analysis

1. Radio Times

2. • Radio Times is a British weekly television and radio
program listings magazine, founded and originally
published in-house by BBC Magazines from 1923 to
2011 when the BBC Magazines division was merged into
Immediate Media Company.

3. • Radio Times was first issued on 28 September 1923,
carrying details of BBC radio programs. At one time it
was the magazine with the largest circulation in Europe.
• Until the deregulation of television listings in 1991, the
Radio Times carried programme listings for BBC radio
and television channels only. While the ITV-published
magazine, TVTimes, carried television programme listings
for ITV going on to introduce Channel 4 form 1982.

4. • Today both publications carry listings for all major
terrestrial (analogue and digital), cable and satellite
television channels in the United Kingdom.
• There are also a number of similar magazines from
independent publishers that exist however Radio Times
still lives up to its name by being the most comprehensive
source of UK radio listings in print.
• Since the 22nd May 2007 edition Radio Times has carried
two extra pages of TV listings per day as part of a slight
tweak in the publication's format, bringing it up to ten
pages of listings per day in total.

5. • Radio Times is published on Tuesdays and carries listings for
the following Saturday through to Friday.
• Its publication day having gradually moved forward from
Fridays over many years. This began in 1960, before which,
issues ran Sunday to Saturday; the changeover meant that
Saturday 8 October 1960 was listed twice.
• Since Christmas 1969, a double-sized issue has been published
each December containing listings for two weeks of programs.
Originally, this covered Christmas and New Year listings, but
in some years these appear in separate editions, with the two-
week period ending just before New Year.

6. • Each day's television (from 2010 onwards) is listed over ten
pages or five double-page spreads: two pages of reviews of
highlights followed by two pages of terrestrial TV listings, one
column for daytime television, and five columns for the
evening television, then six pages of listings for digital
channels.
• Before digital channels became commonplace, a terrestrial
day's television was sometimes spread over up to three double-
spreads mixed with advertisements, but this format was phased
out when independent publishers were allowed to publish
television program schedules.