BBC West is one of the BBC's English Regions serving

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, the majority of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

and north of

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

Services

Television

BBC West's television service (broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

) consists of the flagship regional news service '' BBC Points West'' and a 30 minute political programme '' Sunday Politics''.

Radio

The region has four local radio stations; BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, BBC Radio Somerset & BBC Radio Wiltshire. They broadcast local programming every weekday between 6am and 2pm. Bristol and Somerset share one programme between 2pm and 6pm with Gloucestershire and Wiltshire sharing another. All carry local news bulletins during shared afternoon programmes although one station per programme will play out a pre-recorded bulletin. Evening weekday programmes are shared regionally across all four stations. A national late show from Manchester or London is then broadcast between 10pm and 1am. Weekend programmes are shared, regional or national apart from Saturday afternoon sport between 2pm and 6pm.

Online and interactive

BBC West also produces online content for BBC News web pages and related social media platforms.

History

BBC West launched a regional television service from Bristol on 30 September 1957. Initially broadcast from the Wenvoe transmitter on the outskirts of Cardiff, the geographical nature of the Wenvoe signal meant the first regional news bulletins were broadcast to both Wales and the West of England, sharing a ten-minute timeslot with ''News from Wales''. Until December 1960, news bulletins from Bristol also served the south coast of England, which latterly received its own regional programme. The weekday timeslot for regional news extended to 25 minutes in September 1962 – around this time, the West of England bulletin became known as ''Points West'' while the Welsh bulletins received a more comprehensive relaunch as '' BBC Wales Today''. The opening of a second signal from Wenvoe in February 1964 finally allowed the split of BBC television in Wales and the West. A separate

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

channel was launched while BBC West became a full regional opt-out service to the extent seen in other English regions, with ''Points West'' becoming a full-length programme. ''Points West'' continued until 1991, when the service was renamed ''BBC News West''. The ''Points West'' brand was revived on Monday 22 May 2000 with the launch of the BBC's generic regional news graphics and presentation.

Studios

BBC West's regional broadcasting centre is located on Whiteladies Road in the Clifton area of

with local radio studios and television bureaux also in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

and

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

. The Bristol studios are the main base for '' Points West'', BBC Radio Bristol and various regional and, previously, network programmes. Network output is now made at other specially built facilities or does not use a studio. The site originally had two studios, A and B, which catered for all output - network programming was produced from Studio A and ''Points West'' and other regional output from Studio B. Studio A was closed in 1991 as a cost-saving measure, and in 1996 the site was altered so that new gallery facilities were inserted into part of Studio A. The now smaller Studio A is now used for ''Points West'', while Studio B has been demolished.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc West

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

Television channels and stations established in 1933