Far From Regional

With the company or the brand name at least about to go kaput, this clip takes us back to 1996 and continuity from Westcountry in the South West leading into an edition of The Chart Show and I love how the announcer refers to it as
"The Westcountry Chart Show" showing how proud their region was of it's local identity.

Very few of the classic countdowns uploaded onto Youtube have actual continuity beforehand but in most regions it was normally done over a static version of the station ident as opposed to using music, and that really set the anticipation.
It was definitely the case with TVS and LWT at the time when I used to watch the programme.

When I went to visit Westminster alumni Tim in Devon a few years ago he mentioned about one of his ex colleagues at Lantern who became a reporter on Westcountry Live although with all the mergers taking place I'd imagine that he may be one of those affected when the South West merges with the ITV West region which for me will be a sad day as I have a bit of a grudge against the Bristol and Wilstshire area whereas I love the coastal parts of the South West.

Having said that Tim has always had a dislike for Cornwall and has sworn never to work there in his radio career so I guess it stems even closer.

Yorkshire however is staying the same with Calendar still in existance although it's odd to think that prior to 1968, that part of the country was covered by Granada in addition to their Manchester coverage.
Having said that all the regional news programmes have exactly the same set and signature tune based loosely around the original News At Ten theme that has been adapted for ITV's main bulletins.

Although it's only really the four notes that bring any traces of Johnny Pearson's original theme that would still catch me off guard at the worst of times although it's still one of the best television news themes ever.