Midlands Today is the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

's regional television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 news

News

News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...

 programme for the West Midlands region

West Midlands (region)

The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...

, which covers the north of Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

, Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

 and the West Midlands county

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

. Midlands Today began on 28 September 1964, from a small studio in Broad Street

Broad Street, Birmingham

Broad Street is a major thoroughfare and popular nightspot in Birmingham City Centre, United Kingdom. Traditionally, Broad Street was considered to be outside Birmingham City Centre, but as the city centre expanded with the removal of the Inner Ring Road, Broad Street has been incorporated into...

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

.

Overview

Midlands Today is produced by BBC Midlands

BBC West Midlands

BBC West Midlands is the BBC English Region producing local television, radio, web and teletext content for West Midlands metropolitan county, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and parts of Northern Gloucestershire - although the county as part of the south west...

 and broadcasts on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 during the regional news slots during and following the main national news. The programme is produced and broadcast from the BBC studios in The Mailbox

The Mailbox

The Mailbox is an upmarket development of offices, designer shops, restaurants, bars and luxury city-centre apartments in the City Centre and on the boundary of the City Centre Core in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It includes a mini supermarket and three art galleries: the Artlounge, Castle...

, Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 which has been its base since 25 October 2004. Journalists are also based at newsrooms in Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

, Coventry

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

, Hereford

Hereford

Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...

, Worcester

Worcester

The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

, Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

, and Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...

.

In 1988 the programme became the first regional news magazine to adopt the formal news format already commonplace on network news.

The programme began broadcasting from a small room in the Birmingham Register Office

Register office

A register office is a British term for a civil registry, a government office and depository where births, deaths and marriages are officially recorded and where you can get officially married, without a religious ceremony...

 and moved to the custom-built Pebble Mill

Pebble Mill Studios

The BBC 's Pebble Mill Studios were located in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham, England. The views from the roof overlooked Cannon Hill Park, a nature centre, as well as Birmingham's city centre...

 broadcasting centre in Edgbaston

Edgbaston

Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....

 on 10 November 1971. It remained there until the studios closed on 22 October 2004.

Midlands Today is broadcast from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter on analogue & digital terrestrial and can be watched in any part of the UK (and Europe) on digital satellite

Sky Digital (UK & Ireland)

Sky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...

 channel 979 on the BBC UK regional TV on satellite

BBC UK regional TV on satellite

The BBC broadcasts all of the BBC One and BBC Two regional variations on digital satellite television from the SES Astra satellites at 28.2° east; providing local news programmes and other regional programming with local continuity and presentation for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales...

 service, via Astra 2D

Astra 2D

Astra 2D is one of a group of Astra communications satellites operated by SES, located at 28.2° east in the Clarke Belt. It is a Hughes HS-376 craft, and was launched from the Guiana Space Centre in December 2000....

 at 28.2 degrees East. The latest edition is also available to view again on the Midlands Today website.

Coverage area

Until 1991, "Midlands Today" covered the entire Midlands

English Midlands

The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...

 region - the East Midlands

East Midlands

The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...

 counties of Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

 and Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

 are now covered by BBC East Midlands Today based in Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

.

Today the programme covers Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, Worcestershire

Worcestershire

Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...

, West Midlands

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

, Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

, North Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, and Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

.

On Air

On weekdays, Midlands Today broadcasts six three-minute opt-outs during BBC Breakfast

BBC Breakfast

BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...

 at around 25 and 55 minutes past each hour. A fifteen-minute lunchtime programme follows at 1:30pm and a short mid-afternoon update at 3pm (with sign language), before the main half-hour edition at 6:30pm. A short 30-second headlines update is broadcast during the 8pm BBC News Summary and a seven-minute late update is shown at 10:25pm, following the BBC News at Ten.

At weekends, there are two short bulletins on Saturdays (lunchtime & early evenings) and Sundays (early evenings & late night). Broadcast times for these bulletins usually vary.

Presenters

The main 6.30pm presenters are Nick Owen

Nick Owen

Nicholas "Nick" Corbishley Owen is an English television presenter and newsreader, best known for presenting the breakfast television programme TV-am and the BBC's local news show Midlands Today since 1997...

 (formerly a presenter of Good Morning with Anne and Nick

Good Morning with Anne and Nick

Good Morning with Anne and Nick was a BBC1 daytime television show presented by Anne Diamond and Nick Owen, from October 1992 to May 1996. The pair had previously presented TV-am on ITV, but now directly competed with ITV's This Morning....

) and Suzanne Virdee

Suzanne Virdee

Suzanne Virdee is a British television newsreader known in the Midlands area. She is one of the presenters of Midlands Today on BBC One and has appeared on BBC Breakfast as the programme's newsreader, until a change of studio and format in March 2006.-Career:Virdee became a journalist at the age...

. Other presenters include Kay Alexander

Kay Alexander

Kay Alexander is a British regional television newsreader, appearing on BBC Midlands Today.Alexander is originally from Surrey and read English in the Midlands at the University of Birmingham. She initially worked for the BBC at Pebble Mill for BBC Radio 4...

, Michael Collie

Michael Collie (journalist)

Michael Collie is a British television journalist who currently presents for the BBC in the West Midlands. He currently is the joint main presenter of the regional opt-out on the weekly politics programme, the Politics Show, in addition to the weekend editions of BBC Midlands Today, alternating...

 (formerly a presenter on Countryfile

Countryfile

Countryfile is a British magazine-style television programme produced by BBC Birmingham, first aired on 24th July 1988, which reports on rural and environmental issues within the United Kingdom. For its first 20 years it was fronted by broadcaster John Craven, until he stepped back from the role of...

and Top Gear), Sarah Falkland

Sarah Falkland (journalist)

Sarah Falkland is a British television journalist, working as a reporter and newsreader for BBC Midlands Today for the West Midlands Region....

 and Satnam Rana

Satnam Rana

Satnam Rana is a presenter for the BBC, currently presenting on BBC news programme Midlands Today and features on BBC WM. She worked at Five Live for two years then came to BBC Birmingham where she has been working since 2002.-Early life:...

. Shefali Oza

Shefali Oza

Shefali Oza is a news presenter on BBC Birmingham's Midlands Today, the regional news programme broadcast in the Midlands of England...

 and Ben Rich present weather and Dan Pallett is the main sports presenter.

Former presenters have included Tom Coyne, the late Alan Towers

Alan Towers

Alan Towers was a former presenter of Midlands Today, BBC Midlands' regional news programme.After stints as a newsreader with ITN and Granada Television in Manchester, Towers joined BBC Midlands in 1972 as a main presenter on Midlands Today and was also seen nationally as a presenter of features...

 (until July 1997), David Stevens, Guy Thomas, Grant Mansfield, David Davies

David Davies (football administrator)

David Davies OBE is a former Executive Director of the The Football Association. He previously worked as sports correspondent for BBC Midlands Today as well as presenter from 1988 until 1994, and also appeared on BBC North West Tonight previously....

, Kathy Rochford (who transferred to the East Midlands), Sue Beardsmore

Sue Beardsmore

Susan Beardsmore is a former BBC television presenter who fronted the regional news programme BBC Midlands Today for twenty years....

, Matt Smith

Matt Smith (broadcaster)

Matt Smith is a British broadcaster, and currently one of ITV Sport's main presenters.-Early life:Matt is a Modern Languages and Political Studies graduate from Sheffield City Polytechnic, where he studied from 1985-89. During that time he spent a year in Italy as part of his studies...

, Julian Worricker

Julian Worricker

Julian Worricker is a British journalist, currently working as a presenter of You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 and a relief presenter on BBC News, the corporation's 24 hour rolling news channel...

, Ashley Blake

Ashley Blake

Ashley Blake is a former television presenter and newsreader. A well known personality in the English Midlands, he worked mostly for the BBC, where his credits include reporting and presenting on Midlands Today, the region's edition of Inside Out, and briefly on the TV series Watchdog...

 (who was sacked in August 2009 after being found guilty of wounding and perverting the course of justice), Bernardette Kearney and Michael Buerk

Michael Buerk

Michael Duncan Buerk is a BBC journalist and newsreader, most famous for his reporting of the Ethiopian famine on 23 October 1984, which inspired the Band Aid charity record.-Early life:...

.

Senior presenter Alan Towers's on-air departure in July 1997 (after twenty five years) brought about one of the most controversial moments in the programme's history when he shared indignant views on the state of BBC management, describing them as pygmies in grey suits wearing blindfolds.

Bulletin/stand-in presenters

• Mary Rhodes
  Mary Rhodes
  Mary Rhodes is a regular sports presenter on BBC World throughout the week and often presents the sport on the BBC One Weekend Bulletins. She has held this role since 2000, but prior to this was with BBC News 24 since its 1997 launch. She hosted the daily magazine programme 110%...
  
   (main relief)
• Kay Alexander
  Kay Alexander
  Kay Alexander is a British regional television newsreader, appearing on BBC Midlands Today.Alexander is originally from Surrey and read English in the Midlands at the University of Birmingham. She initially worked for the BBC at Pebble Mill for BBC Radio 4...
  
   (Breakfast & lunchtime bulletins)
• Michael Collie
  Michael Collie (journalist)
  Michael Collie is a British television journalist who currently presents for the BBC in the West Midlands. He currently is the joint main presenter of the regional opt-out on the weekly politics programme, the Politics Show, in addition to the weekend editions of BBC Midlands Today, alternating...
  
   (Weekend bulletins, relief)

• Sarah Falkland
  Sarah Falkland (journalist)
  Sarah Falkland is a British television journalist, working as a reporter and newsreader for BBC Midlands Today for the West Midlands Region....
  
   (Late night & weekend bulletins, relief)
• Giles Latcham (Breakfast bulletins, relief, also reporter)
• Ben Rich (Relief, also weather presenter)

• Satnam Rana
  Satnam Rana
  Satnam Rana is a presenter for the BBC, currently presenting on BBC news programme Midlands Today and features on BBC WM. She worked at Five Live for two years then came to BBC Birmingham where she has been working since 2002.-Early life:...
  
   (Relief, also reporter)
• Katie Rowlett (Breakfast bulletins, relief)
• Shefali Oza
  Shefali Oza
  Shefali Oza is a news presenter on BBC Birmingham's Midlands Today, the regional news programme broadcast in the Midlands of England...
  
   (Sunday evenings)

Sports presenters

• Nick Clitheroe

• Daniel Pallett (also relief news presenter)

• Ian Winter

Weather presenters

• Shefali Oza
  Shefali Oza
  Shefali Oza is a news presenter on BBC Birmingham's Midlands Today, the regional news programme broadcast in the Midlands of England...
  
  

• Ben Rich

• Sarah Cruickshank

Reporters

District Correspondents

• Liz Copper (Staffordshire)
• Bob Hockenhull (Wolverhampton & the Black Country)
• Cath Mackie (Worcestershire Videojournalist)
• Andy Newman (Herefordshire & Worcestershire)
• Kevin Reide (Warwickshire Videojournalist)
• Joanne Writtle (Shropshire & South Staffordshire)

Specialist Correspondents

• Patrick Burns (Political Editor)
• Lindsay Doyle (Arts)
• David Gregory
  David Gregory (BBC)
  Dr. David Gregory is a news correspondent for BBC Midlands Today, the regional news programme broadcast in the Midlands of England. He is the Science and Environmental Correspondent....
  
   (Science & Environment)
• Michele Paduano (Health)
• Peter Plisner (Transport)
• Peter Wilson (Home Affairs)

General Reporters

• Joan Cummins
• Jackie Kabler
  Jackie Kabler
  Jackie Kabler is a British freelance television presenter and reporter.Kabler was born in Coventry.Kabler is best known for her work on breakfast TV programme GMTV, where she worked for nine years, two as a reporter/producer and seven as a roving correspondent...
  
   (freelance)
• Giles Latcham
• Ben Godfrey
• Clare Marshall (also network correspondent)