Newsbeat

This article is about the BBC programme. For the more general journalist role, see beat reporting.

Newsbeat

Genre	News
Running time	15 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Languages	English
Home station	BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra
Producers	BBC News
Recording studio	Yalding House, London
Air dates	since 1973
Audio format	FM and Digital radio
Website	bbc.co.uk/newsbeat

Newsbeat is the flagship news programme on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. Newsbeat is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically younger audience.^[1]

Newsbeat is broadcast at 12:45 and 17:45 during the week on Radio 1. Short bulletins are also heard throughout the day, on the half hour. Extra bulletins are broadcast during The Chris Moyles Show and at 17:00.

Although unconfirmed by the BBC, it's widely thought that the name "Newsbeat" was taken from the Radio 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 1/2 hour headlines) in the 1960s.

History

Newsbeat was launched in 1973 in response to the launch of a network of commercial radio stations across the UK which supplied a news service very different from the style of traditional BBC News. The programme's first presenter was the Radio 1 DJ Ed "Stewpot" Stewart and he was succeeded by Laurie Mayer and Richard Skinner.

Newsbeat's jingles were produced on-and-off by Music 4 between 1998 and 2011, and from 2005 to 2011 have been notable for using the four note Radio 1 'logo'. A new logo and jingles were introduced in June 2011 produced by Koink.

Location

In keeping with its specific targeting of young audiences, Newsbeat has its own set of reporters based at Yalding House in Central London (as opposed to the main Newsroom BBC Television Centre, where most BBC News operations come from). The team's reporters are themselves young, and often report on the location of the big news stories of the day.

Presenters and reporters

Current team members on Newsbeat include:

Tom Bateman Natalie Jamieson (Entertainment) Chi Chi Izundu (Entertainment) Rick Kelsey Nomia Iqbal Anthony Baxter Greg Dawson Maddii Lown Greg Cochrane (Music)

Dominic Byrne (Chris Moyles Show) Debbie Randle Chris Smith Tina Daheley (Sport, Chris Moyles Show) Simon Mundie (Sport) Ben Mundy Jean Mackenzie Nick Beake

Jim Taylor (Multimedia reporter) Amy Gladwell Steve Holden (Entertainment) Del Crookes (Online) Dave Howard (US reporter) Robin Brant (Politics) Dan Whitworth (Technology) Adina Campbell Charissa Chadderton Sima Kotetcha Catherine Burns Jim Reed Elaine Okyere Steven McIntosh Gabbie O'Donnell

Editors

The current editor and controller of Newsbeat is Rod McKenzie, himself a former presenter of the programme and the news presenter on the Simon Mayo breakfast show on Radio 1 from 1988-1993. Newsbeat's first editor was Mike Chaney - hired from The Sun by the Director-General to inject a populist flavour to the news coverage of Radio 1.

Other current duty editors include:

• Jack Baine
• Adrian Pearce
• Anubha Chaturvedi
• Debbie Randle
• Julian Marshall
• Debbie Ramsay
• Charmaine Cozier
• Gabriella O'Donnell

Newsbeat's Oddbox

In 2007, Newsbeat's Oddbox was launched. A four minute video which looks at the week's strangest news, presented by Dominic Byrne and Tulip Mazumdar when he is away. It is available to watch at BBC Online, on the BBC Red Button and on the BBC News channel.

References

1. ^ BBC Radio 1 Service Licence BBC Trust, August 2009; Retrieved 31 March 2010

External links

• Newsbeat at BBC Online
• A different Newsbeat BBC Blogs, 17 November 2007 - A history of Newsbeat, written by editor Rod McKenzie