The local breakfast show is back: three people in the studio and a surprise in the ratings
Taken off air ten years ago, it has returned with the same presenter and a team of two.
The programme was dropped ten years ago on cost grounds. In the first week of September it came back in the same slot, with the same presenter and three people in the studio in total. The set has not changed; they replaced the desk and left the rest.
Management put the return down to viewer letters. They say ten years of requests built up in one folder, and the decision came from looking at that folder.
There is usually a gap between what people say locally and what the paperwork shows. This time the gap is a little wider than usual.
Why now
A similar scheme was tried in another borough two years ago. The results of that trial were never published.
Set the technical argument aside and one question is left: who ends up paying for it.
The first week’s figures
The written answer we received says the process is ongoing. On timings, it says nothing at all.
First-week figures came in ahead of the station’s own expectations. Everyone involved knows the real test arrives in winter, when the breakfast slot is at its most competitive.
PremiumA week of delays on the line and still no explanation
Morning waits on the platform have reached twelve minutes at some stations.
A cat walks across the studio mid-bulletin and the presenters cannot keep it together
At 10.01, straight after the headlines, the cat strolls past camera one. Nobody on the desk picks the thread back up.
Weather warning issued as temperatures drop below the seasonal average
Rain in the north, a sharp fall in overnight lows across inland areas.