It is with great sadness that we learnt from the current magazine (Winter 2005) that the station will not be producing any more magazines, not for the time being. The magazine printed an article explaining the reason behind the decision as follows:-

[QUOTE] Anonymous article writer (identified only as "SCR Mag") writes - "Sadly this is the last BBC Southern Counties Radio magazine for the time being. The BBC is reviewing the publications produced by its local stations and won't be publishing any more until that review is complete. We asked BBC Southern Counties Radio Managing Director Neil Pringle to explain more ...

SCR Mag: So what's behind all this - isn't the magazine successful?

Neil Pringle: On the contrary, the magazine has been very successful with a dedicated readership and lots of positive feedback from listeners to the radio station who like putting a face to the voices they hear on the airwaves.

SCR Mag: So BBC politics then?

Neil Pringle: Well, you could put it that way. The BBC is keen to make sure that any magazines we produce which support our radio stations are looked at carefully in terms of how they affect the wider magazine market.

SCR Mag: You mean Hello! might be under threat from our mighty magazine?!

Neil Pringle: Probably not! I suppose it's more to do with local magazines who might be concerned about loss of sales, or they might be worried that advertisers in our magazine wouldn't want to advertise with theirs.

SCR Mag: Won't this disappoint listeners who look forward to the Southern Counties magazine?

Neil Pringle: I think it will and I am very sorry about that but I think that it's a good idea to review all this....the BBC is a big organisation which is funded publicly so it's important that we consider local publishers who have to make a living through sales and advertising - after all primarily we are a broadcaster! That being said I hope the review concludes that our magazine isn't such a threat and that it's a really nice way for loyal listeners to find out more about our programmes and the people behind them.

SCR Mag: So how long will the review process take?

Neil Pringle: Good question! I'm not sure, it will involve consulting people inside and outside of the BBC and we'll want to do it properly! I hope we'll get a conclusion sometime next year. In the meantime we'll continue to put stories about the radio station on our website.

SCR Mag: What about people with current subscriptions?

Neil Pringle: We'll be refunding those in full.

SCR Mag: Thanks Neil." [END QUOTE]

Unfortunately, due to lack of webspace, I've had to temporarily remove the pictures showing the magazine front covers. I'm doing various new projects on the internet at the moment and taken on a couple of moderating jobs on message board sites so my time is limited maintaining this site. If you are a regular visitor to this site, you will know I have not updated it for a long time. When I do get the time to maintain it, I'll make the site easier for me to manage. Hopefully in the not too distant future I'll be able to put the pictures back.

In November 1999, the station produced the "BBC Southern Counties Radio Cookbook" (picture on the left) in aid of Children In Need. As described on the front cover, included are "recipes from celebrities, listeners and your favourite presenters" and published in conjuction with Sainsbury's supermarket. When I flipped through my copy, I came face to face for the first time with an image of Neil Pringle! He certainly did not look anything like how I imagined! Flushed with the success of this cookbook, the station started producing a quarterly magazine which started appearing in all good newsagents from November 2000. This first edition (right) was 68 pages long and printed on not terribly good quality paper, but was a great success. The magazine is now produced on much better quality paper, has more pages (76) and the overall size is a little larger than that first edition - in fact, now are produced to a standard size for most magazines.. These images are from my own collection and I must apologise for JoAnne's face on one edition and Zoe-Anne Phillips' arm on another! These two particular editions have autographs of some BBC SCR staff on the front.

2001 Magazines

2002 Magazines

2003 Magazines

2004 Magazines

2005 Magazines
Two more images to come

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