Radio Times
- For the U.S. radio series, see National Public Radio.
| Editor | Gill Hudson |
|---|---|
| Categories | TV Listings |
| Frequency | Weekly |
| First issue | 1923 |
| Company | BBC Magazines |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | Radio Times |
Radio Times is the BBC's weekly television and radio programme listings magazine. It was founded in 1923, and originally carried details of BBC radio programmes in response to a newspaper boycott of radio listings. It was at one time the magazine with the largest circulation in the UK.
Until deregulation of television listings in 1991, the Radio Times carried only listings for BBC channels, while the ITV-published magazine, the TV Times, carried only ITV and Channel Four listings. Today both publications carry listings for all major terrestrial (analogue and digital), cable and satellite television channels in the United Kingdom. A number of similar magazines, from independent publishers, also exist. However, the Radio Times still lives up to its name by being the most comprehensive source of UK radio listings in print.
The Radio Times is currently published on Tuesdays and carries listings for the following Saturday through to Friday. A double issue is published each Christmas, in common with most other listing magazines. This typically features a generic festive piece of artwork, atypical for the magazine which since the 1970s has almost exclusively used photographic covers.
There are several regional versions of the magazine:
- London/Anglia - BBC London, BBC East, ITV London and ITV Anglia
- South, West, South-West - BBC South, BBC South East, BBC South West, BBC West, ITV Meridian, ITV Westcountry, ITV West and Channel Television
- Midlands - BBC Midlands, BBC East Midlands and ITV Central
- North West - BBC North West and ITV Granada
- Yorkshire/North East - BBC Yorkshire and North Midlands, BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, BBC North East and Cumbria, ITV Yorkshire and ITV Tyne Tees
- Scotland/Border - BBC Scotland, BBC North East and Cumbria, Grampian TV, Scottish TV and ITV Border
- Wales - BBC Wales, ITV Wales and S4C
- N Ireland - BBC Northern Ireland, UTV, RTE and TV3
In addition to the regions shown above all versions carry variations for adjoining regions. Each edition also carries local radio listings.
There are now fewer versions than there once were, as fewer regional variations have lead to merging of several regions. The exception to this is Wales, which used to be part of a larger Wales/West (of England) version.
The Radio Times was once edited by the British lyricist and entertainer Eric Maschwitz, and is currently edited by Gill Hudson.
Between 1929 and 1991 it had a more highbrow sister publication, The Listener.
As of August 2005, the Audit Bureau of Circulations stated that the magazine has a circulation of 1.1 million copies per week.
Radio Times Guide To Films
Since 2000, BBC Worldwide has published the Radio Times Guide To Films, a film guide featuring more than 21,000 films in a 1707 page book. The current 2006 edition is edited by Kilmeny Fane-Saunders and features an introduction by Barry Norman, even though the BBC's Film Programme is now hosted by Jonathan Ross.
In an earlier form, edited by Derek Winnert from 1993, the BBC was successfully sued for plagiarism by HarperCollins, the publishers of Halliwell's Film Guide, and Winnert was sacked.
Bibliography
- Tony Currie (2001) The "Radio Times" Story, Kelly Publications, ISBN 1903053099