UK Radio news programme
"BBC Newsbeat" redirects here. For the news service in which this programme is based on, see
BBC News
.
Radio show
Newsbeat
is the
BBC
's radio news programme broadcast on
Radio 1
,
1Xtra
and
Asian Network
.
Newsbeat
is produced by
BBC News
but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for young people.
[1]
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
[
edit
]
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
BBC News
. The programme's first presenter was the Radio 1 DJ
Ed Stewart
and he was succeeded by
Laurie Mayer
and
Richard Skinner
.
[2]
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
, who had previously worked on Radio Caroline North, was one of the show's first producers. The launch editor was Mike Chaney.
Until 1995, 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.
[3]
Newsbeat
won Gold for Best News & Current Affairs Programme at the
Radio Academy Awards
on 13 May 2013.
[4]
It is believed that
BBC World Service
will pilot a global edition of
Newsbeat
, a bulletin on the station aimed at younger listeners.
[5]
Newsbeat
'
s
The Story of Izzy Dix
was named Podcast of the Year at the UK ARIAS 2016.
[6]
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 took place in the autumn of 2022.
Bulletins
[
edit
]
Newsbeat
has short bulletins broadcast on
Radio 1
and
1Xtra
(Asian Network was added and merged due to staff shortages, as well as the BBC wanting to streamline news during the
COVID-19 pandemic
)
[7]
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
1Xtra
). 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
,
1Xtra
and
Asian Network
.
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
COVID-19 pandemic
.
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:
Weekdays
|
Weekends
|
06:30
|
|
06:57
|
|
07:30
|
07:30
|
08:00
|
|
08:30
|
08:30
|
09:30
|
09:30
|
10:30
|
10:30
|
11:30
|
11:30
|
12:45
|
12:30
|
13:30
|
13:30
|
14:30
|
14:30
|
15:30
|
15:30
|
16:30
|
|
17:45
|
|
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 10:30.
Location
[
edit
]
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
. Since 2022, the programme is based at
The Mailbox
in
Birmingham
, 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
BBC News
.
Newsreaders and reporters
[
edit
]
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 listed below have additional roles.
Editors
[
edit
]
- Danielle Dwyer (Editor)
- Ben Mundy (Deputy Editor)
- Jonathan Lampon (Assistant Editor)
- Lisa Wright (Assistant Editor)
Main presenters
[
edit
]
- Calum Leslie (Breakfast newsreader)
- Pria Rai (Afternoon newsreader and programme presenter)
Journalists
[
edit
]
- Pete Allison
- Polly Bayfield
- Elizabeth Conway (Sports reporter)
- Shaun Dacosta
- Eleanor Doyle
- Jared Evitts
- Peter Gillibrand
- Jack Gray
- Scarlett Hutton
- Jordan Kenny (Politics reporter)
- Julia Leonard
- Mitch Mansfield
- Aine O'Donnell
- Andrew Rogers
- Mitch Rushton
- Eleanor Shearwood
- Rebecca Swash
Online and digital reporters
[
edit
]
- Riyah Collins
- Bonnie McLaren
- Ian Murphy
- Manish Pandey
- Tom Richardson
Previous reporters and main presenters include
Eleanor Oldroyd
, Carolyn Atkinson, Claire Bradley,
Tina Daheley
, Claire Cavanagh,
Dominic Byrne
, Georgina Bowman,
Anna Foster
, Tulip Mazumdar,
Sybil Ruscoe
,
Chris Smith
,
Declan Harvey
, Ben Mundy, Christian Hewgill and Sinead Garvan.
Previous sports reporters include
Arlo White
,
Andy May
, Simon Mundie,
Mark Chapman
,
David Garrido
, Juliette Ferrington,
Tina Daheley
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
and
Radio X
breakfast shows.
Greg James
also built a good relationship with
Chris Smith
through chatting following news bulletins.
Editors
[
edit
]
Danielle Dwyer was appointed editor of
Newsbeat
in October 2021. She oversaw the programme's move from London to Birmingham in Autumn 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.
[8]
[9]
Rod McKenzie, himself was a former presenter of the programme and the news presenter on the
Simon Mayo Breakfast Show
on Radio 1 from 1988 to 1993, and was an editor until 2014, when he was dismissed from the station and moved to another position job within the BBC after bullying allegations.
Newsbeat
'
s 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
[
edit
]
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.
On air
|
Produced by
|
Tagline
|
Jan 1998 ? Dec 1998
|
Vibe Music Audio Imaging
|
97-99FM Radio 1 ?
Newsbeat
|
Jan 1999 ? Dec 1999
|
Vibe Music Audio Imaging
|
97-99FM Radio 1 ?
Newsbeat
|
Jan 2000 ? Feb 2001
|
Vibe Music Audio Imaging
|
Newsbeat
|
Feb 2001 ? Jan 2002
|
Vibe Music Audio Imaging
|
Radio 1 ?
Newsbeat
|
Jan 2002 ? Jan 2003
|
Vibe Music Audio Imaging
|
Radio 1 ?
Newsbeat
|
Jan 2003 ? Jan 2004
|
David Lowe
|
Radio 1 ?
Newsbeat
|
Jan 2004 ? July 2004
|
David Lowe
/
Radio 1
in house production
|
BBC Radio 1
Newsbeat
|
August 2004 ? January 2005
|
David Lowe
/
Radio 1
in house production
|
BBC Radio 1
Newsbeat
|
January 2005 ? December 2006
|
Music4
|
Radio 1
Newsbeat
|
January 2007 ? January 2009
|
Music4
|
Digital, FM, Online ? This is Radio 1
|
January 2009 ? June 2011
|
Music4 /
Radio 1
in house production
|
Digital, FM, Online ? This is BBC Radio 1
|
June 2011 ? January 2015
|
Koink
|
Listen, Watch, Share ? This is BBC Radio 1/1Xtra (as appropriate)
|
January 2015 ? June 2017
|
Daniel Mumford Music
|
This is BBC Radio 1/1Xtra (as appropriate)
|
June 2017 ? May 2022
|
Daniel Mumford /
Radio 1
in house production
|
1/1Xtra (as appropriate)
|
May 2022 ? present
|
Wisebuddah
|
Radio 1/1Xtra/Asian Network
Newsbeat
(as appropriate)
|
Newsbeat's Oddbox
[
edit
]
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
[10]
or Natalie Jamieson when Byrne was unavailable. Old episodes are available to watch at
BBC Online
, 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.
[11]
Newsbeat Documentaries
[
edit
]
In 2015,
Newsbeat Documentaries
was launched, consisting in in-depth investigations on various subjects, like social and political themes,
[12]
[13]
and broadcast by
Radio 1
,
1Xtra
[14]
and
BBC News
.
[15]
Parody
[
edit
]
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
.
[16]
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
. Unlike
On The Hour
,
Blue Jam
was broadcast on Radio 1.
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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