BBC West is the BBC English Region

BBC English Regions

BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local television, radio, web and teletext services in England. It is one of the BBC's four 'Nations' - the others being BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland....

 serving Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, Bath and North East Somerset

Bath and North East Somerset

Bath and North East Somerset is a unitary authority that was created on 1 April 1996 following the abolition of the County of Avon. It is part of the Ceremonial county of Somerset...

, North Somerset

North Somerset

North Somerset is a unitary authority in England. Its area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county. Its administrative headquarters is in the town hall in Weston-super-Mare....

, South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, 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 Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

.

Television

BBC Wests television service (broadcast 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...

) consists of the flagship regional news service BBC Points West

BBC Points West

BBC Points West is the BBC's regional news programme for the West of England, covering Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire...

, the topical magazine programme Inside Out West and a 20-minute opt-out during the weekly Politics Show. A late night football magazine show Late Kick Off

Late Kick Off

Late Kick Off was a BBC One regional television football programme which was launched on 18 January 2010 and ran up to and including the 2010-2011 football season...

 is co-produced with BBC South

BBC South

BBC South is the BBC English Region serving West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, western Berkshire, Oxfordshire, south east Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight.-Television:...

, BBC South West

BBC South West

BBC South West is the BBC English Region serving Devon, Cornwall and the Channel Islands.-Television:BBC South Wests television service consists of the flagship regional news service Spotlight, the opt-out service BBC Channel Islands, the topical magazine programme Inside Out and a 20-minute...

 and the independent production company Pergall Media.

Radio

The region is the controlling centre for BBC Radio Bristol

BBC Radio Bristol

BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC Local Radio service for the English city of Bristol and the surrounding former Avon area. Launched in September 1970, it broadcasts from Broadcasting House in Bristol on FM frequencies 94.9 MHz , 104.6 MHz , 103.6 MHz , on AM 1548 kHz and on DAB.The...

, BBC Radio Gloucestershire

BBC Radio Gloucestershire

BBC Radio Gloucestershire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Gloucestershire, which started on 3 October 1988. It broadcasts from its studios in London Rd, Gloucester on 95 , 95.8 , 104.7 FM, 1413 in the Cotswolds & Forest of Dean AM and over the internet.-Transmitters:The...

, BBC Radio Wiltshire

BBC Radio Wiltshire

BBC Wiltshire is the BBC Local Radio station and BBC Online service for the English county of Wiltshire. The station marked its 20th anniversary in 2009.-BBC Wiltshire Sound :...

 and BBC Somerset.

Radio Bristol, Radio Gloucestershire and Radio Wiltshire broadcast local programming every day between 5am and 7pm, while BBC Somerset broadcasts local programming at breakfast from Monday to Saturday, weekday drivetime and Saturday afternoons, simulcasting Radio Bristol at all other times. The five stations simulcast networked programming each evening, joined by stations in the BBC South West

BBC South West

BBC South West is the BBC English Region serving Devon, Cornwall and the Channel Islands.-Television:BBC South Wests television service consists of the flagship regional news service Spotlight, the opt-out service BBC Channel Islands, the topical magazine programme Inside Out and a 20-minute...

 region at weekends. Radio Bristol also broadcasts through the night on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Online and Interactive

BBC West also produces regional news & local radio pages for Ceefax

Ceefax

Ceefax is the BBC's teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, started in 1974 and will run until April 2012 for Pages from Ceefax, while the actual interactive service will run until 24 October 2012, in-line with the digital switchover.-History:During the late 60s, engineer...

, BBC Red Button and BBC Local websites for each county.

History

BBC West began in 1957 upon the completion of the Wenvoe transmitter. Due to the transmitter's nature, the initial BBC West service broadcast to both the West of England and Wales, and as a result the original BBC West service included Wales. In 1964, when BBC Cymru Wales was launched, BBC West became the current regional area. Their news magazine programme, Points West, initially began broadcasting in 1957 and continued until 1991, when the service was renamed BBC News West. The Points West name returned on 22 May 2000 with the application of the regional news generic look.

Studios

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

Clifton, Bristol

Clifton is a suburb of the City of Bristol in England, and the name of both one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells...

 area of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 with local radio studios and television bureaux also located in Gloucester

Gloucester

Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

, Swindon

Swindon

Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...

 and Taunton

Taunton

Taunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....

.

The Bristol studios are the main base for Points West, BBC Radio Bristol

BBC Radio Bristol

BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC Local Radio service for the English city of Bristol and the surrounding former Avon area. Launched in September 1970, it broadcasts from Broadcasting House in Bristol on FM frequencies 94.9 MHz , 104.6 MHz , 103.6 MHz , on AM 1548 kHz and on DAB.The...

and various regional and network programmes, although network output is now made at other specially built facilities or do 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 & 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.