The city ofBirmingham,England is home to an evolving media industry, including news and magazine publishers, radio and television networks, film production and specialist educational media training. The city's first newspaper was published in1732.
The first known Birminghamnewspaper was theBirmingham Journal, which was published byThomas Warren from 1732 and whose early contributors includedSamuel Johnson.[1] The most notable of the town's early newspapers however wasAris's Birmingham Gazette, which was founded in 1741 and continued publishing until 1956.[2]
Birmingham has two main local newspapers—theBirmingham Post and theBirmingham Mail—as well as theSunday Mercury, all owned byReach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror).[3][4][5]
In 2018, theBirmingham Mail rebranded their online digital operations asBirminghamLive.[6]
Reach plc additionally ownWhat's On Magazine Group, running since 1986 and currently producing six monthly regional entertainment titles, includingWhat's On Birmingham andLGBT+ publicationMidlands Zone.[7]
Reach plc is contracted to publishForward (formerlyBirmingham Voice), theBirmingham City Council's free newspaper distributed to homes, community centres and public buildings. Reach plc previously published the now defunctBirmingham News, a weekly freesheet distributed to homes in the suburbs.
Birmingham has three mainstream digital-only news publishers;I Am Birmingham[8] established in 2009,Birmingham Updates[9] established in 2011, andBirminghamWorld[10] established in 2021.I Am Birmingham is run as a non-profit news publication by independent professional journalists.[11]Birmingham Updates is run as a commercial business enterprise by Updates Media.[12]BirminghamWorld is run as one of many national titles byNational World.[13]
Severalhyperlocal newspapers serve Birmingham, including theBirmingham Advertiser and theSutton Coldfield Observer, which servesSutton Coldfield and parts ofErdington. Independent news publisherErdington Local additionally serves the Erdington area in both print and online format.
Birmingham is the hub for various nationalethnic media, includingThe Phoenix Newspaper,[14]The Sikh Times,Desi Xpress, andThe Asian Today.[15]
National entertainment news publisherIkonz is based in Birmingham, one of few outside London.
Birmingham culture and lifestyle publications include music magazineBearded,Fused Magazine,Birmingham Living,[16]Style Birmingham,[17]SixtyNine Degrees,[18] andDluxe magazine.[19]
Local radio stations includeBBC Radio WM,BBC Asian Network,Hits Radio Birmingham andGreatest Hits West Midlands,102.2 Capital FM Birmingham,Heart West Midlands,Absolute Radio, andSmooth Radio. The city has acommunity radio scene, with stations includingBRMB,New Style Radio,Switch Radio,Scratch Radio, Raaj FM, and Unity FM. With the rise of internet stations, Birmingham now also has independent radio stations likeBrum Radio, serving local, independent and alternative music[20] and arts which doesn't fit the commercial radio format.
Birmingham was the first British city outsideLondon to have a radio service from the newly formedBritish Broadcasting Company, with the Birmingham station5IT starting regular broadcasting from itsWitton base at 17:00 on 15 November 1922,[21] one day after2LO started daily BBC broadcasting from London[22] and one hour before the 18:00 launch ofManchester's2ZY.[23] 5IT pioneered many innovations in early broadcasting, launchingChildren's Hour in 1922,[24] developing sophisticated methods of programme control and employing the first full-time announcers in 1923.[25] The station's first announcer on its opening night was its general managerPercy Edgar,[26] who was to be the dominant figure in Birmingham broadcasting and the BBC's most influential regional director until his retirement in 1948.[27]
5IT moved its studios from Witton to a former cinema inNew Street in 1923, moving again in 1926 to a completely new building inBroad Street with two studios – one of the largest the country.[28] 1927 saw the low-powered city station 5IT replaced by theBBC Midland Region – the first of the BBC's regional services[29] – broadcast from the newBorough Hill high powered transmitter nearDaventry.[30] The Broad Street studios now controlled and made programmes for a region stretching across central England fromThe Potteries toNorfolk.
As Director of the Midland Region Percy Edgar fought against the efforts ofLord Reith to increase control over the BBC from London, writing to Reith in 1929 that "the ever growing policy of centralisation in London has clearly gone a good deal further and more rapidly than public opinion here is prepared to accept"[31] and positioning himself almost as an independent entrepreneur within the wider organisation.[32]
By 1935 the Midland Region was producing 40% of its broadcast material locally, more than either of the other English regions or even the national regions ofScotland,Wales andNorthern Ireland.[33] With 14 producers it was largest BBC department outside London.[34] Notable programmes included the detective seriesPaul Temple which was produced in Birmingham and broadcast nationally from 1938 until 1968.[35] andMidland Parliament, which broke new ground in allowing the on-air discussion of controversial topics by members of the public.[36]
On 30 October 1988, The Asian Network was launched on the MW transmitters ofBBC Radio WM andBBC Radio Leicester with a combined output of 70 hours per week, and was extended to 86 hours a week in 1995 and on 4 November 1996 the station became a full-time service, on air 18 hours a day, and was relaunched asBBC Asian Network. The station's key target audience are listeners aged 15–35 ofSouth Asian descent. The station has production centres inLondon (Broadcasting House) andBirmingham (The Mailbox). In mid-2017, BBC Asian Network's management was merged with that ofBBC Radio 1Xtra, creating a super-network for two of the UK's largest ethnic minority groups.[37]
The Archers, the world's longest running radio soap, is recorded in Birmingham forBBC Radio 4.
There are two dominating radio stations in Birmingham,Hits Radio Birmingham andHeart West Midlands.
BRMB was the fourth commercialILR (Independent Local Radio) station to go on the air, afterLBC,Capital, andRadio Clyde. Broadcasting a mix of popular music with local news, live football coverage, information and specialist output, the station became popular among residents in Birmingham and later, in 1986, changed its main FM frequency from 94.8 to 96.4. Presenters includedEd Doolan,Les Ross, Phil Upton andTony Butler. Les Ross was the UK's longest-serving breakfast presenter, presenting BRMB's flagship weekday breakfast show from March 1976 to March 1989, followed by a second stint between August 1993 and September 2002.
In 2012, Orion Media announced that BRMB would be rebranded asFree Radio Birmingham, along with its sister West Midlands stations Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern. The BRMB brand was phased out on Wednesday 21 March 2012 in preparation for the rebrand, which took place at 7pm on Monday 26 March 2012.
Heart 100.7 was the firstHeart station to launch in the UK, from studios in Birmingham. It began broadcasting on 6 September 1994, and was the UK's third Independent Regional Radio station, five days afterCentury Radio North East (nowHeart North East) andJazz FM North West (nowSmooth North West).
Global Radio announced plans in 2008 to rebrand most of its stations to Heart, following the takeover ofGCAP Media. Today, there are over twenty Heart stations throughout the UK.
Orion Media, owners of Free Radio Birmingham, have their offices based inBrindleyplace.Global Radio, owners of Heart West Midlands, Capital Birmingham and Smooth West Midlands, also have their offices based in Brindleyplace. In May 2016 Orion Media sold to media giantBauer Media, who now own the Free Radio brand.
The launch of theSutton Coldfield transmitting station in December 1949 made the Birmingham area the first in Britain outsideLondon to receive a television service.[38]
The most notable achievement of the early years of Birmingham television wasCathy Come Home, described by the BBC itself as "the most famous and groundbreaking TV drama ever made",[39] and judged thesecond greatest British television programme of the twentieth century in a 2000 survey of broadcast industry professionals by theBritish Film Institute.[40] First broadcast in 1966 and largely a Birmingham production,[41] it was produced byBalsall Heath-bornTony Garnett, directed byNuneaton-bornKen Loach, and was the first example of the hard-hitting, high-brow television drama that was to feature strongly in Birmingham's broadcast output over the following decades.
Birmingham and the West Midlands was one of the first areas to receive programming from the newITV network in 1956. The network's original representatives wereAssociated TeleVision (ATV) who served the area during the week andABC Weekend TV who broadcast at the weekends. In 1968, ATV won the contract to serve the area seven days a week and built new studios off Broad Street at the heart of the city featuring the landmarkAlpha Tower.[citation needed]
In 1982, ATV was reorganised and becameCentral Independent Television, which was rebranded as Carlton Central in 1999 and again asITV Central in 2004. ITV's Birmingham studios produced several shows, includingTiswas,Crossroads andBullseye, until the complex was closed in 1997,[42] and Central moved to its current Gas Street studios. This was also the main hub forCITV, until the network's children's programming was moved to Manchester in 2004. Central's output from Birmingham now consists of only theWest andEast editions of the regional news programmeCentral Tonight.
Other television programmes to have been made or filmed in Birmingham includeBlockbusters,Boon,Survivors,Brum,Dalziel & Pascoe,Father Brown,Land Girls,New Faces,Pot Black,Rosie & Jim,The Sky at Night,Spitting Image,The Golden Shot,Woof!,WPC 56,One Born Every Minute, andGladiators.[43][44][45]
TheBBC has two facilities in the city. It is the regional headquarters and television centre forBBC West Midlands, which producesMidlands Today and local editions ofInside Out andThe Politics Show; and theBBC Local Radio serviceBBC Radio WM.
BBC Birmingham production centre, based inMailbox Birmingham, is one of only three in England outside London producing programmes for national broadcast. As of August 2012, most of The Mailbox facility sat unused after the BBC moved the factual departments to Bristol and Cardiff.[46]
In 2018, Birmingham became the second base forBBC Three, following a BBC investment of £10m to allow the online-only platform to commission and publish some of its short-form content in the city, including itsAmazing Humans series.[47][48] The channel also films comedy seriesMan Like Mobeen in Birmingham.[49]
TheBBC Drama Village, based inSelly Oak, is a production facility specialising intelevision drama and is the home of nationally networked programmeDoctors.[50]
Birmingham-basedBBC Two television crime dramaPeaky Blinders, created byBrummie native film directorSteven Knight, is partly filmed in the city, where it has had several of its red carpet premieres.[51][52][53]
Birmingham used to be the largest source of nationally networked programmes toBBC One outside London, contributing 8.8% of the channel's first-run originated network hours in 2007, with its 3.6% share making it the fourth largest contributor outside London toBBC Two.[54]
ITV Central have theirGas Street Studios in the city, though the site only produces regional programming; network production from Birmingham forITV having ceased in 2005.[55]
BSkyB have a base at theUniversity of Birmingham's campus inEdgbaston, including a news bureau and a studio with broadcast, editing and production facilities, covering an area fromMid-Wales toNorfolk and fromSheffield toOxford.[56]
Following the collapse ofCity8 in November 2014, Big Centre TV was established, launching on 28 February 2015. On 3 October 2016,Made Television announced it had purchased Big Centre TV for an undisclosed sum,[57][58] relaunching it asMade in Birmingham on 8 November 2016. In November 2017, the channel cut output and ten staff were made redundant.[59] On 2 January 2018,Made in Birmingham ceased broadcasting on digital satellite and was replaced by a genericMade Television networked feed.[60] On 19 August 2018,Made in Birmingham re-branded asBirmingham TV,[61] in line with parent company Made Television re-branding asLocal Television Ltd.[62]
TheSikh Channel, which broadcasts across Europe, Africa and Asia, is based in the city'sAston area.[63]
Birmingham has an independent television production sector, with companies includingMaverick Television, who produceEmbarrassing Bodies andHow to Look Good Naked; andNorth One Television, whose productions includeFifth Gear andThe Gadget Show.[64][65]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2019) |
In May 2018, Birmingham was included in a bid to secure and host the partial relocation of national broadcasterChannel 4. Birmingham's bid was submitted by theWest Midlands Combined Authority alongside that of Coventry.[66]
In July 2018, Birmingham made the final shortlist of six cities selected by the broadcaster for possible relocation of its national headquarters or the creation of two creative hubs, moving 300 staff and hundreds of millions of pounds worth of TV programming to the selected city. The relocation from London to Birmingham by Channel 4 has been estimated to create 3,412 jobs in the region, while accountancy estimations suggest the move could directly boost the local economy by £2.3bn between 2021 and 2030.[67] The other five cities shortlisted are Greater Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, Cardiff and Leeds.[68] Channel 4 will be relocating in 2019.[69]
As of 27 September 2018, the decision from Channel 4 HQ had been delayed, withWest Midlands MayorAndy Street announcing the decision would now be expected in November 2018.[70]
Albert Austin (born 13 December 1881 or 1885) was an actor, film star, director and script writer, primarily in the days ofsilent movies. He was born in Birmingham. He worked forCharlie Chaplin's Stock Company and played supporting roles in many of Chaplin's films, and working as his assistant director.
Birmingham is the location for several British and international film productions includingFelicia's Journey (1999), which used locations in the city that had been used inTake Me High (1973) to contrast the changes in the city.[71]
With Britain having no significant film industry outsideLondon until the 1990s,BBC Birmingham has been seen as "the nearest Britain had to an integrated regional film culture", producing challenging films that attracted both large national audiences and critical approval, such asPhilip Martin'sGangsters (1975), a surreal but gritty portrayal of Birmingham's multicultural criminal underworld, andDavid Rudkin andAlan Clarke'sPenda's Fen (1974), which explored the pagan mythology andMercian identity of theEnglish Midlands.[72]
In recent decades many films have been set in Birmingham exploring aspects of the city's culture and identity.Take Me High (1973), which starredCliff Richard as amerchant banker reluctantly posted to Birmingham fromLondon, celebrated regionality and used Birmingham's high-rise architecture and then-new post-war redevelopment as a symbol of a gleaming future contrasted against old-fashioned values.[73] 25 years later,Atom Egoyan'sFelicia's Journey (1999), adapted fromthe novel byWilliam Trevor and described by theGuardian as "a small, low-key, atmospheric masterpiece"[74] used many of the same landmarks, but this time as symbols of decay, depicting "two lost souls ... subjugated to the vast inhuman industrial landscape of the city".[75]I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle (1989) used the city's heritage ofmotorcycle manufacture andheavy metal music to frame aspoofhorror movie,[76] a genre also represented by Adam Trotman'sDemagogue (1998),[77] andJon Wright'sTormented (2009).[78]
Birmingham's highly multicultural population has been a theme common to many films set in the city.Handsworth Songs (1986), directed byJohn Akomfrah, was an experimental documentary that wove together a mosaic of first-hand interviews, archive film and recreated scenes to explore the issues surrounding theHandsworth riots of the 1980s.[79]Knights and Emeralds (1986) centred around racial tensions in the rivalry between West Midlands bands.[80] The controversial 2009 musical1 Day, a fictionalised depiction of gang culture in Birmingham, was not screened in the city's cinemas amid concerns that it may have provoked unrest among local gangs.[81][82][83][84] Other films with scenes shot in Birmingham includeProstitute (1980),Clockwise (1986),Brassed Off (1996),[85]Sex Lives of the Potato Men (2004),Clubbed (2009),Danny and the Human Zoo (2015),The Girl with All the Gifts (2016),[86]American Assassin (2017),Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017),Jawbone (2017), andReady Player One (2018).[87][88][89]
In the 1920s,Oscar Deutsch opened his firstOdeon cinema in the UK, inPerry Barr. By 1930, the Odeon brand was a household name and still thrives today.
The Electric on Station Street opened on 27 December 1909, and is the oldest independent working cinema in the UK; continuing to operate, despite multiple threats of closure over the years.[90][91][92]
In 1931, theBirmingham Film Society was established, with an inaugural screening on 18 January 1931 at the Hampton Cinema in Livery Street.
The largest cinema screen in theWest Midlands was located atMillennium Point in Birmingham'sEastside, and opened in September 2001 as anIMAX format screen.[93] Unable to maintain commercial viability as large 3D screens became commonplace across commercial cinema multiplexes, the IMAX screen was closed and downgraded in September 2011, before its replacement Giant Screen Cinema was closed in January 2015.[94][95]
Screen West Midlands, the regional screen agency for the West Midlands, is based in the city'sJewellery Quarter.
Film Birmingham is theBirmingham City Council's Film and Television office, handling queries and filming requests from national and international productions.[96]
The city's primary film festival, the Birmingham Film Festival, wasco-founded by filmmaker Kevin McDonagh and actor Dean Williams in 2015 and has been held every year since.[97] It patrons includePeaky Blinders creatorSteven Knight and advertising executiveTrevor Beattie,[97] whilst its Grand Jury has featured judges including actressKia Pegg and filmmakersMichael B. Clifford andJoanna Quinn.[97]
The provision formedia education and training in Birmingham has been acknowledged bySkillset, the sector skills council for the creative media industries.[98]
Birmingham City University (BCU) received accreditation as aSkillset Media Academy in 2007, and its courses atMillennium Point (TEE),Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) and theBirmingham School of Media offer theoretical, practical and vocational studies in areas such as television and film, music and audio production, and interactive media.
Further education institutions such asSouth Birmingham College andBirmingham Metropolitan College house extensive media production facilities and maintain close industry links. Established in 2003, the CSV Media Clubhouse's portfolio of courses comprises industry-standard multimedia production training.
TheUniversity of Birmingham'sCentre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, founded in 1964 and closed in 2002, produced key theorists and research in media andcultural studies. The university still provides undergraduate and postgraduate education in this field as of 2010, through its Department of Sociology.
Prior to this, the nearest Britain had to an integrated regional film culture was television: BBC Birmingham broadcast to large national audiences challenging 16mm films on regional identity like David Rudkin and Alan Clarke's astonishingPenda's Fen (1974)
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