| Genre | News |
|---|---|
| Running time | 15 minutes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra, BBC Asian Network |
| Produced by | BBC News |
| Edited by | Danielle Dwyer |
| Recording studio | Broadcasting House,London (2013–2022) The Mailbox,Birmingham (2022 – present) |
| Original release | 10 September 1973 – Present |
| Audio format | Stereophonic sound |
| Website | www |
Newsbeat is theBBC's radio news programme broadcast onRadio 1,Radio 1Xtra andAsian Network.Newsbeat is produced byBBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for young people.[1]
The fifteen-minuteNewsbeat 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.
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 theUK which supplied a news service very different from the style of traditionalBBC News. The programme's first presenter was the Radio 1 DJEd Stewart and he was succeeded byLaurie Mayer andRichard Skinner.[2]
Although unconfirmed by the BBC, it is widely thought that the name "Newsbeat" was taken from theRadio 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, theNewsbeat 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 asRadio 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 calledNews 90/91/92/93 and for the first week of 1994 until the schedule changes,News 94 as the teatime edition ofNewsbeat was then reinstated.
Following changes in September 2012, the vast majority ofNewsbeatbulletins are simulcast on both BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra. Previously, bulletins on 1Xtra were bespoke and branded as1Xtra News, with bulletins on the half-hour (as withNewsbeat), 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 theRadio Academy Awards on 13 May 2013.[4]
It is believed thatBBC World Service will pilot a global edition ofNewsbeat, a bulletin on the station aimed at younger listeners.[5]
Newsbeat'sThe 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 announcedNewsbeat 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.
Newsbeat bulletins broadcast onRadio 1,1Xtra and more recently Asian Network, which started sharingNewsbeat output when the BBC streamlined news during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[7] As well as bulletins,Newsbeat broadcasts programmes at 12:45 and 17:45 lasting 15 minutes on weekdays.
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.
Updates consist of news and sport. The 13:30 bulletin is read by a different newsreader every day due to the main newsreader being on lunch at that time. Bulletins are hourly at weekends with one newsreader working throughout the day.
There was also an entertainment news round up at approximately 07:40 and 09:40 duringThe 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 duringJo Whiley's weekday mid-morning, laterFearne Cotton's mid-morning show and at 18:30 duringGreg 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 theCOVID-19 pandemic.
As of October 2021, the mainNewsbeat has been dropped fromBBC Asian Network on Monday to Thursday afternoons from 3pm. Three-minute bulletins are broadcast each half-hour 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 1Xtra. However on Friday afternoons, it broadcasts the networkNewsbeat bulletins at 15:30 and 16:30, plus the full 17:45Newsbeat 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.
In keeping with its specific targeting of young audiences,Newsbeat had its own set of reporters and studios based atRadio 1 inBroadcasting House inLondon. Since 2022, the programme is based atThe Mailbox inBirmingham, as part of the BBC's effort to move some of its services outside of London.
Many of the stories produced byNewsbeat are reported by other programmes acrossBBC News.
Previous reporters and main presenters includeEleanor 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, Daniel Rosney, Christian Hewgill and Sinead Garvan.
Previous sports reporters includeArlo White,Andy May, Simon Mundie,Mark Chapman,David Garrido, Juliette Ferrington,Tina Daheley andCarrie 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 newsreaderDominic Byrne, who later went on to join him on theBBC Radio 1 andRadio X breakfast shows.Greg James also built a good relationship withChris Smith through chatting following news bulletins.
Danielle Dwyer was appointed editor ofNewsbeat in October 2021. She oversaw the programme's move from London to Birmingham in Autumn 2022. TheNewsbeat editor also oversees BBC Asian Network news, as well as allNewsbeat output across BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, BBC iPlayer and online.
Debbie Ramsay wasNewsbeat's previous editor. She leftNewsbeat in 2021 having been in charge since 2016.Newsbeat's executive editor was former daytime editor ofBBC 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 theSimon 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 fromThe Sun by the Director-General to inject a populist flavour to the news coverage of Radio 1.
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 1Newsbeat |
| August 2004 – January 2005 | David Lowe /Radio 1 in house production | BBC Radio 1Newsbeat |
| January 2005 – December 2006 | Music4 | Radio 1Newsbeat |
| 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/Asian Network (as appropriate) |
| May 2022 – present | Wisebuddah | Radio 1/1Xtra/Asian NetworkNewsbeat (as appropriate) |
In 2007,Newsbeat's Oddbox was launched. A four-minute video which looked at the week's strangest news, it was presented byDominic Byrne, or byTulip Mazumdar[10] or Natalie Jamieson when Byrne was unavailable. Old episodes are available to watch atBBC Online, on theBBC Red Button and on theBBC News channel. The last episode ofOddbox was released on 14 September 2012, to coincide with Byrne leaving Radio 1.[11]
In 2015,Newsbeat Documentaries was launched, consisting in in-depth investigations on various subjects, like social and political themes,[12][13] and broadcast byRadio 1,1Xtra[14] andBBC News.[15]
Satirist and broadcasterChristopher Morris parodied the 1990s presentational style ofNewsbeat as "Radio 1 Newsbanger". Some of these parodies were actually broadcast on Radio 1, though most featured in the Radio 4 comedy seriesOn The Hour.[16]
In 1997, Morris further parodiedNewsbeat by rearranging sentences of existingNewsbeat broadcasts to create nonsensical and blackly comic headlines, as part of a one-off segment onBlue Jam. UnlikeOn The Hour,Blue Jam was broadcast on Radio 1.
