North Tonight
Encyclopedia
North Tonight was a Scottish
nightly regional news programme covering the North of Scotland, produced by STV North
(formerly Grampian Television).
. Previously, the weeknight news programme was known as Grampian Today, but had changed its name to reflect the Northern Scotland region as a whole. The programme's launch coincided with the opening of a new remote-controlled studio at Albany House in Dundee
(an event broadcast live on the first edition of North Tonight) and an expansion into Grampian's use of Electronic News Gathering
(ENG) cameras. The programme's predecessor, Grampian Today had pioneered the use of such cameras two years previously. By 1983, a third studio at Inverness
(modelled on the Dundee studio) was opened, allowing greater coverage of the Highlands and Islands area.
The early years of North Tonight also coincided with the launch of regular news bulletins at lunchtime (North News) and before station closedown (North Headlines) on weekdays, read by Grampian's team of continuity announcers. Regional news at weekends would not be introduced until 1988, when the bulletins were renamed Grampian Headlines. In fact, up until the early 1990s, North Tonight was taken off air during the summer months and replaced by a nightly magazine show entitled Summer at Six (later North Tonight: Summer Edition), which also included a short news bulletin.
Significant points in the history of the programme included extensive coverage of the Piper Alpha
disaster in 1988 and the resignation of Grampian Police
chief constable Dr. Ian Oliver in 1998. North Tonight also covered the murder of Aberdeen schoolboy, Scott Simpson in the mid-nineties and the bird flu incident in Cellardyke
, Fife
in April 2006. Its predecessor, Grampian Today, had the first live broadcast from an oil platform in the North Sea, as well as the first live broadcast from the summit of Cairn Gorm
.
The programme was aired from Grampian's main studios at Queens Cross
in Aberdeen until the station moved to new, smaller studios in the West Tullos
area of the city in 2003. News studios were retained in Dundee
and Inverness
with political correspondents based at bureaux in Edinburgh
and Millbank
, Westminster
. There was a studio in Stornoway but this closed in 2001. Contracted freelance correspondents and cameramen provided news coverage from the outer regions of Shetland, Orkney, Caithness and Sutherland. The programme also had the distinction of covering the news for the largest geographical region in the ITV network, covering an area the size of Belgium
.
On 8 January 2007, viewers of North Tonight began to receive two different programmes - those in the Dundee
, Angus
, Perthshire
and north-east Fife
area received a dedicated bulletin within the main North Tonight programme featuring the day's news from the sub-region, presented & produced from STV's studios in Dundee
and directed from a technical gallery in Aberdeen. Originally, the bulletins were produced from Harbour Chambers in City Quay. As of 28 April 2008, STV News's Tayside operation is now based at upgraded, larger studios at Seabraes. Whilst the Tayside bulletin was broadcast, viewers further north saw more news from the north-east, Highlands and Islands
areas, broadcast from the headquarters of STV North in Aberdeen.
On 7 April 2007, it was announced that GMTV
had replaced STV as the supplier of early morning regional news bulletins in Scotland. The contract was awarded to the Belfast-based Macmillan Media
, which has offices in London and Glasgow. GMTV Scotland (Grampian)
began on 3 December 2007. STV, and its northern predecessor Grampian Television had supplied GMTV with its news since the breakfast channel took over from TV-am in 1993. The newsroom produced three bulletins of about three minutes each at 06.35, 07.05 and 08.05. The decision also affected North Today's sister programme Scotland Today.
On 19 June 2007, STV North began producing Northern Exposure
, a supplementary video blog, presented and produced by the North Tonight team for the station's website, stv.tv
. The blogs, which spawned a spin-off series entitled Ask Kirstin, continued to be produced on a regular basis until June 2009.
On 18 March 2009, it was announced that the North Tonight branding would be phased out as part of a major station revamp. On Monday 23 March 2009, the nightly news programme was relaunched and renamed as STV News at Six
. The name is also used in the STV Central region as a replacement for Scotland Today
. The very last North Tonight bulletin was aired on Friday 20 March 2009.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
nightly regional news programme covering the North of Scotland, produced by STV North
Grampian Television
Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...
(formerly Grampian Television).
History
North Tonight began on 7 January 1980 with presenters John Duncanson and Selina ScottSelina Scott
Selina Scott is a British newsreader, journalist, television producer and presenter.- Background and early life :Scott was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire in 1951, the eldest of five children...
. Previously, the weeknight news programme was known as Grampian Today, but had changed its name to reflect the Northern Scotland region as a whole. The programme's launch coincided with the opening of a new remote-controlled studio at Albany House in Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
(an event broadcast live on the first edition of North Tonight) and an expansion into Grampian's use of Electronic News Gathering
Electronic news gathering
ENG is a broadcasting industry acronym which stands for electronic news gathering. It can mean anything from a lone broadcast journalist reporter taking a single professional video camera out to shoot a story, to an entire television crew taking a production truck or satellite truck on location...
(ENG) cameras. The programme's predecessor, Grampian Today had pioneered the use of such cameras two years previously. By 1983, a third studio at Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
(modelled on the Dundee studio) was opened, allowing greater coverage of the Highlands and Islands area.
The early years of North Tonight also coincided with the launch of regular news bulletins at lunchtime (North News) and before station closedown (North Headlines) on weekdays, read by Grampian's team of continuity announcers. Regional news at weekends would not be introduced until 1988, when the bulletins were renamed Grampian Headlines. In fact, up until the early 1990s, North Tonight was taken off air during the summer months and replaced by a nightly magazine show entitled Summer at Six (later North Tonight: Summer Edition), which also included a short news bulletin.
Significant points in the history of the programme included extensive coverage of the Piper Alpha
Piper Alpha
Piper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform operated by Occidental Petroleum Ltd. The platform began production in 1976, first as an oil platform and then later converted to gas production. An explosion and resulting fire destroyed it on 6 July 1988, killing 167 men, with only 61...
disaster in 1988 and the resignation of Grampian Police
Grampian Police
Grampian Police is the territorial police force of the northeast region of Scotland, covering the council areas of Aberdeenshire, the City of Aberdeen, and Moray . The Force area also covers some of the North Sea, giving Grampian Police the responsibility of policing the oil and gas platforms of...
chief constable Dr. Ian Oliver in 1998. North Tonight also covered the murder of Aberdeen schoolboy, Scott Simpson in the mid-nineties and the bird flu incident in Cellardyke
Cellardyke
Cellardyke is a village in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The village is to the immediate east of Anstruther and is to the south of Kilrenny.- History :...
, Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
in April 2006. Its predecessor, Grampian Today, had the first live broadcast from an oil platform in the North Sea, as well as the first live broadcast from the summit of Cairn Gorm
Cairn Gorm
Cairn Gorm is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands overlooking Strathspey and the town of Aviemore. At 1245 metres it is the sixth highest mountain in the United Kingdom...
.
The programme was aired from Grampian's main studios at Queens Cross
Queens Cross
Queen's Cross is area in the west-end of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located just west from the main Union Street and about from the geographical town centre at Mercat Cross....
in Aberdeen until the station moved to new, smaller studios in the West Tullos
Tullos
Tullos is an area of Torry, a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland. The area takes its name from the Vale of Tullos which lies between Tullos Hill and Torry Hill. Tullos derived its name from a corruption of the Gaelic ‘Tulach’ meaning a hill....
area of the city in 2003. News studios were retained in Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
and Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
with political correspondents based at bureaux in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and Millbank
Millbank
Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the River Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster...
, Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
. There was a studio in Stornoway but this closed in 2001. Contracted freelance correspondents and cameramen provided news coverage from the outer regions of Shetland, Orkney, Caithness and Sutherland. The programme also had the distinction of covering the news for the largest geographical region in the ITV network, covering an area the size of Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
On 8 January 2007, viewers of North Tonight began to receive two different programmes - those in the Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, Angus
Angus
Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...
, Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
and north-east Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...
area received a dedicated bulletin within the main North Tonight programme featuring the day's news from the sub-region, presented & produced from STV's studios in Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
and directed from a technical gallery in Aberdeen. Originally, the bulletins were produced from Harbour Chambers in City Quay. As of 28 April 2008, STV News's Tayside operation is now based at upgraded, larger studios at Seabraes. Whilst the Tayside bulletin was broadcast, viewers further north saw more news from the north-east, Highlands and Islands
Highlands and Islands
The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are broadly the Scottish Highlands plus Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides.The Highlands and Islands are sometimes defined as the area to which the Crofters' Act of 1886 applied...
areas, broadcast from the headquarters of STV North in Aberdeen.
On 7 April 2007, it was announced that GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
had replaced STV as the supplier of early morning regional news bulletins in Scotland. The contract was awarded to the Belfast-based Macmillan Media
Macmillan Media
Macmillan Media is a multimedia company covering the UK and Ireland working in Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Manchester and London, and is owned by British journalist Michael Macmillan.-Daybreak Regional News:...
, which has offices in London and Glasgow. GMTV Scotland (Grampian)
Daybreak Scotland
Daybreak Scotland is the regional news strand for the two ITV regions in northern and central Scotland, provided for the ITV breakfast station ITV Breakfast...
began on 3 December 2007. STV, and its northern predecessor Grampian Television had supplied GMTV with its news since the breakfast channel took over from TV-am in 1993. The newsroom produced three bulletins of about three minutes each at 06.35, 07.05 and 08.05. The decision also affected North Today's sister programme Scotland Today.
On 19 June 2007, STV North began producing Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure (video blog)
Northern Exposure was a supplementary video blog for the Northern Scotland edition of the regional news programme, STV News at Six. The first blog was produced on Tuesday June 19, 2007 and as of June 30, 2009, 180 episodes had been made available...
, a supplementary video blog, presented and produced by the North Tonight team for the station's website, stv.tv
Stv.tv
www.stv.tv is the URL of the website of the Scottish television channel, STV. The website currently offers the usual sections of News, Sport, Entertainment, Weather, Competitions, Forums and STV programme information, with TV listings...
. The blogs, which spawned a spin-off series entitled Ask Kirstin, continued to be produced on a regular basis until June 2009.
On 18 March 2009, it was announced that the North Tonight branding would be phased out as part of a major station revamp. On Monday 23 March 2009, the nightly news programme was relaunched and renamed as STV News at Six
STV News at Six
STV News at Six is a Scottish regional news programme, covering the two STV franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland, produced by STV Central in the Central region and STV North in the Northern region.The programmes were launched on Monday 23 March 2009, replacing Scotland Today in...
. The name is also used in the STV Central region as a replacement for Scotland Today
Scotland Today
Scotland Today was a Scottish regional news programme covering Central Scotland, produced by STV Central . Despite its name suggesting a national remit, the programme was actually limited to stories around STV's Central Belt franchise...
. The very last North Tonight bulletin was aired on Friday 20 March 2009.
Presenters
- Andrew AndersonAndrew Anderson (journalist)Andrew Anderson is a Scottish broadcast journalist.Anderson joined Grampian Television in February 1988 as a reporter and presenter of the nightly regional news programme North Tonight....
(1988 - 1992) - Andrea Brymer (2003 - 2009)
- John DuncansonJohn Duncanson (broadcaster)John Duncanson is a former British television continuity announcer and presenter. Duncanson began his career in the early 1960s, announcing at ABC Television in Manchester and Birmingham, alongside the likes of David Hamilton and John Benson...
(1980 - 1998) - Alan FisherAlan FisherAlan Fisher is a Scottish broadcast journalist, who works for international news channel, Al Jazeera English and is based at its News Centre in Washington DC.- Early career :...
(1986 - 1990) - Pauline Fraser (2000 - 2007)
- Frank GilfeatherFrank GilfeatherFrank Gilfeather is a senior Scottish journalist and broadcaster.Gilfeather, a former Scottish amateur boxing champion from Dundee, moved to Aberdeen in April 1969 and began work on the Press & Journal and the Evening Express as a general news reporter...
(1980 - mid 1990s) - Kirstin Gove (1996 - 2009)
- Chris HarveyChris HarveyChris Harvey is a news presenter, journalist and producer for STV News at Six and STV Sports Centre in northern Scotland.Born in Inverurie, his mother and father were a speech therapist and a Northern College lecturer respectively. He attended Wormit Primary School & Madras College in St...
(2000 - 2009) - Joan IngramJoan IngramJoan Ingram is a Scottish broadcaster, journalist and media company director.Ingram studied at the University of Dundee and Aberdeen University where she obtained a MA honours degree in politics & jurisprudence in 1981 and an MBA in 1996, respectively....
(1983 - 1997)
- Sarah MackSarah MackSarah Mack is a Scottish television presenter and journalist.Mack started her career at the now-defunct Edinburgh Live cable TV station as a runner and production journalist...
(1998 - 2003) - Anne MacKenzie (1981 - 1995)
- Norman MacleodNorman Macleod (journalist)Norman Macleod is a STV North news presenter and journalist for the Northern Scotland edition of STV News at Six.A Gaelic-speaker from the Outer Hebrides, Macleod worked part-time at two BBC local radio stations, one in Stornoway and the other in Aberdeen, whilst at college...
(c. 1990 - 2009) - Anne ScottAnne ScottAnne Scott is a Scottish television continuity announcer and former broadcast journalist.During the early 1990s, Scott was a news reporter for Anglia Television, covering North Cambridgeshire, South Lincolnshire and West Norfolk from a newsroom in Peterborough...
(mid - late 1990s) - Selina ScottSelina ScottSelina Scott is a British newsreader, journalist, television producer and presenter.- Background and early life :Scott was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire in 1951, the eldest of five children...
(1978 - 1980) - Anna SoubryAnna SoubryAnna Mary Soubry is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Broxtowe since the 2010 general election. She is a single mother of two children....
(1981 - 1984) - Isla TraquairIsla TraquairIsla Traquair is a Scottish broadcast journalist.-Journalism career:Isla started in journalism at the age of 15, working one day a week at a local press agency while still at school...
(2001 - 2006) - Ron Thomson (1966 - 1991)
- Mark WhiteMark White (journalist)Mark White is a Scottish broadcast journalist, currently working with Sky News.White began his career with BBC Radio Scotland in 1987 and for two years, worked on coverage of the Lockerbie disaster and the subsequent Fatal Accident Inquiry in Dumfries....
(1993 - 1999) - Alastair YatesAlastair YatesAlastair Yates is a British journalist. He worked with the BBC, on BBC World News and BBC News until his retirement in April 2011.Born and brought up in Burton upon Trent, Yates was educated at Manor House School, Ashby and the former Burton Grammar School...
(1980 - 1986)