In January permission is at last granted for a Plymouth wireless station. Within weeks sites have been acquired and a studio built. After a grand opening ceremony at the guildhall, Station 5PY is on-air at the end of March with Clarence Goode leading a team of 4 staff.
5PY productions cease for local audiences. A Childrens Hour drama is the last programme made. The Plymouth studio and transmitter continue as a base for regional and national contributions.
Plymouth became the control centre for a new transmitter at Start Point using a newly acquired site at Mannamead, Plymouth. It also became a production base for a new west region managed from Whiteladies Road in Bristol.
The Plymouth blitz destroys the old 5PY city centre base. Start Point became arguably the most important transmitter in the UK by providing key programmes and messages to the Allied Expeditionary Forces. Expansion brings a new drama suite for the Plymouth studios. Television transmissions begin for Devon, Cornwall and the Channel islands.
On the 1st October 1956 the first area radio news bulletin is produced, this is hosted from Bristol. The region's first journalist/ reporter is recruited and begins work in the summer of 1957. At the end of September a Plymouth News Desk is opened and a West Region television news bulletin is produced from Bristol.
The go-ahead is given for a new independent television regional station. The BBC quickly plans new television facilities for the Plymouth base in order to compete. Westward TV is appointed as the new contractor and the BBC facilities are installed in time to beat ITV to air.
Television and extended radio bulletins on the new VHF frequencies become established. Westward TV achieves country leading audience appreciation figures. The BBC begin local TV bulletins at lunchtime, local feature programmes and continuity in order to compete with ITV.
The BBC announce "Broadcasting In The Seventies" which establishes Plymouth as its own managed area region - BBC Southwest. Both ITV and BBC introduce colour transmissions. The BBC build new studios and offices. A new opt-out radio service starts initially at lunchtime, moving to early mornings later.
Plymouth Sound radio launches in spring 1975 and quickly becomes very popular. Unusually for commercial radio it has a high percentage of speech based content. A high 63% audience reach is achieved the best in the UK.
TSW is awarded the franchise in December 1980 and takes over Westward the following year. Both the commercial and local BBC produce a wide range of programme genres reflecting the cultural identity of the southwest - " a golden age" - it was not sustained for long.
The Peacock report heralds a new commercial age which eventually leads to the dismantling of the ITV regional structure. The Thatcher government moves to challenge the BBC funding model. Austerity and 50% cutbacks in the BBC regional budgets.
The era of central control, management consultants, bureaucracy and division. Web based services begin. Satellite newsgathering liberates news production.
ITV closes its Plymouth base and the BBC evolves with a weaker regional base