BBC Northern Ireland

BBC Northern Ireland (sometimes called BBC NI) is a radio and television broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is the province's main public service broadcaster.

It is one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's three national regions. As well as radio and television, it also provides online and interactive tv content, It is based in Broadcasting House in Belfast city centre, not to be confused with the BBC's main radio headquarters at Broadcasting House in London.

BBC Northern Ireland's main competitors are UTV and Downtown Radio.

Contents

1 Radio 2 Television 3 List of BBC Northern Ireland programmes 4 List of BBC Northern Ireland network programmes 5 Famous BBC NI broadcasters 6 External link

Radio

BBC Northern Ireland operates two radio stations:

• BBC Radio Ulster, on 94.5 FM and 1341 Medium Wave, which broadcasts throughout Northern Ireland, and
• BBC Radio Foyle, on 93.1 FM and 792 Medium Wave, which broadcasts to Derry.

Television

BBC Northern Ireland operates two television stations, known as BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC Two Northern Ireland (analogue) (or BBC Two NI on digital) respectively. BBC Northern Ireland has its own team of continuity announcers which introduce all programmes on the BBC television channels in Northern Ireland.

BBC Northern Ireland makes some of its own programmes itself. However unlike the radio stations, the television stations content is for the most part identical to that broadcast by the BBC One and BBC Two channels in England. Some network programmes may however be timeshifted, in order to make room for more local programming. Most local programmes are broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland. Also, on the digital version of BBC Two NI, there are more local programmes than on the analogue version.

Among the major regional programme broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland TV are:

• BBC Newsline, the regional news service. The main anchors of this are Donna Traynor, Noel Thompson, and Mark Curruthers. The main bulitten is from 18:30-19:00, with shorter bulittens at 13:30 and 22:30. Summaries are also broadcast during BBC Breakfast and the early afternoon. (All the BBC regions broadcast their own regional news simultaneously at the same time spot, before all the networks reconnect to the national network for a national weather broadcast).
• regional political programmes, notably Spotlight, Hearts and Minds and Lets Talk.
• regional arts programmes.
• regional weekend chat shows.
• specialist coverage of events such a visit by the Queen or the President of Ireland, or a distinguished visitor such as the US president, coverage of the Orange Marches on July 12, St. Patrick's Day parades on 17 March, etc.

As well as programmes intended purely for a regional audience, BBC Northern Ireland also produces programmes for national consumption on the BBC's channels across the UK. The main part of BBC Northern Ireland's network productions are in Drama and Comedy (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nidrama). Most recently, this has included producing the high-profile drama series Messiah.

BBC Northern Ireland is also involved in co-productions with other broadcasting networks, most notably the Republic of Ireland's RTÉ.

List of BBC Northern Ireland programmes

• BBC Newsline
• Give My Head Peace
• Spotlight (BBC Northern Ireland) (not to be confused with the BBC South West programme)
• Hearts and Minds presented by Noel Thompson
• Let's Talk presented by Mark Carruthers
• Sunday Sequence (BBC Radio Ulster) prsented by William Crawley
• Talk Back (BBC Radio Ulster) presented by David Dunseith
• The Stephen Nolan Show (BBC Radio Ulster) presented by Stephen Nolan

List of BBC Northern Ireland network programmes

• Ballykissangel (late 1990s)

Famous BBC NI broadcasters

Former BBC NI Broadcasters

• Patrick Kielty - chat show host now mainly working on network BBC based in London
• Sean Rafferty - former presenter of Scene Around Six and Inside Ulster, evening news programmes broadcast until mid-1990s, as well as BBC Radio Ulster news programmes, now a distinguished BBC Radio 3 music presenter
• Gloria Hunniford - former BBC NI presenter now well-known national personality working in network programmes based in London

Current BBC NI Broadcasters

• Mark Carruthers - presenter of Lets Talk and BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra, the evening news programme
• Stephen Nolan - multiple-SONY award winning presener of The Stephen Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster and Nolan Live on BBC NI TV.
• Gerry Anderson - presenter of The Gerry Anderson Show on BBC Radio Ulster, a unique and wacky voice in broadcasting without a script

External link

• BBC.co.uk - Northern Ireland (http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland)