Has anyone ever wondered why Sheffield doesn't have it's own designated local BBC website?

Currently Sheffield is absorbed into www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire but other cities, even one's much smaller than Sheffield like Nottingham, Derby and Leicester
all have their own site :confused:

See here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/) for a list of all the local BBC sites within England and it seems as always Sheffield is the forgotten city.

Today I emailed the BBC asking them why England's 4th city hasn't got it's own site and they sent me this reply:

Thanks for your e-mail.

This subject was hotly debated before the website was launched a few years ago: should we be BBC Sheffield or BBC South Yorkshire?

Other BBC city sites cover their surrounding areas as well as the city itself - the only question, as we saw it, was whether we should take our name from the city or the area.

We were keen not to repeat the impression some people take from the name Radio Sheffield - i.e. "if you live elsewhere in the area, there's nothing here for you" - and hence decided on South Yorkshire.

But there are some equally compelling arguments to the contrary.

Rest assured, it was never anybody's intention to "subsume" Sheffield - we live here, we work here, and we love the city.

Hope you enjoy the site - thanks again for getting in touch,

Regards,

The BBC South Yorkshire team

I have not yet replied to this email but still don't think the question has been justifiably answered. If the BBC aren't wanting to exclude the rest of South Yorkshire than why don't they simply rename it Sheffield & South Yorkshire like they have with the BBC site for Bradford & West Yorkshire (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/)?

If anyone can give me their opinions on this I will email them back and provide them with this link, so that they can see what we all think:thumbsup:

The decision to have a South Yorkshire wide site makes a lot of sense since the editorial area for the local radio station covers Barnsley, Donny, Rotherham and Sheffield.

It's a really good site with loads of features, information and great editors. In fact a couple of years ago it won the Best Website Publication in the UK Award at the BT Web Awards, so it must be ok.

I think that it's the content that matters and not the name.

It would be nice but I think that the 'South Yorkshire' name is more accurately reflectng the coverage, and the population density - I'm not sure but I assume that the majority of people in the 'Bradford' coverage area do in fact live IN Bradford, whereas in the 'Sheffield' coverage area I assume that quite a lot of people are outside the city limits.

Joe

The BBC Radio Sheffield area covers Chesterfield too doesn't it? Well, the football reports do anyway. So that's another problem with the name 'S Yorks'. Maybe Chesterfield are to be kicked off the Radio Sheff region next? Other bits of 'Greater Sheffield' are the bits of North Notts that think of themselves as part of Doncaster.

BBC Sheffield would be a better name I agree - it's the biggest and most important town/city in the S Yorks/N Mids area and always will be.

Why not have a seperate site for Sheffield and a seperate one for South Yorkshire then?

Originally posted by skyfitsboy
Why not have a seperate site for Sheffield and a seperate one for South Yorkshire then? Exactly what I was thinking.

Originally posted by skyfitsboy
Why not have a seperate site for Sheffield and a seperate one for South Yorkshire then?

Well that's exactly what i've suggested to the BBC in an e-mail last year but I didn't get any replay. I can't really see why Leeds should have its own BBC site (with the rest of W Yorkshire also havits own) and Sheffield shouldn't. Sometimes it feels like there is some wierd national conspiracy to promote Leeds (usually at Sheffield's expense) and this seems to extend accross all sectors of industry. Odd.

I think the page should be Sheffield & South Yorkshire - like Bradford & West Yorks / Stoke & Staffs.

Originally posted by skyfitsboy
Why not have a seperate site for Sheffield and a seperate one for South Yorkshire then?

The BBC does not have significant production facilities elsewhere in South Yorkshire and probably doesn't have plans to build any, especially given that the BBC centre in Sheffield is relatively new and very well resourced. In West Yorkshire the BBC has recently built two new centres: one in Leeds (for regional TV, local radio and a local website) and one in Bradford (for a local website, local radio and eventually a new local radio service based in Bradford). In South Yorkshire the BBC's resources have largely been concentrated in Sheffield so it is only fair that licence fee payers from outside Sheffield get a service.

Originally posted by Longcol
I think the page should be Sheffield & South Yorkshire - like Bradford & West Yorks / Stoke & Staffs.

Yep I agree, sure it would be a pretty simply I.T. procedure to change the name but I'm sure there will be some other excuse for not acknowledging Sheffield in it's own right :(

dont complain!

the lack of national recognition is what makes this city rock :)

Just looked up the last census figures.

40% of the population of South Yorks live in Sheffield.
20% of the population of Staffordshire live in Stoke.

So that's one excuse they can't use.

I just think there is a secret Government agenda against Sheffield, too keep our location top secret!

embrace it!

thats what you must do

Originally posted by Carl_Malibu
embrace it!

thats what you must do

yep.

Anyone who needs to know what a gorgeous place sheffield is, will find out from us,.

Yorkshire's best kept secret.

blooomin ell. Does it really matter what they call the site. Its not like they have to even have a site, they could withdraw the whole thing if they wanted to, we should be grateful there is even a site.

Originally posted by spyro2000
blooomin ell. Does it really matter what they call the site. Its not like they have to even have a site, they could withdraw the whole thing if they wanted to, we should be grateful there is even a site.

Blooomin'ell who rattled your cage?!

We all pay licence fees to the BBC to provides us with service's such as these, do we not have a right to comment on the services we pay for?:loopy:

I would be happy if they would put the name Sheffield on the new Weather maps.