David's Studio World
TV Centre - The Mailbox - Sky TV - BBC Nottingham - Radio Derby - Radio Leicester - Radio York
New Broadcasting House
BBC Broadcasting House - London. The iconic building on the left is the original HQ of the BBC which has had the middle and right hand side added. It was originally the home of their radio services but is now for TV as well although the main TV studios are not here.
Broadcasting House is in Portland Place Langham Place. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main building is in Art Deco style, with a facing of Portland Stone over a steel frame. It is a Grade 2 listed building and includes the BBC Radio Theatre, where music and speech programmes are recorded in front of a studio audience.
As part of a major consolidation of the BBC's property portfolio in London, Broadcasting House has been extensively renovated and extended. This involved the demolition of post-war extensions on the eastern side of the building, replaced by a new wing completed in 2005. The wing was named the John Peel Wing in 2012, after the disc jockey. BBC London, BBC Arabic Television and Persian Television are housed in the new wing, which also contains the reception area for BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1 Xtra (the studios themselves are in the new extension to the main building).
The main building was refurbished, and an extension built to the rear. The radio stations BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 4 Extra and the BBC World Service transferred to refurbished studios within the building. The extension links the old building with the John Peel Wing, and includes a new combined newsroom for BBC News with studios for the BBC News Channel, BBC World News and other news programming. The move of news operations from BBC Television Centre was completed in March 2013.
The official name of the building is Broadcasting House but the BBC now also uses the term new Broadcasting House (with a small 'n') in its publicity referring to the new extension rather than the whole building, with the original building known as old Broadcasting House.
BBC Television Centre - London
Above the BBC TV Centre of the past.
Below the Television Centre of the present (Artists Impression)
The BBC Television Centre is a building complex in White City, 4 miles west of Central London. It was the headquarters of BBC TV between 1960 and 2013. The first BBC staff moved into the Scenery Block in 1953, and the centre was officially opened on 29 June 1960. Parts of the building are Grade II listed including the central ring and Studio 1.
Most of the BBC's national television and radio news output came from Television Centre. The building is 4 miles west of central London.
The BBC announced in 2010 that it would cease broadcasting from Television Centre in 2013. In July 2012 it was announced that the complex had been sold to property developers Stanhope plc, who said that the new Television Centre development would "pay homage to the original use of the building", and that the new Television Centre would be opened up to the public, offering entertainment and leisure facilities and approximately 1,000 new homes. The BBC sold the site as part of a need to cut its budget and reduce its property holdings was a way to do it. I understand that there were also problems with part of the structure which needed significant repair.
After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for TV production, operated by BBC Studioworks. It is also used by ITV for some of it's output.
The news out put of the BBC now comes from New Broadcasting House (See above).
BBC Sport, CBBC and Radio 5 have been relocated to the Media Centre at Salford Quay in Manchester.
The Mailbox Birmingham
The Mailbox is an upmarket shopping and office development in Birmingham City centre In it is the base for BBC Birmingham. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal passes along the back with a number of restaurants overlooking them.
In 2004, the BBC moved into a new complex of studios at the Mailbox that replaced the previous Pebble Mill site in Edgbaston. The general public is able to watch radio and television broadcasts being made at an all-access public foyer.
The local West Midland News programme comes from here as does the weekly politics show on a Sunday Morning. Local BBC Radio WM is also based here.
Sky TV
Sky Studios is the headquarters of satellite broadcaster Sky and home to much of their programming output. The Isleworth site consists of 9 buildings plus ancillary structures, with three of those buildings containing television studios. The site is also a play-out centre for many of Sky's channels.
There are 10 conventional tv studios on site, alongside a number of purpose-built studios for news and sports news broadcasting, plus post-production facilities. A number of the studios are available for independent production companies to hire.
BBC Nottingham
The studios of BBC Nottingham are on London Road. BBC Radio Nottingham and BBC East Midlands TV both have studios and facilities in the building. The original studios were in York House which have now been demolished.
BBC Radio Derby
BBC Radio Derby began broadcasting on 29 April 1971. The station's logo was a Rams head in the late 1980s and early 1990s (as many other organisations in Derby have).
The station broadcasts from its studios in Derby on 104.5, 95.3 (Stanton Moor, near Bakewell) and 96.0 (Buxton) FM and 1116 (Burnaston Lane, next to the Toyota factory) AM. It also transmits its programmes over the internet, and, as of 23 July 2014, broadcasts on DAB Digital Radio on the NOW Derbyshire DAB Multiplex.
104.5FM is the primary frequency for BBC Radio Derby, and comes from a 200 ft transmitting mast on Drum Hill, four miles north of the Derby City Centre, the other side of the A 38 from Little Eaton. This service used to come from the Sutton Coldfield Transmitter. There is a transmitter for the Bakewell and Matlock areas based at Stanton Moor on 95.3 FM, and a relay of that frequency for the Buxton area on 96 FM.
In addition, all of BBC Radio Derby's area is served via its medium wave service on 1116 kHz which comes from its transmitting mast at Burnaston, just south of the city, close to the Toyota car plant.
The station broadcasts on DAB via the multiplex known as NOW Derbyshire.
The multiplex is transmitted from five transmitter sites; Chesterfield, Drum Hill, Tibshelf, Stanton Moor, and Lichfield. There are also long term plans for further transmitters at Buxton, Ashbourne, and Glossop. It is also available through television (from the Waltham transmitter) on Freeview Channel 735.
BBC Leicester
BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC Local Radio service for Leicestershire and Rutland. The station broadcasts from studios in Leicester on 104.9 FM, on DAB, and via the BBC iPlayer.
In 2005, the station moved to new premises at 9 St Nicholas Place. This new centre is adjacent to the medieval Guildhall and Cathedral.
The station's main FM transmitter mast is at Copy Oak, next to the M1. The station's DAB signal comes from the NOW Digital East Midlands (NDEM) 11B multiplex, which comes from Copt Oak and Houghton on the HillH. The Waltham transmitter and Houghton-on-the-Hill have a Digital multiplex and Waltham has a BBC National BBC DAB multiplex. The Copt Oak transmitter also broadcasts Gem 106.