{"id":8770,"date":"2014-03-09T16:07:14","date_gmt":"2014-03-09T20:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=8770"},"modified":"2014-03-09T16:20:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T20:20:39","slug":"confession-time-i-love-the-bbc-countdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/confession-time-i-love-the-bbc-countdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Confession time: I love the BBC countdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBC-Countdown\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Most shortwave radio listeners are familiar with interval signals<\/a>–those ditties that precede a shortwave radio broadcast–indicating a specific broadcast frequency and that a broadcast is about to begin.<\/p>\n

On television, there’s really no need for an interval signal: channel selection is accurate and schedules are ubiquitous. Indeed, there’s no guess work involved at all. Tune to channel 3 at 6:00, and you know the evening news awaits you.<\/p>\n

Still, many television news services around the world provide a visual-plus-aural countdown for their viewers which, in essence, serves the same purposes as an interval signal. As on the radio, it’s a build up…a “get ready, here comes the news” statement that’s separate\u00a0from the title sequence. The most notable example I know of is the BBC’s television countdown, which, depending on timing, might count down for one minute–or even for several minutes on satellite feeds.<\/p>\n

Here is the BBC’s latest (2013) countdown<\/a>:
\n