulcast, following budget cuts that came into effect in September 2012. Prior to this, weekend news bulletins had been simulcast for quite some time. Additionally, at this time, the number of bulletins was cut back somewhat, dropping the news at 04:30 and 05:30 during the Early Breakfast show on weekdays. There also used to be bulletins at midnight, which were stopped at some point prior to this. They are read by one newsreader, but in the past there would be a news reader and a sport reader during breakfast and drivetime bulletins on weekdays and breakfast bulletins at weekends. Bulletins are usually 2–3 minutes in length, and feature news and some sports stories, and weather during the breakfast show bulletins. The format of Newsbeat bulletins varies throughout the day. Breakfast updates consist of full news, sport and weather; throughout the day it will be only the news and some notable sports stories. The 13:30 bulletin is notable for being read by a different newsreader every day due to the main newsreader being on lunch at that time. Popular folklore says that the last person remaining in the Newsbeat office at lunchtime has to read the 13:30 bulletin. Full sport updates begin at 15:30. Bulletins are more scaled back at weekends, with brief stories and sport during every bulletin throughout the day, and one newsreader reading the news for the whole day. There was also an entertainment news round up at approximately 07:40 and 09:40 during The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Nick Grimshaw, often hosted by Sinead Garvan. This continued when Nick moved to drivetime with one bulletin at 16:40. Entertainment news slots at 12:00 during Jo Whiley's weekday mid-morning, later Fearne Cotton's mid-morning show and at 18:30 during Greg James' show were dropped in 2015. Until March 2020, breakfast bulletins used to be broadcast to one station (i.e. one for Radio 1 and then one for

). Now they are all simulcast from 6.30 am right until 5.45 pm. The 6.30 am bulletin used to just be on Radio 1, however from September 2020, it is simulcast across Radio 1,

and

. In November 2017, the 16:30 bulletin on weekdays was shortened and the 17:00 bulletin dropped altogether. In addition, the 22:00 bulletin was brought forward to 21:00, and the 16:30 and 17:30 bulletins on Saturdays were also dropped. The 21:00 bulletin was dropped in 2020 due to the

. As of October 2021 the main Newsbeat has been dropped from BBC Asian Network on Monday to Thursday afternoons from 3pm. Three-minute bulletins are broadcast at 15:00, 15:30, 16:00, 16:30, 17:00, 17:30 and 17:57. This is hosted by a different presenter to BBC Radio 1 and 1 Xtra. On Friday afternoons, the BBC Asian Network broadcasts the network Newsbeat bulletins at 15:30 and 16:30 plus the full 17:45 Newsbeat programme. The current bulletin times are as follows: Bank holidays follow a weekend bulletin schedule. Weekdays during the Christmas and New Year period follow a weekend bulletin schedule with the addition of bulletins at 16:30 and 17:30. Bulletins on Christmas Day are hourly from 08:30 to 12:30.

Location

In keeping with its specific targeting of young audiences, ''Newsbeat'' had its own set of reporters and studios based at Radio 1 in Broadcasting House in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Since 2022, the programme is based at The Mailbox in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, as part of the BBC's effort to move some of its services outside of London. Many of the stories produced by Newsbeat are reported by other programmes across

Newsreaders and reporters

There are various presenters and reporters on Newsbeat including Roisin Hastie, who took over from Tina Daheley as newsreader on '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' with Greg James and Ben Mundy who took over from Chris Smith as the main host of the 1245 and 1745 programmes in August 2018. Various presenters below, have additional roles.

Editors

*Danielle Dwyer (Editor) *Ben Mundy (Assistant Editor)

Main presenters

Calum Leslie (Breakfast newsreader) *Pria Rai (Afternoon newsreader and programme presenter)

Programme producers

*Daniel Rosney (weekend newsreader, politics editor)

On air reporters

*Gurvinder Gill (cover presenter and weekend newsreader) *Jordan Kenny (cover presenter, weekend newsreader) *Rick Kelsey (seasonal cover presenter) *Betty Glover (sports reporter) *Sam Gruet *Megan Lawton *Mitch Mansfield *Jack Gray *Rachel Stonehouse *Charlotte Simpson * Pete Allison

Online and digital reporters

*Michael Baggs *Manish Pandey Previous reporters and main presenters include Eleanor Oldroyd, Carolyn Atkinson, Claire Bradley, Tina Daheley, Claire Cavanagh, Dominic Byrne, Georgina Bowman,

Anna Foster Anna Foster (born 1979) is an English radio news reporter and presenter, she presented the drivetime programme on 5 Live Monday to Friday. The daughter of a surveyor father (who also served as a magistrate) and a mother who worked as a nurse, ...

, Tulip Mazumdar, Chris Smith, Declan Harvey, Ben Mundy, Christian Hewgill and Sinead Garvan. Previous sports reporters include Arlo White, Andy May,

Simon Mundie Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

, Mark Chapman,

David Garrido Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...

Juliette Ferrington Juliette is a feminine personal name of French origin. It is a diminutive of Julie. Notable people *Juliette (Canadian singer) (1926-2017), full name Juliette Augustina Sysak Cavazzi, Canadian singer and TV personality of the 1950s-1970s. known a ...

, Tina Daheley,

Eleanor Roper Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was introdu ...

and Carrie Davis. There is a long-running tradition of the DJ on air at the time chatting to the newsreader following their bulletin. Chris Moyles, often shamelessly flirted with the female newsreaders for bad comic effect, and built up a good on-air relationship with afternoon newsreader Dominic Byrne, who later went on to join him on the

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

and Radio X breakfast shows. Greg James also built a good relationship with Chris Smith through chatting following news bulletins.

Editors

Danielle Dwyer was appointed editor of Newsbeat in October 2021. She will oversee the programme's move from London, to Birmingham in Autumn 2022. Newsbeat's bulletins and programming is due to air from Birmingham as from the Autumn of 2022. The Newsbeat editor also oversees BBC Asian Network news, as well as all Newsbeat output across BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, BBC iPlayer and online. Debbie Ramsay was Newsbeat's previous editor. She left Newsbeat in 2021 having been in charge since 2016. Newsbeat's executive editor was former daytime editor of BBC Radio 5 Live and editor of the Victoria Derbyshire programme on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel Louisa Compton until 2018. Rod McKenzie, himself was a former presenter of the programme and the news presenter on the ''

Simon Mayo Breakfast Show The Simon Mayo Breakfast Show was the weekday breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 between May 1988 and September 1993. The programme was broadcast on weekdays, apart from on bank holidays, and had three broadcast slots. Firstly, the show aired betwee ...

'' on Radio 1 from 1988 to 1993, and was an editor until 2014, when he was dismissed from the station moved to another position job within the BBC after bullying allegations. ''Newsbeats first editor was Mike Chaney - hired from '' The Sun'' by the Director-General to inject a populist flavour to the news coverage of Radio 1.

Imaging

Newsbeat is notable for the distinctive musical imaging it has used for most of its history. At first, this was a just jingle at the beginning of the bulletin, but in the late 1990s this expanded to music throughout. There are different beds for news, sport and weather. The news imaging used to be changed every year, but this changed to every two years in 2005, and the most recent imaging package was on air from 2017-2022.

''Newsbeat's Oddbox''

In 2007, ''Newsbeat's Oddbox'' was launched. A four-minute video which looked at the week's strangest news, it was presented by Dominic Byrne, or by Tulip Mazumdar or Natalie Jamieson when Byrne was unavailable. Old episodes are available to watch at

BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, the childr ...

, on the BBC Red Button and on the BBC News channel. The last episode of ''Oddbox'' was released on 14 September 2012, to coincide with Byrne leaving Radio 1.

Parody

Satirist and broadcaster Christopher Morris parodied the 1990s presentational style of ''Newsbeat'' as "Radio 1 Newsbanger". Some of these parodies were actually broadcast on Radio 1, though most featured in the Radio 4 comedy series '' On The Hour''.Chris Morris Music Shows Episode Guide
/ref> In 1997, Morris further parodied ''Newsbeat'' by rearranging sentences of existing ''Newsbeat'' broadcasts to create nonsensical and blackly comic headlines, as part of a one-off segment on ''

Blue Jam ''Blue Jam'' was an ambient, surreal dark comedy and horror radio programme created and directed by Chris Morris. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in the early hours of the morning, for three series from 1997 to 1999. The programme gained c ...

''. Unlike ''On The Hour'', ''Blue Jam'' was broadcast on Radio 1.

References

External links

* *
A different Newsbeat
BBC Blogs, 17 November 2007 - A history of Newsbeat, written by former editor Rod McKenzie
BBC Odd Box
Listing of Oddbox episodes {{BBC News BBC news radio programmes BBC Radio 1 programmes 1973 radio programme debuts