Media in Birmingham

The city of Birmingham, 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 in 1732.

Publishing

History

The first known Birmingham newspaper was the '' Birmingham Journal'', which was published by Thomas Warren from 1732 and whose early contributors included Samuel Johnson. The most notable of the town's early newspapers however was ''Aris's Birmingham Gazette'', which was founded in 1741 and continued publishing until 1956.

Contemporary

Birmingham has two main local newspapers—the '' Birmingham Post'' and the ''Birmingham Mail''—as well as the '' Sunday Mercury'', all owned by Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror).

In 2018, the ''Birmingham Mail'' rebranded their online digital operations as ''BirminghamLive''.

Reach plc additionally own ''What's On Magazine Group'', running since 1986 and currently producing six monthly regional entertainment titles, including ''What's On Birmingham'' and LGBT+ publication ''Midlands Zone''.

Reach plc is contracted to publish ''Forward'' (formerly ''Birmingham Voice''), the Birmingham City Council's free newspaper distributed to homes, community centres and public buildings. Reach plc previously published the now defunct ''Birmingham News'', a weekly freesheet distributed to homes in the suburbs.

Birmingham has three mainstream digital-only news publishers; ''I Am Birmingham'' established in 2009, ''Birmingham Updates'' established in 2011, and ''BirminghamWorld'' established in 2021. ''I Am Birmingham'' is run as a non-profit news publication by independent professional journalists. ''Birmingham Updates'' is run as a commercial business enterprise by Updates Media. '' BirminghamWorld'' is run as one of many national titles by National World.

Several hyperlocal newspapers serve Birmingham, including the ''Birmingham Advertiser'' and the ''Sutton Coldfield Observer'', which serves Sutton Coldfield and parts of Erdington. Independent news publisher ''Erdington Local'' additionally serves the Erdington area in both print and online format.

Birmingham is the hub for various national ethnic media, including ''The Phoenix Newspaper'', '' The Sikh Times'', ''Desi Xpress'', and '' The Asian Today''.

National entertainment news publisher ''Ikonz'' is based in Birmingham, one of few outside London.

Birmingham culture and lifestyle publications include music magazine '' Bearded'', ''Fused Magazine'', ''Birmingham Living'', ''Style Birmingham'', ''SixtyNine Degrees'', and ''Dluxe'' magazine.

Radio

Local radio stations include BBC WM, BBC Asian Network, Free Radio Birmingham and Greatest Hits West Midlands, 102.2 Capital FM Birmingham, Heart West Midlands, Absolute Radio, and Smooth Radio. The city has a community radio scene, with stations including Big City Radio, 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 lik
Brum Radio
serving local, independent and alternative music and arts which doesn't fit the commercial radio format.

History

Birmingham was the first British city outside London to have a radio service from the newly formed British Broadcasting Company, with the Birmingham station 5IT starting regular broadcasting from its Witton base at 17:00 on 15 November 1922, one day after 2LO started daily BBC broadcasting from London and one hour before the 18:00 launch of Manchester's 2ZY. 5IT pioneered many innovations in early broadcasting, launching '' Children's Hour'' in 1922, developing sophisticated methods of programme control and employing the first full-time announcers in 1923. The station's first announcer on its opening night was its general manager Percy Edgar, who was to be the dominant figure in Birmingham broadcasting and the BBC's most influential regional director until his retirement in 1948.

5IT moved its studios from Witton to a former cinema in New Street in 1923, moving again in 1926 to a completely new building in Broad Street with two studios – one of the largest the country. 1927 saw the low-powered city station 5IT replaced by the BBC Midland Region – the first of the BBC's regional services – broadcast from the new Borough Hill high powered transmitter near Daventry. The Broad Street studios now controlled and made programmes for a region stretching across central England from The Potteries to Norfolk.

As Director of the Midland Region Percy Edgar fought against the efforts of Lord 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" and positioning himself almost as an independent entrepreneur within the wider organisation.

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 of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. With 14 producers it was largest BBC department outside London. Notable programmes included the detective series ''Paul Temple'' which was produced in Birmingham and broadcast nationally from 1938 until 1968. and ''Midland Parliament'', which broke new ground in allowing the on-air discussion of controversial topics by members of the public.

On 30 October 1988, The Asian Network was launched on the MW transmitters of BBC WM and BBC 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 as BBC Asian Network. The station's key target audience are listeners aged 15–35 of South Asian descent. The station has production centres in London ( Broadcasting House) and Birmingham (The Mailbox). In mid 2017, BBC Asian Network's management was merged with that of BBC Radio 1Xtra, creating a super-network for two of the UK's largest ethnic minority groups.

''The Archers'', the world's longest running radio soap, is recorded in Birmingham for BBC Radio 4.

Commercial radio

There are two dominating radio stations in Birmingham, Free Radio Birmingham and Heart West Midlands.

BRMB was the fourth commercial ILR (Independent Local Radio) station to go on the air, after LBC, Capital, and Radio 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 included Ed Doolan, Les Ross, Phil Upton and Tony 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 as Free 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 first Heart 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 after Century Radio North East (now Heart North East) and Jazz FM North West (now Smooth North West).

Global Radio announced plans in 2008 to rebrand most of its stations to Heart, following the takeover of GCAP Media. Today, there are over twenty Heart stations throughout the UK.

Orion Media, owners of Free Radio Birmingham, have their offices based in Brindleyplace. 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 giant Bauer Media, who now own the Free Radio brand.

Television

History

The launch of the Sutton Coldfield transmitting station in December 1949 made the Birmingham area the first in Britain outside London to receive a television service.

The most notable achievement of the early years of Birmingham television was '' Cathy Come Home'', described by the BBC itself as "the most famous and groundbreaking TV drama ever made", and judged the second greatest British television programme of the twentieth century in a 2000 survey of broadcast industry professionals by the British Film Institute. First broadcast in 1966 and largely a Birmingham production, it was produced by Balsall Heath-born Tony Garnett, directed by Nuneaton-born Ken 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 new ITV network in 1956. The network's original representatives were Associated TeleVision (ATV) who served the area during the week and ABC 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 landmark Alpha Tower.

In 1982, ATV was reorganised and became Central Independent Television, which was rebranded as Carlton Central in 1999 and again as ITV Central in 2004. ITV's Birmingham studios produced several shows, including ''Tiswas'', '' Crossroads'' and ''Bullseye'', until the complex was closed in 1997, and Central moved to its current Gas Street studios. This was also the main hub for CITV, until the network's children's programming was moved to Manchester in 2004. Central's output from Birmingham now consists of only the ''West'' and ''East'' editions of the regional news programme '' Central Tonight''.

Other television programmes to have been made or filmed in Birmingham include '' Blockbusters'', ''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'', and ''Gladiators.

Current stations and programmes

The BBC
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