North Tonight
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| North Tonight / Today | |
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| Genre | News |
| Created by | STV North |
| Presented by | Norman Macleod (Main anchor) Andrea Brymer (Main stand-in) |
| Country of origin |  Scotland |
| Production | |
| Running time | Main bulletin: 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | STV North |
| Original run | 21 January 1980 – present |
North Tonight is STV North's nightly news programme covering the North of Scotland (formerly Grampian Television). The show is broadcast live at 6pm from Monday to Friday. Its daytime equivalent, North Today is shown at various points throughout the day. Scotland Today covers STV's Central Scotland region, with BBC Scotland providing a national service for Scotland, in the shape of Reporting Scotland.
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[edit] History
North Tonight first began on 7 January 1980 with presenters John Duncanson and Selina Scott. 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 co-incided 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.
Significant points in the history of the programme include the coverage of the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988 and the resignation of Dr. Ian Oliver who was Chief Constable of Grampian Police 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 is aired from Aberdeen, and retains news studios in Dundee and Inverness. There was a studio in Stornoway but this closed in 2001. Contracted freelance correspondents and cameramen provide news coverage from the outer regions of Shetland, Orkney, Caithness and Sutherland. It has the distinction of covering the news for the largest geographical region in the ITV network, covering an area the size of Belgium. As well as reporting the latest regional news and sport for northern Scotland, the programme occasionally runs special reports relating to Scotland. Most recently, business correspondent Cheryl Paul reported for a week from China, examining its growing economy and increasing financial links with Scotland.
North Tonight launched a brand new look on Monday 24 July 2006, to tie-in with the newly rebranded STV. A new format was introduced, with only one main presenter, at the desk. The secondary presenter would stand at the plasma screen across from the desk to read more lifestyle stories, and a brief round-up of more of the day's news. The secondary presenter would return at the end of the programme to lead into the weather forecast, which they would voice over the weather graphics. The use of a secondary presenter was dropped in January 2007.
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 get 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 is broadcast, viewers further north see more news from the north-east, Highlands and Islands areas, broadcast from the headquarters of STV North in Aberdeen. Currently, the station is reportedly looking into the possibillity of introducing an opt-out for the Highlands and Islands from their Inverness studios. The proposed service was originally considered but put on hold owing to problems with the Rosemarkie transmitter.[1]
On 7 April 2007, it was revealed that GMTV had replaced STV as the supplier of early morning regional news bulletins in Scotland. The contract has been awarded to the Belfast-based Macmillan Media, which has offices in London and Glasgow. GMTV Grampian began on 3 December 2007.[2] STV, and its northern predecessor Grampian Television have 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. This will also affect North Today's sister programme Scotland Today.[3]
From 19 June 2007, STV began producing video blogs for viewers in the North of Scotland, named Northern Exposure, with one of North Tonight's main presenters fronting the video. The blog lasts a couple of minutes and gives visitors a preview of the main edition at 6pm, interviews the makers of the programme and provides an in-depth behind the scenes look at the activities of STV North. The blogs can be seen at stv.tv, and are updated regularly. The success of this and its sister video blog, STV Central's The Real MacKay led STV to produce another two regular video blogs - Weather Blether and White, Not MacKay, itself a spin-off of The Real MacKay and Northern Exposure's popular feature series 'Ask Kirstin'.
In October 2007, STV head of news Gordon Macmillan confirmed that the channel would launch a region-wide magazine programme at the start of 2008, airing across Northern and Central Scotland from 5.30pm until the separate news programmes begin at 6.00pm. The Five Thirty Show launched on 28 January 2008 with presenters Stephen Jardine and Debi Edward (who was replaced by Rachel McTavish). No changes were made to either Scotland Today or North Tonight.[4]
[edit] On air
North Tonight/Today airs on STV North seven days a week. The first bulletin of the day airs immediately after a mid-morning ITV News Summary, during This Morning, this update airs for around 10 minutes. The lunchtime edition of the programme follows on from the ITV Lunchtime News, giving a five minute round-up of the days developments between 1.55pm and 2.00pm. The main evening edition of North Tonight begins at 6.00pm, and ends at 6.30pm. The late news update from STV North follows the News at Ten, airing between 10.25pm and 10.35pm, Mondays to Thursdays, and between 11.25pm and 11.35pm on Fridays, after the ITV Late News.
North Tonight/Today airs four bulletins at weekends: two on Saturday and two on Sunday, at lunchtime, and late afternoon, the last Sunday edition of the programme is followed by a signed round-up of the week's main news, called News Review.
[edit] The team
Currently, the on-air team of North Tonight consists of the following;
[edit] Main anchors
- Norman Macleod (Monday-Thursday)
- Andrea Brymer (Friday) [on maternity leave]
[edit] Local newsreaders
North East, Highlands and Islands
- Andrea Brymer [on maternity leave]
- Laura Goodwin
- Kirstin Gove
- Chris Harvey
- Norman Macleod
- Claire Stewart
Tayside and North East Fife
[edit] Sports presenters
[edit] Weather presenters
- Seán Batty
- Jo Farrow (relief)
- Tanya James (relief)
[edit] Reporters
- Nicola Barron
- Louise Cowie
- Michael Crow (Political Correspondent - shared with Scotland Today)
- Sharon Donaldson
- Laura Goodwin
- Ross Govans (also News Editor)
- Jamie Livingstone (Senior Political Reporter - shared with Scotland Today)
- David Marsland
- Jill Mowat (also News Organiser)
- Nicola McAlley (Highlands Correspondent)
- Craig Millar (Head of News, Tayside and North East Fife)
- Cheryl Paul (Business Correspondent)
- Bernard Ponsonby (Political Editor - shared with Scotland Today)
- Anne Smith
- Claire Stewart
- Lynne Stewart
- Euan Wemyss
[edit] Past presenters
Past presenters include:
- Anne MacKenzie
- Selina Scott
- Isla Traquair
- Alastair Yates
- Anna Soubry
- John Duncanson
- Sarah Mack
- Pauline Fraser
[edit] Production Team
The production team for North Tonight includes:
- Head of News/Executive Producer: Gordon McMillian (also head of news for STV Central)
- Chief Editor: Donald John McDonald (also news/programme editor)
- News/Programme Editors: Rachel Innes, David McKeith, Alan Cowie (freelance)
- Studio Directors: Michael Armstrong, Ian Williamson, Bill Shands (also resources supervisor)
- Production Journalist: Louise Steel
- Camera Operators: Alistair Watt, Pat Duffy, Palvinder Jagpal, Alistair Macpherson, Terry Farquharson (freelance)
- Sound Supervisor: Rudy Macleod
- Graphic Designer: George Dunoon
N.B. Members of the production team appear on STV North's Northern Exposure video blog.
[edit] References
- ^ Northern Exposure, Ask Kirstin, 5th February 2008
- ^ "Macmillan Media", Macmillan Media homepage, July, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
- ^ "Irish firm to provide news as GMTV pulls plug on STV", The Scotsman, 7 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-06.
- ^ "SMG bullish despite profit plunge", BroadcastNow, 28 September 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-02.
[edit] External links
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