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{{short description|British weekly listings magazine for radio and television}}
{{about|the UK listings magazine|the US radio series|Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane{{!}}''Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane''|the defunct Australian magazine|Radio Times (Australia){{!}}''Radio Times'' (Australia)|the radio station|Times Radio}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2024}}<!-- entire great swaths of the article fail [[WP:V]] & [[WP:RS]] -->
{{Use British English|date=September 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title = Radio Times
| logo = 
| image_file = Radio Times 23 December 2023-5 January 2024 cover.webp
| image_alt = Cover of Radio Times magazine
| image_caption = Cover of the 2023 Christmas Double Issue (dated 23 December 2023–5 January 2024), featuring ''[[Mog (Judith Kerr)|Mog]]''
| frequency = Weekly
| circulation = 497,852 (July–December 2020)<ref>{{cite web|title=ABC Certificates and Reports: Radio Times |url=https://www.abc.org.uk/product/2112 |publisher=[[Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK)|Audit Bureau of Circulations]] |access-date=18 April 2021}}</ref>
| category = [[:Category:Listings magazines|TV and radio listings magazine]]
| company = {{unbulleted list|[[George Newnes Ltd]] (1923–1937)|[[BBC Magazines]] (1937–2011)|[[Immediate Media Company]] (since 2011)}}
| firstdate = {{start date and age|df=yes|1923|9|28}}
| country = United Kingdom
| based = London, England
| language = {{Plainlist|
* [[British English]]
* [[Scottish Gaelic]] (Scotland edition)
* [[Welsh language|Welsh]] (Wales edition)
}}
| website = {{Official URL}}
| issn = 0033-8060
}}

'''''Radio Times''''' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|John Reith]], then general manager of the [[British Broadcasting Company]], it was the world's first broadcast listings magazine.<ref>{{cite book |first=Tony |last=Currie |title=The Radio Times Story |publisher=Kelly Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-1903053096 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/radiotimesstory0000curr }}</ref> In September 2023 it became the first broadcast listings magazine to reach and then pass its centenary.<ref>{{cite news |title=Radio Times at 100: Magazine still ‘highly profitable’ fuelled by subscriptions |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/magazines/radio-times-100-years-magazine-tom-loxley-interview/ |access-date=18 August 2024 |work=Press Gazette}}</ref>

It was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 8 January 1937<ref name="radiotimes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-17/the-history-of-radio-times|title=The history of Radio Times|work=Radio Times|access-date=3 May 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924144411/http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-17/the-history-of-radio-times|url-status=dead}}</ref> until 16 August 2011, when the division was merged into [[Immediate Media Company]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/aug/16/bbc-completes-magazines-sell-off |title=BBC Worldwide agrees £121m magazine sell-off |first=Mark |last=Sweney |work=The Guardian |date=16 August 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Preston|first=Peter|title=What price the Radio Times? Only private equity can tell us|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/mar/11/what-price-radio-times-listing|work=The Guardian|date=11 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Chapman|first=Matthew|title=Radio Times hires Hello! ad director|url=http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1126323/Radio-Times-hires-Hello-ad-director/|work=Media Week|date=11 April 2012}}</ref> On 12 January 2017, Immediate Media was bought by the German media group [[Hubert Burda Media|Hubert Burda]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38596372|title=German media group buys Radio Times|date=12 January 2017|access-date=28 September 2019|language=en-GB}}</ref>

The magazine is published on Tuesdays and carries listings for the week from Saturday to Friday. Originally, listings ran from Sunday to Saturday: the changeover meant 8 October 1960 was listed twice, in successive issues. Since Christmas 1969, a 14-day double-duration issue has been published each December containing schedules for two weeks of programmes. Originally this covered Christmas Day and New Year's Day, but on some occasions those have each appeared in separate editions due to the two-week period ending just before the New Year.

==History and profile==
[[File:Radio Times - front cover - 28 September 1923.jpg|thumb|left|The first issue (28 September 1923)]]
''The Radio Times'' was first issued on 28 September 1923<ref>{{Cite web| title = Issue 1 – 28 September 1923 – BBC Genome| date = 28 September 1923| access-date = 10 July 2019| url = https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/d58cef702a6a4b26adb3e9df7195cbd4| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141016210534/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/d58cef702a6a4b26adb3e9df7195cbd4| url-status = dead| archive-date = 16 October 2014}}</ref> for the price of 2[[British coinage#Pre-decimal system|d]], carrying details of programmes for six [[List of BBC radio stations|BBC wireless stations]] ([[2LO]], [[5IT]], [[2ZY]], 5NO, 5WA and 5SC); [[List of newspapers in the United Kingdom|newspapers]] at the time [[boycott]]ed radio listings fearing that increased listenership might decrease their sales.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110912222912/http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/resources/factsheets/1920s.pdf The BBC Story, 1920s]</ref> It included a [[:en:wikisource:Radio Times/1923/09/28/My message to "Listeners"|message to "listeners"]] by the BBC's chairman, [[Jack Pease, 1st Baron Gainford|Lord Pease]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=My message to "Listeners" |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/d58cef702a6a4b26adb3e9df7195cbd4?page=18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229003527/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/d58cef702a6a4b26adb3e9df7195cbd4?page=18 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 February 2020 |magazine=Radio Times |date=28 September 1923 |page=18 |last1=Lord Pease |issue=1}}</ref> Initially, ''The Radio Times'' was a combined enterprise between the [[British Broadcasting Company]] and publishers [[George Newnes Ltd]] within the latter typeset, printed and distributed the magazine. In 1925, the BBC assumed full editorial control, but printing and distribution could not begin in-house until 1937.<ref name="The history of Radio Times">{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-17/the-history-of-radio-times/|title=The history of Radio Times|website=Radio Times|language=en|access-date=28 September 2019}}</ref> ''The Radio Times'' established a reputation for using leading writers and illustrators, and the covers from the special editions are now collectable design classics. By 26 September 1926, the narrow columns of BBC's wireless programme schedules were broken up by the insertion of a photograph or two – relevant to or depicting subjects of the broadcasts. On 1 May 1927, ''The Radio Times'' produced an experimental [[Braille]] edition under the auspices of the [[Royal National Institute of Blind People|National Institute for the Blind]] with its success led to a regular weekly version publication costing [[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|one penny]]. From 15 January 1933, the introduction of a weekly [[crossword]] puzzle heralded as popular as ever within the publication making its first-ever appearance.

From 5 January 1934, the three-column programme pages were expanded to include a fourth column with the BBC's television programmes given a new section layout (on 8 January), and ''The Radio Times'' announced a regular series of "experimental television transmissions by the [[John Logie Baird|Baird]] process" for half an hour every night at 11.00pm. The launch of the first regular [[405-line television system|405-line television service]] by the BBC was reflected with television listings in ''The Radio Times''{{'}} London edition of 23 October 1936.<ref name="The history of Radio Times"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/6f58b5151d724854ab1223ff34178c57?page=6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206114208/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/6f58b5151d724854ab1223ff34178c57?page=6|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 February 2020|title=Issue 682|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk|access-date=28 September 2019}}</ref> Thus, ''Radio Times'' became the first-ever television listings magazine in the world. Initially, only two pages in each edition were devoted to television, which ran from Monday to Saturday and remained off-air on Sundays.
[[File:Radio Times 1931 (masthead).jpg|thumb|Masthead from the 25 December 1931 edition, including the [[Coat of arms of the BBC|BBC's coat of arms]] with the motto: "Nation shall speak peace unto nation"]]
[[File:Radio Times - 1937-01-08 - p1 (masthead).png|thumb|Masthead from the 8 January 1937 edition, the first using the title "Radio Times"]]
After 14 years, from issue 693 (cover date 8 January 1937), that [[definitive article]] word "''The''" was no longer used on the masthead within the magazine, and the publication became simply known as ''Radio Times''; they also published a lavish photogravure supplement in the same issue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/73ad99d158004c5fad2ca9a0c652f27d?page=6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215155957/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/73ad99d158004c5fad2ca9a0c652f27d?page=6|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 February 2020|title=Issue 693|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk|access-date=28 September 2019}}</ref> Prior to the outbreak of [[World War II]] on 1 September 1939, the BBC radio listings provided a [[BBC National Programme|National Programme]] for the whole of the United Kingdom, and the [[BBC Regional Programme|Regional Programme]] appeared in seven different versions ([[London]], [[Midlands]], [[Northern England|North]], [[West of England|West]], [[Wales]], [[Northern Ireland]] and [[Scotland]]) each with a combination of various transmitters respectively before the two stations merged into a single service, and included three pages of television listings. When [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)|Britain declared war on Germany]] on 3 September 1939 and television broadcasting ceased, radio listings continued with a reduced service. From 23 June 1944, the [[BBC Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme|Allied Expeditionary Forces]] edition carried details of all the programmes for the [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] and [[BBC General Forces Programme|General Forces Programme]]. The same year, [[Rationing in the United Kingdom|paper rationing]] meant editions were only 20 pages of tiny print on thin paper. ''Radio Times'' expanded with regional editions introduced from 29 July 1945, and television resumed once again on 7 June 1946. On 4 March 1948, the weekend listing schedules for three BBC radio networks were doubled together with daytime and evening sections in additional four pages a week, as well as weekday billings also used by the same layout which adds 12 extra pages of more articles and detailed programmes bringing up to 40 (or 44 for the television edition) on 1 July 1949.

From 18 January 1953, the television listing schedules, which had been in the back of the magazine, were placed alongside daily radio schedules. On 17 February 1957 (shortly after the abolition of the "[[Toddlers' Truce]]", in which transmissions terminated between 6.00 and 7.00pm), television listings were moved to a separate section at the front with radio listings relegated to the back; a day's listings were sometimes spread over up to three double-page spreads mixed with advertisements, but this format was phased out when independent publishers were allowed to publish television schedules. The new layout was structured thusly:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Station name
! Successor
|-
| {{plainlist|
* [[BBC Television|BBC Television Service]]{{ref label|a|a}}
* [[BBC Home Service]] <small>(1 September 1939)</small>
* [[BBC Light Programme]] <small>(29 July 1945)</small>
* [[BBC Third Programme]] <small>(29 September 1946)</small>
* [[BBC Radio 3|BBC Network Three]] <small>(30 September 1957)</small>{{ref label|b|b}}
}}
| {{plainlist|
* [[BBC One]]{{•}} [[BBC Two]] <small>(20 April 1964)</small>
* [[BBC Radio 1]] <small>(30 September 1967)</small>
* [[BBC Radio 2]]
* [[BBC Radio 3]] <small>(with music, sports coverage and educational programmes)</small>{{ref label|b|b}}
* [[BBC Radio 4]] <small>(includes regional news and opt-out programming)</small>
}}
|}

From 8 October 1960, BBC television and radio schedules were re-integrated; the programmes included a new "pick of the week" with a single third page for previews, before each day's listings; these came before the two pages of television and the four pages of radio. A new bolder masthead was designed by [[Abram Games]] (who created graphical designs such as the "[[Festival Star]]" on the cover of the 1951 [[Festival of Britain]] and the 1953 "[[BBC One pre-1969 idents#The Bat's Wings|Bat's Wings]]" ident) and containing the words "BBC TV and Sound" on the left side, was introduced with this revamp; it became one of the shortest-used designs in the magazine's history. On 4 August 1962, when ''Radio Times'' was again revamped, the masthead was replaced with one incorporating the words in the [[Clarendon (typeface)|Clarendon typeface]]; while the main change was the reduction of BBC radio schedules for three stations to a double-page spread brought down into size, the magazine now generally had between 60 and 68 pages, as compared to the relaunched format from two years earlier, which contained only 52 pages. From 30 September 1967, ''Radio Times'' introduced the all-new colour pages of the magazine's feature sections, including "star stories", [[Percy Thrower]]'s gardening, [[Zena Skinner]]'s cookery, Bill Hartley's motoring and [[Jeffery Boswall]]'s [[birdwatching]], as well as "Round and About" with up-to-the-minute stories in both television and radio from around the world. At the same time, the four new BBC radio stations (replacing the [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]], the [[BBC Light Programme|Light Programme]] and the [[BBC Third Programme|Third Programme]]) were launched within the schedule listing pages. The layouts of programme page headings have now restyled as well as the three radio pages had been rearranged with schedule billings for Radio 1 and Radio 2 on the first, Radio 3 on the second and Radio 4 on the third. In future weeks, it would boast another revised masthead although the same typeface simply a bold symbol "[[BBC Television|BBC TV]]" to the right of the title – within the price, date and regional edition being [[Letterpress printing|overprinted in letterpress]] at the top of the front page, but the letters section and the [[crossword]] were placed inside the back page.

On 6 September 1969, ''Radio Times'' was given another radical makeover, as they switched the [[Calendar date#Date format|date format]] from "month-day-year" to "day-month-year" and ceased carrying [[nicotine marketing|cigarette advertisements]] after 46 years. The new format inside with the first three pages were devoted to an abbreviated listing of all the week's BBC television and radio programmes in a simple condensed form, within major changes were noticeable on the feature pages as well as the colour ones were spread out to accompany rather than the centre page. The look of the magazine initially became far more restrained, with less white space between columns and headings. More significantly, the lifestyle section (which covered motoring, gardening and cookery) and the crossword were completely dropped, and the highlights section was scrapped. The front cover was surrounded by a black border and italicised its masthead (now in the [[Caslon]] typeface with swash capitals; this logo remained until April 2001), in an attempt to emphasize the "R" for radio and "T" for television. From 5 July 1975, the magazine was given a refreshed layout which consisted of horizontal black bars from top to bottom with the familiar darker-shaded look; by this time, the BBC's television schedules included a "[[color|colour]]" annotation that was dropped eight years later, as well as programmes in [[black and white]] were never indicated with the exception of feature films originally made for the cinema. Another major change occurred on 18 November 1978, in response to [[wavelength]] changes (took place on 23 November) that enabled [[Scotland]], [[Wales]] and [[Northern Ireland]] to receive their own separate domestic services in addition to [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] (also known as the national "Radio 4 UK" service remained until 29 September 1984), the arrival of these services on the pages forced all BBC radio stations into a six-column grid. On 30 August 1980, ''Radio Times'' developed a new double-page spread of Robert Ottaway's highlights from the week ahead, often used for both BBC radio and television programmes. The regular inside back page section for younger listeners and viewers featured content from ''[[Newsround]]'' presenter [[John Craven]] and a selection of new puzzles created by the television producer [[Clive Doig]], such as the trackword (which consisted of nine squares in one word), as well as backstage stories and a comic strip of [[Peter Lord]]'s ''[[Morph (animation)|Morph]]'' at the bottom of the page.

Between March and December 1983, ''Radio Times'' had severe industrial disputes when the [[Maxwell Communication Corporation|British Printing & Communications Corporation]] and the union [[Society of Graphical and Allied Trades|SOGAT 82]] joined forces, and production was affected due to printing problems:
* 23 March – The BBC regrets that the printers for next week's edition are in short supply, but copies will be available in the [[South West England|South West]], the [[West of England]], [[North East England|North East]], and many parts of [[Southern England|South]] and the [[Northern England|North of England]].
* 7 April – The BBC expects copies of the magazine will be available in [[Scotland]], [[Northern Ireland]] and North of England from 16 April, following the print workers in [[East Kilbride]] and near [[Bristol]] returning to work.
* 4 June – The [[1983 United Kingdom general election|general election]] special issue with the combined [[England]] edition, as well as the three [[Countries of the United Kingdom|constituent nations]] (Scotland, [[Wales]] and Northern Ireland) across throughout the country was used for one week only.
* 16 July – The magazine was finally returned to the fully-regionalised form with complete details of all [[List of BBC television channels and radio stations|BBC television channels and radio stations]] for national, regional and local.
* 10 December – The magazine was printed and published as the single national edition once again, due to a print workers' strike from the previous week.

On 23 June 1984, the radio listings were redesigned again to improve their legibility and paving the way for a new printing technology. That same year (1 September), [[Offset printing|web-offset printing]] was used for the first time, meaning the magazine became brighter and more colourful. [[Newsprint]] and sheets of gravure gave way to black [[ink]] and [[white paper]], [[Helvetica]] replaced [[Franklin Gothic]] for a larger character style, and the television listings were also redesigned including the new film icon{{ref label|c|c}} and the "today at a glance" sidebar on the far right of pages were added. Starting from 11 October 1986, the new family viewing policy warns [[BBC Television]] is [[Watershed (broadcasting)|not allowed to broadcast programmes before 9.00pm]] which it believed to be unsuitable for children. On 5 September 1987, ''Radio Times'' introduces an innovative title called "Upfront This Week" devoting the first three pages of illustrated snippets to provide the latest programme highlights from [[List of BBC television channels and radio stations|all BBC television and radio networks]]. On 19 November 1988, ''Radio Times'' launched a new weekly back page section called "My Kind of Day", which was devoted to the latest star interviews with various special guests. On 25 March 1989 (during [[Easter]]), a general overhaul of page layout and design took place, with a major makeover for the programme schedules and the channel headings being visible in greater clarity; [[BBC One]] and [[BBC Two]] were once again separated, with the return of the late 1950s/early 1960s layout – television at the front and radio at the back. The week's [[BBC Radio 1|Radio 1]] schedules occupied a single page, followed by [[BBC Radio 2|Radio 2]] (with a facing pair of pages), then several pages of [[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]] (five pages) and [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] (six pages), and finally the [[BBC Local Radio]] listings; regional features, which had absent from the English editions since the late 1960s, resumed with a localised page. Later on 25 November of that year, the radio schedules were restored to two pages for each day; some of the English editions now had daily editorial features on radio as well.

From 2 June 1990, the entire magazine was published in [[color|colour]] for the first time, and another layout began usage; the day's listings began with a single page of highlights that included "at a glance", followed by the double-page spreads of BBC television channels (BBC One always occupied the left page and BBC Two for the right page, without advertisements interrupting the listings) and [[List of BBC radio stations|BBC radio stations]], now enlivened with colour logos at the top of the pages.{{ref label|d|d}} This layout only lasted for six months, when a new refreshed format debuted in the [[Christmas]] edition (22 December); while the programme listing pages were largely the same, the colour-coded [[Names of the days of the week|days of the week]] were now at the top of the page headings.{{ref label|e|e}} On 16 February 1991 (the same date for the new idents of [[BBC One "Virtual Globe" ident|BBC One]] and [[BBC Two "1991–2001" idents|BBC Two]]), the deregulation of television listings began, and ''Radio Times'' started to cover all services that include [[ITV (TV channel)|ITV]], [[Channel 4]] and satellite networks, an alphabetical list of the commercial radio stations available with the frequency and a two or three-word summary of that station's output which was added to the local radio page. Full complete listings of the four main channels and satellite began on Friday 1 March.

Prior to deregulation, the five weekly listings magazines were as follows:
* ''Radio Times'' carried the programme schedule listings for [[List of BBC television channels and radio stations|BBC radio and television channels]], including the new [[BBC Radio 5 (former)|Radio 5]] launched on 27 August 1990.{{ref label|f|f}}
* The ITV-published magazine ''[[TV Times]]'',{{ref label|g|g}} launched on 22 September 1955, carried programme listings for ITV, and Channel 4 from 2 November 1982. The [[List of ITV regions|regional ITV companies]] produced their own listings magazines – ''Look Westward'' ([[Westward Television|WTV]]), ''The Viewer'' ([[ITV Tyne Tees|Tyne Tees]]), ''TV Guide'' ([[Scottish Television|STV]]), ''TV Post'' ([[UTV (TV channel)|Ulster]]), ''Television Weekly'' ([[Television Wales and the West|TWW]]/[[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West|ITSWW]]/[[ITV Wales & West|Harlech]]), ''Wales TV''/''Teledu Cymru'' ([[Wales West and North Television|WWN]]) and ''TV World'' ([[Associated Television|ATV]]/[[ABC Weekend TV|ABC]]){{ref label|h|h}} – were published before ''TV Times'' went national on 21 September 1968.
* ''Sbec'', a pull-out weekly listings supplement (first published on 1 November 1982) which is distributed free with the [[Wales]] edition of ''TV Times'', containing the full details of [[S4C]]'s schedules in both [[Welsh language|Welsh]] and [[English language|English]], as well as Channel 4's programmes were also included.
* [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s new publication ''TV Guide'' launches on 19 March 1989,{{ref label|i|i}} carried the 28 pages of [[Astra (satellite)|Astra satellite]] ([[Astra 1A|1A]]) television listings for various [[Sky Television (1984–1990)|Sky]] channels (including [[Sky One]],{{ref label|j|j}} [[Sky News]], [[Sky Cinema|Sky Movies]], [[Eurosport]], and from 15 December 1990, [[Sky Arts]], [[The Movie Channel (British TV channel)|Movie Channel]], [[The Power Station (TV channel)|Power Station]]{{ref label|k|k}} and [[Sky Sports|Sports Channel]]{{ref label|l|l}} were added after the [[British Satellite Broadcasting|BSB]] merger on the [[Thor (satellite)|Marcopolo system]]), [[MTV Global|MTV]], [[RTL 4|RTL Véronique]] (for [[English language|English]] programmes), [[Screensport (TV channel)|Screensport]], [[The Children's Channel|Children's Channel]], [[Lifestyle (British TV channel)|Lifestyle]] with a highlights of BBC, ITV and Channel 4 listings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/features/rt3.htm |title=The Good New Times ... the Bradshaw of Broadcasting: 1980s – 2000 |first=Robin |last=Carmody |date=July 2000 |work=Off the Telly |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514152215/http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/features/rt3.htm |archive-date=14 May 2008 }}</ref>
* In the [[Republic of Ireland]], [[RTÉ|Raidió Teilifís Éireann]] published the ''[[RTÉ Guide]]'' (formerly the ''RTV Guide'') launched on 1 December 1961, it offered detailed programme listings for RTÉ's television and radio channels. From 8 January 1977, they switched from tabloid format to a compact [[ISO 216|A4]]-sized magazine and also changes from monochrome into [[color|colour]], while listings were carried for [[Radio Luxembourg]], [[American Forces Network|AFN]] and [[BBC One Northern Ireland|BBC Northern Ireland]] were later dropped on 8 July 1966, but only the RTÉ programme schedules up until 13 April 1991.
Today, both publications carry listings for all major terrestrial, cable and satellite television channels in the United Kingdom and following deregulation, new listings magazines such as [[Reach plc|Mirror Group]]'s ''TV First'', [[TI Media|IPC Media]]'s ''[[What's on TV]]'', [[Bauer Media Group]]'s ''[[TV Quick]]'' and Hamfield Publications' ''TV Plus''{{ref label|m|m}} began to be published; several newspapers were also allowed to print television schedules for the entire forthcoming week on a Saturday (or a Sunday), where previously they had only been able to list each day's programmes in that edition.

With another major refresh on 31 August 1991, the four extra pages of satellite television listings and one page of the highlights section were scrapped and replaced by a number of ten satellite networks (with two more includes [[The Comedy Channel (British TV channel)|Comedy Channel]] and [[CNN International]] were added) from top to bottom; the daytime schedules for BBC One and BBC Two flanked the satellite listings on the left, with ITV, Channel 4 and "at a glance" on the right; the main evening schedules for terrestrial television channels retained the same layout. On 5 September 1992, the daytime listings were slightly tweaked, ITV's programme schedules were now sandwiched between BBC Two and Channel 4 within the centre pages, and there were now two pages of satellite and cable channels for each category making up six pages of television listings every day:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Category section
! Channels
|-
| Movies
| {{flatlist|
* [[Sky Cinema|Sky Movies]] <small>(also known as Sky Movies Plus until 11 September 1993)</small>
* [[The Movie Channel (British TV channel)|Movie Channel]]
* Sky Movies Gold <small>(from 1 October 1992)</small>
}}
|-
| Sport
| {{flatlist|
* [[Sky Sports]]
* [[Eurosport]]
* [[Screensport (TV channel)|Screensport]]{{ref label|n|n}}
}}
|-
| News
| {{flatlist|
* [[Sky News]]
* [[CNN International]]
}}
|-
| Entertainment<br><small>(unused until 11 September 1993)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[Sky One]]{{ref label|j|j}}
* [[The Comedy Channel (British TV channel)|Comedy Channel]] <small>(until 30 September 1992)</small>
* [[Gold (British TV channel)|UK Gold]] <small>(from 1 November 1992)</small>
* [[Lifestyle (British TV channel)|Lifestyle]] <small>(until 24 January 1993)</small>
* [[The Children's Channel|Children's Channel]]
* [[MTV Global|MTV Europe]]
* [[TV Asia]]
* [[Home Video Channel#The Adult Channel|Adult Channel]]{{ref label|o|o}}
}}
|-
| Cable
| {{flatlist|
* [[Bravo (British TV channel)|Bravo]]
* [[Discovery Channel (British and Irish TV channel)|Discovery]]
* [[Discovery Real Time|Learning Channel]]
* [[NBC Europe|Super Channel]]
* [[Indra Dhnush|AsiaVision]]
* [[Home Video Channel|HVC]]{{ref label|o|o}}
}}
|}

During 1993, ''Radio Times'' used several layouts were altered throughout the year:
* 1 January – The [[Video recorder scheduling code|VideoPlus+ number codes]] to cover all the terrestrial and [[satellite television]] channels were added for the first time, which allowed viewers with suitably equipped video recorders to entering the programme's number would ensure to set its timer from taping it.
* 2 January – The new "film premiere" icon appears for terrestrial television listings, replacing the phrase "first showing on network television".
* 30 April – The second national commercial station [[Absolute Radio|Virgin 1215]] is launched and appears in the local radio listings page.
* 5 June – The radio schedules are given a radical makeover, with highlights on the right includes day-by-day Virgin 1215, [[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]] and [[BBC World Service]] added to each page; the local radio listings now incorporated the weekly frequency guide, and the television schedule pages saw the introduction of the year of production shown in [[bracket]]s for film titles.
* 19 June – The categories for satellite television listings were completely rearranged, with the news section includes [[Sky One]]{{ref label|j|j}} moving to the left and the sport section moving to the right, also adding [[Sky UK|BSkyB]]'s film classifications at the bottom corner on the left page.
* 24 July – Two former cable-only services ([[Bravo (British TV channel)|Bravo]] and [[Discovery Channel (British and Irish TV channel)|Discovery]]) appeared in the entertainment section following their launch on satellite, and the cable television listings were relegated to the bottom, meaning the sport section was no longer used.
* 1 September – With the introduction of [[Sky Multichannels]] package on the new [[Astra 1C]] system, three new services ([[Sky Living|UK Living]], [[Challenge (TV channel)|Family Channel]] and [[Nickelodeon (British and Irish TV channel)|Nickelodeon]]) launched as well as [[CMT Europe]]; all were added to the previously unused entertainment category within the sport section (sandwiched between movies and news on the left) is returned and Sky One's{{ref label|j|j}} schedules has moved back to the right page.
* 11 September – The satellite television listings is given a redesigned layout, starting with the new movie planner section (providing the latest film titles in [[alphabetical order]] on various channels at different times every day); other changes included the new factual section (including Discovery, [[Sky News]] and [[CNN International]]) that replaced the news category, and the sport section moves back to the right page once again.{{ref label|p|p}}
* 18 September – The British versions of [[TCM Movies|TNT]] and [[Cartoon Network (British and Irish TV channel)|Cartoon Network]] were added to the movie planner and entertainment sections respectively.
* 25 September – The daytime listings were changed again, with "at a glance" now on the right page and advertisements occupying the left page. The channel heading logos were reduced into smaller horizontal bars on columns adjacent to those used for terrestrial television listings, a new children's television section (with [[The Children's Channel|Children's Channel]], Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network) was added, and the cable listings including [[NBC Europe|Super Channel]] were moved to the left side next to the movie planner section (with [[Indra Dhnush|AsiaVision]], [[Wire TV]] and [[Discovery Real Time|Learning Channel]] being removed).
* 1 October – The [[QVC (British TV channel)|British version of QVC]] launches, appearing at the bottom corner in the entertainment section.

''Radio Times''{{'}} design was refreshed on 3 September 1994, the television listings now had the day's name written vertically, beginning with the daytime section including "today's choices" (which replaced "at a glance" on the left page), followed by the main evening's schedules in an original four-column grid, as well as the highlights section (now occupying the far left page within the satellite listings), and the movie planner is now on the right page. On 22 March 1997, the programme pages in the television section were restyled often include smaller headings and more billing type with several changes in this layout between the narrower columns for [[5 (British TV channel)|Channel 5]] schedules (which launches on 30 March) on the right and [[regional variation]]s on the left page. Yet another major revamp took place on 25 September 1999, where all the pages now proceeded in a particular order, starting with the letters section, followed by film reviews, then the seven-day programme guide with six pages for television (including satellite) and two pages for radio, as well as the single-page [[crossword]] and local radio listings with frequencies, and finally the "My Kind of Day" for the back page which was preceded by [[classified advertising|classified advertisements]]. The programme page headings were returned to being inside a coloured block,{{ref label|q|q}} and the primetime television listings went from two narrow columns to one wide column. The warning phrase "[[profanity|contains strong language]]", used for [[List of television programmes broadcast by the BBC|BBC television programmes]] from 9.00pm during the hours of [[Watershed (broadcasting)|watershed broadcasting restrictions]] was also implemented at this time, lasting until 2009. This layout lasted until shortly before [[Easter]] on 13 April 2001, which saw the new masthead title with the BBC's corporate typeface [[Gill Sans]] (used until the end of 2004, being replaced by [[Interstate (typeface)|Interstate]] in the start of 2005), while the programme pages with eight pages of television listings reverted to having the day running across the top of the page horizontally, and the satellite listings expanded into four pages, while the double-page movie planner section for 18 different film channels was retained.

On 26 November 2002, [[NTL Incorporated|NTL]] and [[BBC Worldwide]] announced a major new agreement that would offer an exclusive, tailored edition of ''Radio Times'' to every NTL customer across the United Kingdom every week, to be delivered directly to subscribers' homes. The special NTL edition of ''Radio Times'' replaced the monthly ''Cable Guide'' magazine, which had been published from September 1986 to December 2002. It contained programme information for channels carried by NTL, including all terrestrial services. [[FilmFlex|Front Row]]'s [[pay-per-view]] movies and events were also included. Subscribers were offered the first four weekly issues of the new title for the same price as the existing monthly magazine, delivered free to homes in time for the first programme week of 4 January 2003; both companies actively and jointly marketed the new edition.

From 30 October 2004, the programme schedule pages were revamped again, with the regional variations now at the bottom of the daytime section, as well as the same spread on the five main channels; [[BBC Three]], [[BBC Four]], [[ITV2]], [[ITV3]] (launched on 1 November) and [[More4]] (from 10 October 2005) now appeared in digital/cable section on the right page, with a children's section in a single page on the left. The category sections for digital, satellite and cable listings also returned after a four-year absence:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2" | Category section
! Digital, satellite and cable channels
|-
| bgcolor="purple" |
| Entertainment
| {{flatlist|
* [[E4 (TV channel)|E4]] <small>(until 8 October 2005 has moved at the evening listings section before the launch of More4)</small>
* [[Sky One]]{{ref label|j|j}}
* [[Sky Replay|Sky Two]] <small>(formerly known as Sky Mix)</small>
* [[Sky Mix|Sky Three]] <small>(from 31 October 2005)</small>
* [[Sky Living|Living TV]]
* [[Real Lives (TV channel)|Living TV 2]]
* [[ITV4]] <small>(from 1 November 2005)</small>
* [[Gold (British TV channel)|UKTV Gold]]
* [[Dave (TV channel)|UKTV G2]]
* [[ABC1 (UK)|ABC1]]
* [[Comedy Central (British TV channel)|Paramount Comedy]]
* [[Comedy Central Extra|Paramount 2]]
* [[Ftn (TV channel)|Ftn]]
* [[Sky Sci-Fi|Sci-Fi Channel]]
* [[Universal TV (British and Irish TV channel)|Hallmark]]
* [[Bravo (British TV channel)|Bravo]]
* [[Alibi (TV channel)|UKTV Drama]]
* [[5Star|Five Life]] <small>(from 15 October 2006)</small>
* [[5USA|Five US]] <small>(from 16 October 2006)</small>
}}
|-
| bgcolor="gold" |
| Lifestyle
| {{flatlist|
* [[HGTV (British and Irish TV channel)|UKTV Style]]
* [[UKTV Bright Ideas]]
* [[Sky Travel]] <small>(until 13 October 2006)</small>
* [[Discovery Real Time]] <small>(formerly known as Discovery Home & Leisure until 7 May 2005)</small>
* [[Good Food|UKTV Food]]
}}
|-
| bgcolor="maroon" |
| Factual
| {{flatlist|
* [[Discovery Channel (British and Irish TV channel)|Discovery]]
* [[National Geographic (British and Irish TV channel)|National Geographic]]
* [[Yesterday (TV channel)|UKTV History]]
* [[UKTV Documentary]]
* [[Animal Planet (European TV channel)|Animal Planet]]
* [[History (European TV channel)|History Channel]]
* [[Performance Channel|Performance]]
* [[The Biography Channel (British and Irish TV channel)|Biography Channel]]
* [[Sky Arts|Artsworld]]
* [[BBC Parliament]] <small>(from 5 February 2005)</small>}}
|-
| bgcolor="green" |
| Sport
| {{flatlist|
* [[Eurosport 1|British Eurosport]]
* [[Sky Sports]] <small>(includes four services)</small>
* [[PremPlus]] <small>(until 6 May 2007)</small>
}}
|-
| bgcolor="indigo" |
| Films
| {{flatlist|
* [[Sky Cinema|Sky Movies/Sky Cinema]] <small>(until 4 April 2007 as the channel becomes categorised for each different genre)</small>
* [[Film4|FilmFour]] <small>(until 19 July 2006 as a subscription service when the channel became [[free-to-air]] on 23 July)</small>
* FilmFour Weekly <small>(until 19 July 2006)</small>
* [[TCM Movies|Turner Classic Movies]]
}}
|-
| bgcolor="mediumorchid" |
| Kids' TV
| {{flatlist|
* [[Nick Jr. (British and Irish TV channel)|Nick Jr.]]
* [[CBeebies]]
* [[CBBC (TV channel)|CBBC]]
* [[Disney Channel (British and Irish TV channel)|Disney Channel]]
* [[CITV]] <small>(from 11 March 2006)</small>{{ref label|r|r}}
}}
|}

On 22 May 2007, two extra pages of television listings per day were added as part of a slight tweak in the publication's format, bringing it up to ten pages of listings per day in total, or five double-page spreads: one page of highlights with daytime listings and regional variations, followed by two pages of evening's terrestrial television listings (with "at a glance" for nine digital channels until 2010), then six pages of listings for digital, satellite and cable channels. Digital radio listings were integrated into the main radio pages, and three new pages of sport, lifestyle and music were added. By 11 April 2009, the digital, satellite and cable schedules were reshuffled (alongside entertainment, factual and children's sections) preceded by "today's choices" on the left side, and the sport section moves to the right side as well as the films section having also started on the left within the centre pages horizontally. 10 April 2010 saw major changes as ''Radio Times'' went through an overhaul, with two pages of the latest reviews and highlights ("choices") somewhat akin to the ''[[TV Times]]'', while the daytime listings moved onto the evening section having the full day's output for the five main channels on one double-page spread, other changes saw listings start at 5.00pm rather than 6.30pm (sometimes earlier than 5.00pm for weekends, [[bank holiday]]s, [[Easter]], [[Christmas]] and [[New Year]]), the addition of [[electronic program guide]] numbers into the channel headers, and the inclusion of director and year of production details for films throughout the day. For the [[2012 Summer Olympics|London 2012 Olympics]], the listings for three terrestrial channels (BBC Two, ITV and Channel 4) temporarily moved onto the right page and Channel 5 was moved to the next page on the left, as to provide enough space for BBC One and BBC Three/BBC Four as the [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] broadcasters, which also reminded viewers of using both the [[BBC Red Button|red button]] and [[BBC Online|online]] for BBC channels with additional broadcasts.

Following the closure of the BBC Three channel on 20 February 2016, ''Radio Times'' started to include BBC Four in the main channels section, with Channel 5 being relegated to the Freeview section. On 24 March 2020, to coincide with the launch of [[Disney+]], ''Radio Times'' introduced two new sections for [[podcast]]s and six pages devoted to [[streaming television|streaming]] and various [[video on demand|catch-up services]]. That same year (8 September), the rearrangement of [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] channel listings with [[Sky Arts]] moves to the second page, also the three columns in the satellite and cable pages now have on the left side with children's television section, as well as the six film services were also included. During the [[2020 Summer Olympics|Tokyo Olympics]] (which was delayed due to global [[COVID-19 pandemic]]) on 20 July 2021, ''Radio Times'' declared its special bumper issue with 212 pages that include 16-day listings of the BBC's coverage and a comprehensive easy-to-use guide preceded by two pages with "pick of the action" chosen by various [[pundit]]s, although this layout becoming slightly different whether listings started on the left page with two columns for BBC One as a dedicated Olympic broadcaster (including [[BBC Red Button]] occupies at the bottom) and BBC Two in the single column, as well as ITV, Channel 4 and BBC Four schedules placed on the right page. From 25 January 2022, the [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] schedules have altered once again starting with the return of BBC Three (launches on 1 February after six years since the television channel has [[BBC Three (streaming service)|moved online]]), whether ITV2's listings now occupies at the bottom, as well as the seven remaining services were also placed in the second and third pages respectively.

From 4 October 2022 (three weeks before the BBC's 100th anniversary celebrations), ''Radio Times'' refreshed its format:
* The "this week" section which was devoted to the best entertainment reviews with all latest news over the next seven days, as well as other features including [[Grapevine (gossip)|the grapevine]], ten questions, viewpoint and "on the box" as fronted by broadcaster [[Jane Garvey (broadcaster)|Jane Garvey]].
* The expanded pages of the streaming section provides the best of [[video on demand|catch-up services]] for television and films (include [[free-to-view]], [[Pay television|subscription or premium]]) so you want to watch every day.
* The double-page "highlights" section has given a newly refreshed layout dedicated to the most comprehensive guide of programmes throughout the week ahead with "also on today", "live sport" and "film of the day" also included.
* The third page of the [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] section includes some of its children's television schedules sandwiched between the top two channels. [[Food Network]] and [[Blaze (British and Irish TV channel)|Blaze]] were added as requested by readers and the number of movie channels was reduced from 18 to eight within the centre pages, with the latest film reviews which also embedded into each day's listings occupied by the right hand side.
* The last two pages of satellite/cable schedules followed by the sport section was incorporated into a "quick and easy" planner with various times by using individual live coverage of other events, as well as channel numbers (include [[Sky Sports]], [[BT Sport]], [[Eurosport]] and [[Viaplay Sports|Premier Sports]]) were listed in the bottom right corner. Three weeks later (18 October), the mainstream sport listings were reverted to any channel rather than popular events.

On 4 April 2023, the radio pages had a major refresh to provide listings by adding three services ([[Boom Radio]], [[Greatest Hits Radio]], and [[Times Radio]]), as well as a restyled podcasts section to improve pick of the best [[Streaming media|audio on demand]].

===Circulation===
In 1934, ''Radio Times'' achieved a circulation of two million and its net profit in that year was more than one quarter of the total BBC licence income. By the 1950s, ''Radio Times'' had grown to be the magazine with the largest circulation in [[Europe]], with an average sale of 8.8&nbsp;million in 1955.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/happy-birthday-radio-times-ten-best-covers-last-90-years|title=Happy birthday Radio Times: Ten of the best covers from the last 90 years|work=Press Gazette |first1=Dominic |last1=Ponsford |date=September 25, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230726095220/https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/magazines/happy-birthday-radio-times-ten-best-covers-last-90-years/ |archive-date= Jul 26, 2023 }}</ref> Following the 1969 relaunch, circulation indeed dropped by about a quarter of a million, it would take several years to recover but the magazine remained ahead of glossier lifestyle-led competitor, ''[[TV Times]]''. In the mid-1970s, it was just over four million; but in 2013 it was just over one million.

Between January and June 1990, ''Radio Times'' had its audited circulation of 2.8 million and ''TV Times'' of 2.7 million within a year before the [[deregulation]] of television listings as they both had exclusivity of the future BBC and other [[Commercial broadcasting|commercial broadcasters]] respectively.

During a major revamp in April 2010, ''Radio Times'' was the third-biggest-selling magazine in the United Kingdom. However, according to the [[Audit Bureau of Circulations (UK)|Audit Bureau of Circulations]], the magazine experienced about 2.2% year-on-year decrease to an average weekly sale of 1,648,000 in the second half of 2009. It averaged a circulation per issue of 497,852 between July and December 2020,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.org.uk/product/2112|title=Radio Times circulation figure, Jul-Dec 2020| publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations. 11 February 2021 | access-date=19 April 2021}}</ref> versus 1,041,826 for ''[[TV Choice]]''{{ref label|s|s}}<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.org.uk/product/8350|title=TV Choice circulation figure, Jul-Dec 2020| publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations. 11 February 2021 | access-date=19 April 2021}}</ref> and 690,617 for ''[[What's on TV]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.abc.org.uk/product/5725|title=What's on TV circulation figure, Jul-Dec 2020| publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations. 11 February 2021 | access-date=19 April 2021}}</ref>

===Advertising===
Between April and November 1990, ''Radio Times'' included a four-page advertising feature featuring previews of [[British Satellite Broadcasting]] programmes for its five channels – [[Sky Sports|Sports Channel]], [[The Movie Channel (British TV channel)|Movie Channel]], [[Now (British TV channel)|Now]], [[Galaxy (British TV channel)|Galaxy]] and 
[[The Power Station (TV channel)|Power Station]].

During the [[deregulation]] of television listings, there was strong criticism from other magazines that ''Radio Times'' was advertised on the BBC (as well as on commercial broadcasting channels), saying that it gave unfair advantage to a publication and includes the tagline: "If it's on, it's in". The case went to court, but the outcome was that, as the ''Radio Times'' had close connections with the BBC, it would be allowed to be advertised by the BBC; however, from 1992 until 2004, it had to depict a static picture of the cover, and show a clear disclaimer reading "Other television listings magazines are available", leading to the phrase entering common public usage for a time.{{Citation needed|date=July 2011}} By the early 2000s, advertisements for the publication had become sparse on the BBC.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} ''Radio Times'' has not been promoted on [[List of BBC television channels and radio stations|BBC television and radio channels]] since 2005, following complaints by rival publications that the promotions were unfair competition.<ref>{{cite news |title=For viewers of quality ...  |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2005/aug/08/mondaymediasection.pressandpublishing |work=The Guardian |date=8 August 2005 |first=Tara |last=Conlan |access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref>

===Disputes===
For various reasons, ''Radio Times'' had suffered printing disputes and other operational difficulties have also led to the magazine appearing in a different formats to the standard, as well as some issues were not printed.<ref name="Genome-faqs">{{cite web |url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/faqs |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141019225315/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/faqs |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 October 2014 |title=FAQs |date=15 October 2014 |publisher=[[BBC Genome]] |access-date=19 October 2014}}</ref> These include:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Issue No.
! Issue date
! Reason
|-
| 138
| 14 May 1926
| Unpublished due to [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|general strike]]
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1221
| 21 February 1947
|rowspan="2"| Unpublished due to [[Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom#Fuel shortage|fuel crisis]]
|-
| 28 February 1947
|-
| 1342
| 1 July 1949
| [[London]] edition printed by ''[[The Graphic|The Daily Graphic]]''
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1404
| 8 September 1950
| Unpublished due to printing dispute
|-
| 15 September 1950
| Nine-day issue, northern edition printed as a [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] format
|-
|rowspan="4"| 1408
| 13 October 1950
|rowspan="3"| Unpublished due to printing dispute
|-
| 20 October 1950
|-
| 27 October 1950
|-
| 3 November 1950
| Nine-day issue, northern edition printed as a tabloid format
|-
| 1685
| 24 February 1956
|rowspan="6"| Printed as a [[broadsheet]] format in [[Paris]], [[France]]
|-
| 1686
| 2 March 1956
|-
| 1687
| 9 March 1956
|-
| 1688
| 16 March 1956
|-
| 1689
| 23 March 1956
|-
| 1690
| 30 March 1956
|-
| 2870
| 11 November 1978
|rowspan="4"| Cover printed in [[monochrome]]
|-
| 2871
| 18 November 1978
|-
| 2872
| 25 November 1978
|-
| 2951
| 31 May 1980
|-
| 3012
| 1 August 1981
|rowspan="4"| Unpublished due to printing dispute
|-
| 3099
| 2 April 1983
|-
| 3100
| 9 April 1983
|-
| 3134
| 3 December 1983
|}

===Annuals and guides===
An [[annual publication|annual]] was published three times: in 1954,<ref name="Briggs">{{Cite book |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-212967-3 |last=Briggs |first=Asa |author-link=Asa Briggs|title=The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom: Volume IV: Sound and Vision |date=1995}}</ref> 1955<ref name="Briggs" /> and 1956.<ref name="RTA-1956">{{cite web |title=Radio Times ANNUAL 1956 |url=https://www.radiotimesbacknumbers.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1109 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226233029/https://www.radiotimesbacknumbers.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1109 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=26 December 2018 |access-date=26 December 2018 }}</ref>

The ''Radio Times Film & Video Guide'' by the magazine's film and video editor Derek Winnert was first published in 1994, featuring more than 18,000 films and an introduction by [[Barry Norman]], former presenter of the BBC's ''[[Film... (TV programme)|Film]]'' programme.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=[[Hodder & Stoughton]]|isbn=0-340-57477-1|date=1993|last=Winnert|first=Derek|title=Radio Times Film & Video Guide}}</ref> A second edition was published the following year. In 2000, a completely new ''Radio Times Guide to Films'' was published by [[BBC Worldwide]], edited by Kilmey Fane-Saunders, featuring more than 21,000 film titles. The last edition of ''Radio Times Guide to Films'' was published in 2018. In September 2023, ''Radio Times'' publishes its own 180-page film guide dedicated to reviews and trivia over 1,000 titles with five different star rating systems which include 250 favourites from the beginning of cinema in 1902 to the present day.

There are also similar publications, the ''Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy'' by [[Mark Lewisohn]] and the ''Radio Times Guide to Science-Fiction''.

==Covers==
When the magazine was a BBC publication, the covers had a BBC bias (in 2005, 31 of the 51 issues had BBC-related covers) and consisting of a single side of [[coated paper|glossy paper]], however the magazine often uses double or triple-width covers that open out for several large group photographs.

While the major events (such as [[Remembrance Day]], [[Crufts]], [[Academy Awards|the Oscars]]/[[British Academy of Film and Television Arts|BAFTAs]], [[Eurovision Song Contest]], [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon Championships]], [[Glastonbury Festival]], [[the Proms]] and the [[Olympic Games]]) or new series programmes are marked by producing different covers were actually used for other collectors:
* The first person of [[color|colour]] to feature on the front cover was the American singer [[Paul Robeson]], in the 535th issue which dated on 29 December 1933.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lawson |first1=Mark |title=A commie witch-hunt, a live abdication and a military invasion of sport: 100 years of the BBC, part two |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/27/a-commie-witch-hunt-a-live-abdication-and-a-military-invasion-of-sport-100-years-of-the-bbc-part-two |access-date=30 September 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |author-link1=Mark Lawson |date=27 September 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=[cover] |journal=[[The Radio Times]] |issue=535 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/cda0c97e58824e83a1c5b919d84462ce|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905155234/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/cda0c97e58824e83a1c5b919d84462ce|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 September 2019}}</ref>
* Following the [[invasion of Poland]] and [[United Kingdom declaration of war on Germany (1939)|Britain's declaration of war with Germany]], ''Radio Times'' published its supplementary edition on 4 September 1939 (issue number 831A) which depicts this cover showing the [[Broadcasting House|BBC's headquarters]] that include the [[Union Jack]] flag within the words "Broadcasting carries on" underneath.
* ''Radio Times'' declared its special '[[Coronation of Elizabeth II|Coronation Number]]' issue on 31 May 1953 with a record-breaking 9,012,358 copies sold, as well as [[Eric Fraser (illustrator)|Eric Fraser]]'s [[heraldry|heraldic]] cover illustration and also made the back page depicted [[The Lion and the Unicorn|his lion and the unicorn]] tucking into an advertisement for [[Bachelors]] tinned foods. It was the first artwork cover since before [[World War II]] by the presses at [[Waterlow and Sons]] couldn't print in [[color|full colour]] but the existing technology allowed a [[Orotone|yellowish gold]] tint between the back and front within a red crown motif running across the magazine. Fraser was the revered illustrator who had worked for the publication between 1926 and 1982, until his death on 15 November 1983 at the age of 81. A similar version to this majestic artwork cover designed by Peter Horridge on 2 May 2023, preparing for the [[Coronation of Charles III and Camilla|next coronation]] after more than 70 years which include its [[Royal cypher|updated official emblem of the royal cypher]] within a year in [[Roman numerals]] underneath.
* ''Radio Times'' celebrated the upcoming [[Apollo 11]] Moon landing on 10 July 1969, with this cover bearing the "TARGET MOON" caption at the top of the [[Saturn V]] rocket lifts off from [[Kennedy Space Center]] as part of the [[NASA]]'s [[Apollo program|Apollo]] mission.
* During [[BBC Television]]'s 50th anniversary on 1 November 1986, Tony McSweeney's cover illustration depicted a 1930s family living in the shadow of [[Alexandra Palace]] somehow watching the opening titles of ''[[BBC Nine O'Clock News|Nine O'Clock News]]'' on a modern [[color television|colour set]].
* 23 February 1991 saw ''Radio Times'' began offering a comprehensive programme schedule guide to BBC, [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]], [[Channel 4]] and various satellite networks (from Friday 1 March) bearing the "If it's on, it's in" tagline, which includes [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] on the cover focusing about the Austrian bodybuilding champion and successfully become the [[Arnold Schwarzenegger filmography|biggest film career]] in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. There was also a mixed reaction for the [[deregulation]] of television listings had occurred and allow information on all channels to be printed as they showing material by the broadcasters with its other competitors.
* On 26 March 1994, to coincide the relaunch of [[BBC Radio 5 (former)|Radio 5]] as '[[BBC Radio 5 Live|Five Live]]' (the new [[24-hour news cycle|rolling news]] and sport service which took place on 28 March) within the group consisted of [[Nelson Mandela]], [[Bill Clinton|Bill]] and [[Hillary Clinton]], [[Boris Yeltsin]], [[John Major]] and [[Benazir Bhutto]] to appear on the cover wearing in t-shirts that includes the logo was done by Sven Arnstein, as well as Jones Bloom's electronic retouching but we also told that the sportswear came from [[Lillywhites]] and the footwear from  [[John Lewis & Partners|John Lewis]].
* A special issue for the 50th anniversary of [[BBC News|BBC television news]] on 3 July 2004, as well as a fold-out cover with BBC news teams (from left to right: [[Huw Edwards]], [[Fiona Bruce]], [[Anna Ford]], [[George Alagiah]], [[Sophie Raworth]], [[Dermot Murnaghan]], [[Natasha Kaplinsky]], [[Sian Williams]], [[Darren Jordon]] and [[Moira Stuart]]) was photographed by Andy Earl, and also an accompanying special pull-out supplement within the centre pages.
* On 10 February 2007, the second series of ''[[Life on Mars (British TV series)|Life on Mars]]'', was marked by the ''Radio Times'' producing a mock-up of a 1973-style cover promoting the series, placed on page three of the magazine.
* To mark the 90th anniversary of its publication, the [[Museum of London]] hosted an exhibition lasting several months in 2013, which showed various covers as part of the magazine's history.
* ''Radio Times'' reaches its 5,000th edition on 9 May 2020 with lead articles from the support staff and workers of the [[National Health Service]] front line during the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]] known as the [[coronavirus disease]], and also granted this cover showing the colours of the [[rainbow]] which uses [[acrylic paint]] in a plain white background.
* ''Radio Times'' commemorated its centenary with its issue covering programmes between 23-29 September 2023. Four variant covers were produced: all shared the same "gold" graphic marking "100 Years" but featured four of the publication's most famous mastheads.  

Each year, ''Radio Times'' celebrates those individuals and programmes that are featured at the Covers Party, where framed oversized versions of the covers are presented.<ref>[http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-01-18/radio-times-covers-party-2012 Radio Times coverage of the 2012 event], 18 January 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2012</ref> ''Radio Times'' had several sporting events with more than one of the [[Home Nations]] (such as the [[Six Nations Championship|Six Nations]], [[UEFA European Championship]], [[Commonwealth Games]], [[Rugby World Cup]] and the [[Premier League]]) taking part are often marked with different covers for each nation, showing their own team.

===''Doctor Who''===
''[[Doctor Who]]'' is the most represented programme on the cover, appearing on 29 issues (with 35 separate covers due to multiples) since [[An Unearthly Child|the programme began]] on 23 November 1963.<ref>[https://archive.today/20061022154934/http://www.radiotimes.com/content/features/galleries/doctorwhocovers/01/ Radio Times – Doctor Who covers]</ref>

[[Image:Radio Times Vote Dalek cover.jpg|right|thumb|The ''Radio Times'' for 30 April – 6 May 2005 covered both the return of the Daleks to ''Doctor Who'' and the forthcoming [[2005 United Kingdom general election|general election]].]]
On 30 April 2005, a double-width cover was used to commemorate the return of the [[Dalek]]s to ''Doctor Who'' and the forthcoming [[2005 United Kingdom general election|general election]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/shows/doctor-who/gallery/gallery-twenty/001/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110524004825/http://www.radiotimes.com/shows/doctor-who/gallery/gallery-twenty/001/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 May 2011 |title=Doctor Who – The greatest magazine cover of all time |access-date=1 October 2008 |work=Radio Times}}</ref> This cover recreated a scene from the 1964 serial ''[[The Dalek Invasion of Earth]]'' in which the Daleks were seen crossing [[Westminster Bridge]] with the [[Palace of Westminster|Houses of Parliament]] and [[Big Ben]] in the background, and also the cover text read "VOTE DALEK!". On 29 September 2008, in a contest sponsored by the [[Periodical Publishers Association]], this cover was voted the best British magazine cover of all time.<ref>{{cite news |first=Nicole |last=Martin |title=Vote Dalek image voted best magazine cover of all time |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3102812/Vote-Dalek-image-voted-best-magazine-cover-of-all-time.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3102812/Vote-Dalek-image-voted-best-magazine-cover-of-all-time.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=1 October 2008 | location=London | date=29 September 2008}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Five years later (on 17 April 2010) before the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|next general election]], three special covers depicting the Daleks invading the capital once more within showing their colours of red, blue and yellow as one of several [[List of political parties in the United Kingdom|Britain's political parties]] for [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]], [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] and [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] were used individually.

Throughout the decades, ''Radio Times'' had covers for various television specials and anniversary editions:
* On 19 November 1983, the show celebrated its 20th anniversary with a [[The Five Doctors|standalone special]] featuring [[Tom Baker]], [[Patrick Troughton]], [[Peter Davison]], [[Jon Pertwee]], [[Richard Hurndall]] (who replaced [[William Hartnell]], who died on 23 April 1975) and [[Anthony Ainley]] as [[The Master (Doctor Who)|The Master]]. They featured in an illustrated cover by [[List of Doctor Who novelisations|Andrew Skilleter]].
* On 20 November 1993, as the show marked its 30th anniversary, the surviving actors who had played [[The Doctor (Doctor Who)|The Doctor]] appeared to promote the [[Dimensions in Time|special television event]], a [[Crossover (fiction)|crossover]] between ''[[EastEnders]]'' as part of the BBC's annual ''[[Children in Need]]'' telethon. [[3D television|3D]] glasses were sold in aid of the charity enhanced viewing of several programmes broadcast throughout the week, and the first ''Doctor Who'' episode to be aired since the [[Survival (Doctor Who)|series ended]] on 6 December 1989.
* ''Doctor Who'' returned to television on 25 May 1996 after a seven-year absence, as [[Paul McGann]] starred in a [[Doctor Who (film)|feature-length television special]] with a corresponding cover, and a 16-page pull-out supplement.
* A themed night on [[BBC Two]] on 13 November 1999, was marked by a specially commissioned [[Dalek]] portrait photographed by [[Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon|Lord Snowdon]], which was originally used as a [[Postage stamp design|stamp design]].
* For its 40th anniversary on 22 November 2003, a commemorative cover was photographed by Andy Earl to create a [[Panoramic photography|panoramic vista]] featuring [[Colin Baker]], [[Sylvester McCoy]], [[Tom Baker]] and [[Peter Davison]], as well as the [[TARDIS]], [[K9 (Doctor Who)|K-9]], a [[Cyberman]] and the two [[Dalek]]s.
* The 23 November 2013 issue marked the 50th anniversary of the programme with a selection of 12 different covers.

===Christmas===
[[File:Radio Times - 1931-12-18 - front cover.png|thumb|upright|Christmas Number issue (18 December 1931)]]
The cover of the 'Christmas Number' (as this issue came to be called) dating from the time when it contained just a single week's listings, usually features a generic festive artwork, atypical for the magazine, which since the 1970s has almost exclusively used photographic covers. In recent years,{{when|date=March 2018}} ''Radio Times'' has published and sold packs of reproductions of some of these covers of the magazine as [[Christmas card]]s.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The 1988 Christmas double issue (dated 17–30 December) had a [[pantomime|panto]]-themed cover illustration by Lynda Gray, with its popularity climaxed when the publication sold an astounding 11,220,666 copies, and the [[Guinness World Records|Guinness Book of Records]] certified it as the biggest-selling edition of any British magazine in history.

===Royal specials===
Over the past years, ''Radio Times'' published special majestic covers (often marked as a 'souvenir' issue) dedicated to royalty which reflects the [[monarchy of the United Kingdom]], as well as other significant events include birthdays, [[Coronation of the British monarch|coronations]], jubilees, [[List of royal weddings|royal weddings]], [[State funerals in the United Kingdom|state funerals]] and various celebrations across the decades.

Between February 1952 and September 2022, ''Radio Times'' focuses about [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]] was the nation's longest-serving monarch which represented over eight decades during its 70-year reign:
* The informal picture of [[Charles III|Prince Charles]] and Queen Elizabeth II was taken by photographer Joan Williams for the cover in this issue on 21 June 1969, during the making of Richard Cawston's 110-minute documentary film ''[[Royal Family (film)|Royal Family]]'' which is watched over 30.6 million television viewers almost half the population that includes an estimated global audience of 350 million people. Despite having been repeated ten times in eight years until it was withdrawn from circulation on 11 August 1977, and broadcasters were asked by [[Buckingham Palace]] not to be shown again in its entirety. On 28 January 2021, a leaked version of the film and publishes online shortly before taken down due to a [[copyright infringement|copyright claim]] after the BBC sought to have being removed, it was remained available to view on the video-sharing platform [[YouTube]] and the digital library website [[Internet Archive]].
* To celebrate [[Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee]] on 28 May 1977, ''Radio Times'' joined forces with [[BBC One]]'s ''[[Blue Peter]]'' in running a competition for children to design a special cover which it led to a staggering 65,000 entrants include Nicola Griffin was the youngest-ever artist talks to ''[[Newsround]]'' presenter [[John Craven]] reported her painting of a jolly guardsman, as well as [[John Noakes]] going behind the scenes at the printers to watch the first of its three-and-a-half million copies come off the presses. The following week (4 June), they took its unusual step of commissioning a [[tapestry]] made by Candace Bahouth for the artwork cover of this issue, and also been adapted for the 116-page bookazine in 2022.
* Royal photographer [[Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon|Lord Snowdon]] was behind the camera for the cover with a double portrait of Queen Elizabeth II and [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Prince Philip]] to celebrate their [[Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten|50th wedding anniversary]] on 15 November 1997.
* During [[Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee]] on 2 June 2012, as ''Radio Times'' celebrated this event with a majestic cover includes the new [[portrait painting]] designed by [[Peter Blake (artist)|Peter Blake]].
* Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the BBC's newly rebuilt [[Broadcasting House]] on 7 June 2013, and was presented with a collection of 44 majestic covers by the [[BBC Trust]] chairman [[Chris Patten]].
* Ahead before the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on 18 April 2016, this jubilant artwork cover was illustrated by Nina Cosford depicts the crowds gathered here at [[Buckingham Palace]]. Two months later (11 June), ''Radio Times'' deluged with wonderful cover designs from more than 11,000 children across the United Kingdom which include Ayesha Mahmood to become the winner of this competition after her design – showing its vibrant painting of [[St Edward's Crown|a crown]] adorned within the [[Mauveine|purple-riched colour]] and [[Gold (color)|gold]] [[glitter]] – is picked by our panel of judges that featured ''Blue Peter''{{'}}s [[Lindsey Russell]], Shem Law, [[Judith Kerr]] and [[Ben Preston]].
* As part of [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee]] celebrations on 4 June 2022, illustrator James Weston Lewis took inspiration for this artwork cover paying homage to [[Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth|King George VI's coronation]] special issue on 7 May 1937 was designed by the famous [[war artist]] [[C. R. W. Nevinson]], with capture some of its classic depiction of the original by adding a few modern elements.
* On 13 September 2022, ''Radio Times'' declared this emergency issue paying tribute to [[Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II who passes peacefully away]] aged 96, includes a monochrome photograph from the [[Camera Press]] with its darker sombre effect and surrounded by black border. A special commemorative edition was published on 20 September of that year containing 30 pages throughout her life and reign which reproduced nine majestic covers to chart of each decade, as well as the striking [[silhouette]] portrait also used by permission for agreement of the [[Royal Mint]].

==Regional editions==
From the first edition of 2023, the regional editions in [[England]] were merged into a single edition which includes the times and titles of all of the BBC's local radio stations with any non-news [[regional variations]] contained in the listings. The stations carried were as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Region
! Television
! Radio
|-
| [[England]] <small>(includes [[Channel Islands]])</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC English Regions|BBC England]] <small>(12 regions)</small>
* [[List of ITV regions|ITV England]] <small>(9 regions)</small>
* [[ITV Channel Television]]
}}
| [[BBC Local Radio]] <small>(40 stations)</small>
|-
| [[Wales]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Cymru Wales|BBC Wales]]
* [[ITV Cymru Wales|ITV Wales]]
* [[S4C]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Radio Wales]]
* [[BBC Radio Cymru]] <small>(includes [[BBC Radio Cymru#Radio Cymru 2|Radio Cymru 2]])</small>
}}
|-
| [[Scotland]]/[[Anglo-Scottish border|Border]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Scotland]]
* [[BBC Alba]]
* [[STV (TV channel)|STV]]
* [[ITV Border]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Radio Scotland]] <small>(includes [[BBC Radio Shetland|Shetland]] and [[BBC Radio Orkney|Orkney]])</small>
* [[BBC Radio nan Gàidheal]]
}}
|-
| [[Northern Ireland]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Northern Ireland]]
* [[UTV (TV channel)|UTV]]
* [[RTÉ One]]
* [[RTÉ2|RTÉ Two]]
* [[Virgin Media One]]
* [[Virgin Media Three]]
}}
| [[BBC Radio Ulster]] <small>(includes [[BBC Radio Foyle|Radio Foyle]])</small>
|}

The number of regional editions has been altered over the years within gradually being reduced over time due to there being fewer variations in the programme schedules:
* The [[Northern England|North of England]] region was separated from [[Northern Ireland]] on 4 January 1948 who had their own edition.
* The spread of television editions when full listings (with six pages) were not included in all issues between 7 June 1946 and 15 August 1952.
* On 8 October 1960, the [[Midlands]] region was renamed 'Midlands & East Anglia', and the [[West of England]] region was also renamed 'South & West'.
* On 9 February 1964, the launch of [[BBC One Wales|BBC Cymru Wales television service]] in the Welsh edition of ''Radio Times'' with its own programme schedule pages from the prominent heading (remained until 1982), without detracting from the service they provided to English viewers on the other side of the [[Severn Estuary]].
* As from 21 March 1964, the previously unmarked [[London]] region was successfully renamed 'London & South East'. It was later dropped on 25 March 1989 when the 'London' name is no longer used, became known as '[[South East England|South East]]', and later reverted to its original name on 23 February 1991.
* On 29 August 1970, the four [[Regions of England|English]] regional editions (along the [[Countries of the United Kingdom|constituent nations]]) were separated into ten areas, such as the [[Administrative counties of England|administrative counties]] of [[Cumberland]] and [[Westmorland]] (which included the [[Furness]] exclave in [[Lancashire]] and the [[Sedbergh Rural District|district of Sedbergh]] in the [[West Riding of Yorkshire]]) before the creation of a new [[non-metropolitan county]] of [[Cumbria]] from 1 April 1974 under the [[Local Government Act 1972]] in [[England and Wales]].
* Between 1 November 1982 and 22 February 1991, [[S4C]] listings were included in the [[Wales]] edition known as 'Rhaglenni Cymraeg' ([[List of Welsh-language programmes|Welsh programmes]]), while its [[English language]] programming were simply billed as 'Rhaglenni Saesneg' with no further detail being given. ''[[TV Times]]'' included a pull-out supplement ''Sbec'' which gave full details on all S4C programming in both languages. From the following week, it also took the billing space by cutting down on the detail in the [[Channel 4]]'s listings in that edition, and allowing S4C to share some of its space.
* After the [[deregulation]] of television listings on 1 March 1991, they rebranded the Northern Ireland edition as '[[Ulster]]' (named after the [[Provinces of Ireland|historic province]]), and started including listings for the [[Republic of Ireland|Irish state]] broadcaster's two channels – [[RTÉ One]] and [[RTÉ2|Network 2]] – were occupied the lower half of the three columns devoted to [[UTV (TV channel)|UTV]]'s schedules.
* ''Radio Times'' used to have three separate editions for [[Scottish Television|STV]], [[Grampian Television|Grampian]] and [[ITV Border|Border]] (also appearing in the North East edition) while just then after a while they merged back into one [[Scotland]] edition from 6 July 1991.
* The exception to this process of merging is [[Wales]] on 31 August 1991, which used to be part of a larger 'Wales/West' (of [[England]]), mirroring the [[ITV Wales & West|HTV]] area. The region was separated on 16 April 2005 leaving the West of England to join South and South West edition. The two regional editions of London and [[East Anglia]] were merged on the same date.
* No publication of ''Radio Times'' in the [[Channel Islands]] as their listing schedules were contained within the [[South West England|South West]] region when it first appeared in the [[Southern England|South]] edition on 30 March 1991. [[ITV Channel Television|Channel TV]] published its own listings magazine, the ''CTV Times'' (formerly ''Channel Viewer'') until 25 October of that year.
* All of four [[very high frequency|VHF]] opt-out services from [[BBC Radio Scotland|Radio Scotland]] were ceased broadcasting on 29 January 1993 and the output replaced by local news bulletins throughout each day on 1 February of that year.
* The [[Yorkshire]] region was absorbed by the [[North East England|North East]] region on 25 September 1993 became known as 'Yorkshire/[[ITV Tyne Tees|Tyne Tees]]', and also later added the [[North West England|North West]] region on 7 April 2007.
* On 5 November 2001, [[BBC 2W]] launches as the digital-only service in Wales used for weekday evenings from 8.30pm to 10.00pm, within [[BBC Two]]'s listings in the normal column is mainly split vertically in two to cover both the analogue and digital services. The digital-only service was ceased on 2 January 2009 as part of the [[Digital switchover dates in the United Kingdom|digital switchover]], and reverts to the [[BBC Two Wales|normal service]] with less frequent regional programmes as the arrangement on [[Analogue terrestrial television in the United Kingdom|analogue broadcasts]].
* On 25 August 2007, the Midlands and London/Anglia regions were merged.
* On 24 February 2019, ''Radio Times'' introduces the [[BBC Scotland (TV channel)|BBC Scotland television channel]], a new autonomous service that broadcasts an nightly line-up of entirely Scottish-related programming from 7.00pm to midnight replacing the [[BBC Two Scotland|Scotland's version of BBC Two]] after 53 years, and the listings were occupied by [[BBC Four]] at the bottom on the right page.

===Radio===
Since its began on 28 September 1923 (during the [[interwar period]]), there was just a single national edition to cover all the [[List of BBC radio stations|BBC wireless services]] including [[broadcast relay station|relay stations]] from 1924:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Station ID
! [[List of cities in the United Kingdom|City]]
! First appearance
|-
| [[2LO]]
| [[London]]
|rowspan="6"| 28 September 1923
|-
| [[2ZY]]
| [[Manchester]]
|-
| [[5IT]]
| [[Birmingham]]
|-
| 5NO
| [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]]
|-
| 5WA
| [[Cardiff]]
|-
| 5SC
| [[Glasgow]]
|-
| [[2BD]]
| [[Aberdeen]]
| 10 October 1923
|-
| 6BM
| [[Bournemouth]]
| 17 October 1923
|-
| 6FL <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Sheffield]]
| 24 February 1924
|-
| 5PY <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Plymouth]]
| 28 March 1924
|-
| 2EH <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Edinburgh]]
| 1 May 1924
|-
| 6LV <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Liverpool]]
| 11 June 1924
|-
| 2LS <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Leeds]]/[[Bradford]]
| 8 July 1924
|-
| 6KH <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]]
| 15 August 1924
|-
| [[2BE Belfast|2BE]]
| [[Belfast]]
| 15 September 1924
|-
| 5NG <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Nottingham]]
| 16 September 1924
|-
| 6ST <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Stoke-on-Trent|Stoke]]
| 21 October 1924
|-
| 2DE <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Dundee]]
| 12 November 1924
|-
| 5SX <small>(relay)</small>
| [[Swansea]]
| 12 December 1924
|-
| 5XX <small>(high-power)</small>
| [[Chelmsford]]<br/><small>(replaced by [[Daventry]] on 27 July 1925)</small>
| 15 December 1924
|}

From 10 October 1926, the two separate regions – 'Northern' and 'Southern' – were published before ''Radio Times'' reverted to one edition and covering all the local stations once again on 7 January 1934:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Region
! Main station
! Relay station
|-
| Northern
| {{flatlist|
* [[2BD]]
* [[2BE Belfast|2BE]]
* 5NO
* 5SC
}}
| {{flatlist|
* 2DE
* 2EH
}}
|-
| Southern
| {{flatlist|
* [[2LO]]
* [[2ZY]]
* 5GB <small>(experimental station from 21 August 1927)</small>
* [[5IT]]
* 5WA
* 5XX <small>(high-power)</small>
* 6BM
}}
| {{flatlist|
* 2LS
* 5NG
* 5PY
* 5SX
* 6FL
* 6KH
* 6LV
* 6ST
}}
|}

Between 1930 and 1935, many of the original 21 BBC local stations eventually reduced to six regional services (including [[Wales]] from 1937) as well as five [[BBC National Programme|national variations]] with the exceptions of [[Plymouth]], [[Bournemouth]], [[Aberdeen]] and Stagshaw were remained until 1939 before the [[European theatre of World War II|outbreak of World War II]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Region
! Former BBC local station
! Service date
|-
| Basic<br/><small>([[Home counties|London region]] until 5 July 1931)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[London]] <small>(national service from 12 October 1930)</small>
* [[Daventry transmitting station|Daventry]] <small>(high-power)</small>
}}
|rowspan="2"| 9 March 1930
|-
| [[BBC Midlands (disambiguation)|Midland]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[Birmingham]]
* [[Daventry]] <small>(experimental)</small>
* [[Nottingham]]
* [[Stoke-on-Trent|Stoke]]
}}
|-
| [[BBC North|North]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]]
* [[Leeds]]/[[Bradford]]
* [[Liverpool]]
* [[Manchester]]
* [[Newcastle upon Tyne|Newcastle]] <small>(replaced by Stagshaw service on 9 January 1938)</small>
* [[Sheffield]]
}}
| {{plainlist|
* 17 May 1931 <small>(regional)</small>
* 5 July 1931 <small>(national)</small>
}}
|-
| [[BBC Scotland|Scottish]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[Aberdeen]] <small>(until 1 September 1939)</small>
* [[Dundee]]
* [[Edinburgh]]
* [[Glasgow]]
}}
| {{plainlist|
* 13 September 1931 <small>(regional)</small>
* 7 October 1934 <small>(national)</small>
}}
|-
| [[BBC West|West]]<br/><small>(includes [[BBC Cymru Wales|Welsh]] service until 31 January 1937)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[Bournemouth]] <small>(until 13 June 1939)</small>
* [[Cardiff]]
* [[Plymouth]] <small>(until 13 June 1939)</small>
* [[Swansea]]
}}
| {{plainlist|
* 16 May 1933 <small>(regional)</small>
* 13 August 1933 <small>(national)</small>
}}
|-
| [[BBC Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland]]
| [[Belfast]]
| 6 January 1935
|}

After the [[end of World War II in Europe]], the seven local variations were resumed on 29 July 1945 which also used by [[BBC Home Service]] as they referred similar to its pre-war [[BBC Regional Programme|Regional Programme]] during the 1930s.

November 1967 saw the introduction of [[BBC Local Radio]] whether these regional areas subdivided with individual editions for each [[Counties of England|English county]] (except [[Isle of Man]]), as well as the national regions and several opt-out services were also used. This continued between February 1981 and January 1983 until each regional edition began to cover three local stations which was previously used by regional news and opt-out programming on [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]], apart from the [[South West England|South West]] (including the [[Channel Islands]]) as this is now the only part of [[England]] still without any BBC local station. During the mid-1980s and early 1990s, a number of 13 new BBC local stations were added to covering the whole areas throughout the United Kingdom:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Region
! BBC local station
|-
| [[Home counties|London & South East]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Radio London|London]] <small>(6 October 1970)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Oxford|Oxford]] <small>(29 October 1970)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Kent|Medway]] <small>(18 December 1970 – renamed Radio Kent on 2 July 1983)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Surrey|Surrey]] <small>(14 November 1991 – became [[BBC Southern Counties Radio|Southern Counties Radio]] from 1 August 1994 and reverted back to its original name on 30 March 2009)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Berkshire|Berkshire]] <small>(21 February 1992 – became [[BBC Thames Valley FM|Thames Valley Radio]] on 9 April 1996 before the two stations were relaunched on 14 February 2000)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Midlands]]/[[East Anglia]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Radio Leicester|Leicester]] <small>(8 November 1967)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Nottingham|Nottingham]] <small>(31 January 1968)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Stoke|Stoke]] <small>(14 March 1968)</small>
* [[BBC Radio WM|Birmingham]] <small>(9 November 1970 – renamed Radio WM on 23 November 1981)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Derby|Derby]] <small>(29 April 1971)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Norfolk|Norfolk]] <small>(11 September 1980)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Lincolnshire|Lincolnshire]] <small>(11 November 1980)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Cambridgeshire|Cambridgeshire]] <small>(1 May 1982)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Northampton|Northampton]] <small>(16 June 1982)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Shropshire|Shropshire]] <small>(23 April 1985)</small>
* [[BBC Three Counties Radio|Bedfordshire]] <small>(24 June 1985 – renamed Three Counties Radio on 5 April 1993 which expands to cover the counties of [[Buckinghamshire]] and [[Hertfordshire]])</small>
* [[BBC Essex|Essex]] <small>(5 November 1986)</small>
* [[BBC Hereford & Worcester|Hereford & Worcester]] <small>(14 February 1989)</small>
* [[BBC CWR|Coventry & Warwickshire]] <small>(17 January 1990)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Suffolk|Suffolk]] <small>(12 April 1990)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Southern England|South]]/[[West of England|West]]<br><small>(includes [[Channel Islands]])</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Sussex|Brighton]] <small>(14 February 1968 – renamed Radio Sussex on 22 October 1983)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Bristol|Bristol]] <small>(4 September 1970)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Solent|Solent]] <small>(31 December 1970)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Jersey|Jersey]] <small>(15 March 1982)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Guernsey|Guernsey]] <small>(16 March 1982)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Devon|Devon]] <small>(17 January 1983)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Cornwall|Cornwall]] <small>(17 January 1983)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Somerset|Somerset Sound]] <small>(11 April 1988 as a local opt-out service)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Gloucestershire|Gloucestershire]] <small>(3 October 1988)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Wiltshire|Wiltshire Sound]] <small>(4 April 1989)</small>
* [[BBC Dorset FM|Dorset]] <small>(26 April 1993 as an opt-out service, but ceased transmission in March 1996 and replaced by a rebroadcast of Radio Solent with localised news bulletins)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Wales]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Radio Cymru|Radio Cymru]] <small>(3 January 1977)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Wales|Radio Wales]] <small>(13 November 1978)</small>
* [[Deeside|Radio Deeside]] <small>(February 1980 as a local opt-out service – renamed [[Clwyd|Radio Clwyd]] in October 1981, and ceases transmission in October 1993)</small>
* [[Gwent (county)|Radio Gwent]] <small>(18 April 1983 as a local opt-out service, and ceases transmission in March 1991)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Northern England|North]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Radio Sheffield|Sheffield]] <small>(15 November 1967)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Merseyside|Merseyside]] <small>(22 November 1967)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Leeds|Leeds]] <small>(24 June 1968)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Durham|Durham]] <small>(3 July 1968 – 25 August 1972)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Manchester|Manchester]] <small>(10 September 1970)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Tees|Teesside]] <small>(31 December 1970 – renamed Radio Cleveland on 1 April 1974 following the formation of the [[Cleveland, England|new county]])</small>
* [[BBC Radio Newcastle|Newcastle]] <small>(2 January 1971)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Lancashire|Blackburn]] <small>(26 January 1971 – renamed Radio Lancashire on 4 July 1981)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Humberside|Humberside]] <small>(25 February 1971)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Cumbria|Carlisle]] <small>(24 November 1973 – renamed Radio Cumbria on 25 May 1982 and also [[Furness|Radio Furness]] as a local opt-out service)</small>
* [[BBC Radio York|York]] <small>(30 May 1982 as a temporary service, but later became full-time on 4 July 1983 for permanent basis)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Scotland]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[Highland (council area)|Radio Highland]] <small>(22 March 1976 – 29 January 1993)</small>
* [[Aberdeen|Radio Aberdeen]] <small>(19 April 1976 – 29 January 1993)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Orkney|Radio Orkney]] <small>(9 May 1977 as local opt-out service)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Shetland|Shetland]] <small>(9 May 1977 as local opt-out service)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Scotland|Radio Scotland]] <small>(23 November 1978)</small>
* Radio nan Eilean <small>(5 October 1979 – 29 September 1985)</small>
* Radio Tweed <small>(11 April 1983 – 29 January 1993)</small>
* Radio Solway <small>(16 April 1983 – 29 January 1993)</small>
* [[BBC Radio nan Gàidheal|Radio nan Gàidheal]] <small>(1 October 1985)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Northern Ireland]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC Radio Ulster|Radio Ulster]] <small>(1 January 1975)</small>
* [[BBC Radio Foyle|Radio Foyle]] <small>(11 September 1979 as a local opt-out service)</small>
}}
|}

===Television===
In November 1936, ''Radio Times'' launches its first television service in the [[London]] area only before they closed down on 1 September 1939 by [[World War II|the duration of war for over six years]] and finally resumed on 7 June 1946. When the second channel began in 1964, there were a number of areas where only certain parts of a region could get receive this service until 1966:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[BBC Television|BBC TV]] (later [[BBC One]])
! [[BBC Two]]
|-
| {{plainlist|
* [[Home counties|London]] <small>(2 November 1936)</small>
* [[BBC Midlands (disambiguation)|Midlands]] <small>(17 December 1949)</small>
* [[BBC North|North of England]] <small>(12 October 1951)</small>
* [[BBC One Scotland|Scotland]] <small>(14 March 1952)</small>
* [[BBC West|West of England]] <small>(15 August 1952 – including [[BBC Cymru Wales|Wales]] until 1964)</small>
* [[BBC One Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland]] <small>(1 May 1953)</small>
* [[BBC One Wales|Wales]] <small>(9 February 1964)</small>
}}
| {{plainlist|
* [[BBC South East|London & South East]] <small>(20 April 1964)</small>
* Midlands/[[BBC East|East Anglia]] <small>(6 December 1964 – became full service on 4 October 1965)</small>
* [[BBC Two Wales|Wales]] <small>(12 September 1965)</small>
* North of England <small>(31 October 1965)</small>
* [[BBC South|South]]/West <small>(16 January 1966)</small>
* [[BBC Two Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland]] <small>(11 June 1966)</small>
* [[BBC Two Scotland|Scotland]] <small>(9 July 1966)</small>
}}
|}

From 1 March 1991, ''Radio Times'' started carrying [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] and [[Channel 4]] listings to begin they cover the 14 regional editions (which later reduced to ten areas) include several local television stations used individually as well as the neighbouring countries outside [[Great Britain]] where available:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Region
! BBC TV
! ITV
! Variations
|-
| [[London]]
| {{plainlist|
* [[BBC South East]]
* [[BBC London]] <small>(from 3 September 2001)</small>
}}
| {{plainlist|
* [[Thames Television|Thames]] <small>(until 31 December 1992)</small>
* [[Carlton Television|Carlton]] <small>(from 1 January 1993)</small>
* [[London Weekend Television|LWT]] <small>(used from Fridays to Sundays)</small>
}}
| {{flatlist|
* Anglia
* Central
* TVS/Meridian
}}
|-
| [[East Anglia]]
| [[BBC East]]
| [[ITV Anglia|Anglia Television]]
| {{flatlist|
* Central
* LWT <small>(weekends)</small>
* Thames/Carlton <small>(weekdays)</small>
* TVS/Meridian
* Yorkshire
}}
|-
| [[Midlands]]
| {{plainlist|
* [[BBC West Midlands]]
* [[BBC East Midlands]] <small>(from 7 January 1991)</small>
}}
| [[ITV Central|Central Television]]
| {{flatlist|
* BBC Wales
* Anglia
* Granada
* HTV (West/Wales)
* LWT <small>(weekends)</small>
* Thames/Carlton <small>(weekdays)</small>
* TVS/Meridian
* Yorkshire
}}
|-
| [[Southern England|South]]
| {{plainlist|
* [[BBC South]]
* BBC South East
}}
| {{plainlist|
* [[Television South|TVS]] <small>(until 31 December 1992)</small>
* [[ITV Meridian|Meridian]] <small>(from 1 January 1993)</small>
* [[ITV Channel Television|Channel TV]] <small>(from 30 March 1991)</small>
}}
| {{flatlist|
* Anglia
* Central
* HTV (West)
* LWT <small>(weekends)</small>
* Thames/Carlton <small>(weekdays)</small>
* TSW/Westcountry
}}
|-
| [[South West England|South West]]
| [[BBC South West]]
| {{plainlist|
* [[Television South West|TSW]] <small>(until 31 December 1992)</small>
* [[ITV Westcountry|Westcountry]] <small>(from 1 January 1993)</small>
}}
| {{flatlist|
* BBC Wales
* HTV (West/Wales)
* TVS/Meridian
}}
|-
| [[West of England|West]]/[[Wales]]<br><small>(31 August 1991)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC West]]
* [[BBC Cymru Wales|BBC Wales]]
}}
| [[ITV Wales & West|HTV]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC English Regions|BBC England]]
* Central
* Granada
* TSW/Westcountry
* TVS/Meridian
* [[S4C]]
}}
|-
| [[North West England|North West]]
| [[BBC North West]]
| [[ITV Granada|Granada Television]]
| {{flatlist|
* BBC Wales
* Border
* Central
* HTV (Wales)
* Yorkshire
* S4C
}}
|-
| [[Yorkshire]]/[[North East England|North East]]<br><small>(25 September 1993)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC North]]
* [[BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire|BBC East Yorks & Lincs]] <small>(from 11 November 2002)</small>
* [[BBC North East and Cumbria|BBC North East & Cumbria]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* [[ITV Yorkshire|Yorkshire Television]]
* [[ITV Tyne Tees|Tyne Tees]] <small>(also known as Channel 3 North East between 2 September 1996 and 9 March 1998)</small>
}}
| {{flatlist|
* BBC Scotland
* Anglia
* Border
* Central
* Granada
}}
|-
| [[Scotland]]<br><small>(6 July 1991)</small>
| [[BBC Scotland]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[Scottish Television|STV]]
* [[Grampian Television|Grampian]]
* [[ITV Border|Border]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* BBC England
* BBC Northern Ireland <small>(until 24 September 1993)</small>
* Tyne Tees/C3NE
* UTV <small>(until 24 September 1993)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Northern Ireland]]
| [[BBC Northern Ireland]]
| [[UTV (TV channel)|UTV]]
| {{flatlist|
* BBC Wales
* HTV (Wales)
* [[RTÉ One]]
* [[RTÉ2|Network 2]]
* [[Virgin Media One|TV3]] <small>(from 20 September 1998)</small>
}}
|}

Between April 2005 and August 2007, the regional editions were reduced from ten to six during a number of several television networks have been diminished even further than before as they now covers every local station in this area consisting of [[BBC UK regional TV on satellite|15 BBC regional services]] and [[List of ITV regions|13 ITV companies]] were also used:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Region
! BBC TV
! ITV
! Variations
|-
| [[London]]/[[East Anglia|Anglia]]/[[Midlands]]<br><small>(25 August 2007)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC London]]
* [[BBC South East]]
* [[BBC East]]
* [[BBC West Midlands]]
* [[BBC East Midlands]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* [[ITV London]]
* [[ITV Anglia]]
* [[ITV Central]]
* [[ITV Thames Valley]] <small>(4 December 2006 – 8 February 2009)</small>
}}
| {{flatlist|
* BBC1 Wales
* BBC2 Wales/2W
* ITV Meridian
* ITV Wales
* ITV West Country
* [[London Live (TV channel)|London Live]] <small>(from 31 March 2014)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Southern England|South]]/[[West of England|West]]/[[South West England|South West]]<br><small>(16 April 2005)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC South]]
* BBC South East
* [[BBC West]]
* [[BBC South West]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* [[ITV Meridian]]
* [[ITV West Country]] <small>(formerly known as [[ITV Wales & West|West]] and [[ITV Westcountry|Westcountry]] regions until 13 February 2009)</small>
* [[ITV Channel Television]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* BBC1 Wales
* BBC2 Wales/2W
* ITV Wales
}}
|-
| [[Wales]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC One Wales|BBC1 Wales]]
* [[BBC Two Wales|BBC2 Wales]]
* [[BBC 2W]] <small>(5 November 2001 – 2 January 2009)</small>
}}
| [[ITV Cymru Wales|ITV Wales]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC One|BBC1 England]]
* [[BBC Two|BBC2 England]]
* ITV Central/Thames Valley
* ITV Meridian
* ITV West Country
* [[S4C]]
}}
|-
| [[North West England|North West]]/[[Yorkshire]]/[[North East England|North East]]<br><small>(7 April 2007)</small>
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC North West]]
* [[BBC Yorkshire]]
* [[BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire|BBC East Yorks & Lincs]]
* [[BBC North East and Cumbria|BBC North East & Cumbria]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* [[ITV Granada]]
* [[ITV Yorkshire]]
* [[ITV Tyne Tees]]
* [[ITV Border]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* BBC1 Scotland
* BBC2/BBC Scotland
* BBC1 Wales
* BBC2 Wales/2W
* ITV Anglia
* ITV Central/Thames Valley
* ITV Wales
* S4C
}}
|-
| [[Scotland]]/[[Anglo-Scottish border|Border]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC One Scotland|BBC1 Scotland]]
* [[BBC Two Scotland|BBC2 Scotland]] <small>(until 23 February 2019)</small>
* [[BBC Scotland (TV channel)|BBC Scotland]] <small>(from 24 February 2019)</small>
}}
| {{flatlist|
* [[Scottish Television|STV]]
* [[Grampian Television|Grampian]] <small>(until 3 June 2006)</small>
* [[ITV Border|ITV Border Scotland]]
}}
| {{flatlist|
* BBC1 England
* BBC2 England
* ITV Tyne Tees
* [[BBC Alba]] <small>(from 19 September 2008)</small>
}}
|-
| [[Northern Ireland]]
| {{flatlist|
* [[BBC One Northern Ireland|BBC1 Northern Ireland]]
* [[BBC Two Northern Ireland|BBC2 Northern Ireland]]
}}
| [[UTV (TV channel)|UTV]]
| {{flatlist|
* BBC1 Wales
* BBC2 Wales
* ITV Wales
* [[RTÉ One]]
* [[RTÉ2|RTÉ Two]] <small>(also known as Network 2 until 2 October 2004)</small>
* [[Virgin Media One|TV3]]
}}
|}

From 7 January 2023, regional editions in England ended. This saw every [[BBC Local Radio]] station included, along with London's local television channel [[London Live (TV channel)|London Live]], which had always been included in the 'London/Anglia/Midlands' edition with ''Radio Times'' stating that it is a regional network and that other local services air on [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] channels 7 and 8 in other parts of the country.

==Other media content==
===Website===
The ''Radio Times'' website was launched in June 1997, primarily as a listings service. As from 18 August 2011, it relaunches an offering diverse editorial product to accompany its schedules for television, radio and film recommendations.

===Digitisation===
{{Wikidata property|P1573}}
In December 2012, the BBC completed a digitisation exercise, scanning the listings of all programmes from an entire run of about 4,500 copies of the magazine from 1923 (the first issue) to 2009, the [[BBC Genome Project]], with a view to creating an online database of its output.<ref name="Kelion">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20625884|title=BBC finishes Radio Times archive digitisation effort|last=Kelion|first=Leo|work=BBC News |date=6 December 2012 |access-date=20 January 2013}}</ref> They identified around five million programmes, involving 8.5&nbsp;million actors, presenters, writers and technical staff.<ref name="Kelion" />

The results were made public on 15 October 2014,<ref name="Hilbish">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/posts/Genome-The-Radio-Times-Archive-is-now-live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019034330/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/posts/Genome-The-Radio-Times-Archive-is-now-live|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 October 2014|title=Genome – Radio Times archive now live|last=Bishop|first=Hilary|date=15 October 2014 |publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=15 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Sweney|first=Mark|title=BBC digitises Radio Times back issues|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/oct/16/bbc-digitises-radio-times-back-issues-genome-project|newspaper=The Guardian|date=16 October 2014}}</ref> Corrections to OCR errors and changes to advertised schedules are being [[Crowdsourcing|crowdsourced]].<ref name="Hilbish" /> Digitised editions of entire magazines (including front covers, prose articles, advertisements and other non-listings content) were added:
{{Div col}}
* 1920s <small>(March 2017)</small>
* 1930s <small>(December 2017)</small>
* 1940s <small>(December 2018)</small>
* 1950s <small>(December 2019)</small>
{{Div col end}}

Several addresses, [[Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom|telephone numbers]] and [[email address]]es have been removed, to prevent readers from attempting to donate to charity appeals that have closed.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Some names and [[trademark]] terms have been removed for legal reasons.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===Puzzles===
On 28 September 2020, ''Radio Times'' launched its online puzzle site using [[brain teaser|brainteasers]] from their archive. Puzzles include those based on television and radio programmes such as ''[[Eggheads (TV series)|Eggheads]]'', ''[[Only Connect]]'', ''[[Pointless]]'', [[Channel 4]]'s ''[[Countdown (game show)|Countdown]]'' and [[BBC Radio 2]]'s ''[[PopMaster]]''.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

===Podcast===
On 8 September 2021, ''Radio Times'' introduced a 40-minute [[podcast]] show hosted by [[Jane Garvey (broadcaster)|Jane Garvey]] and Rhianna Dhillon that includes interviews with television celebrities.

==Editors==
There have been 20 editors of ''Radio Times'' to date (including one uncredited and one returning) since the magazine began publication:<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.radiotimesarchive.co.uk/facts.html|title=Radio Times Facts and Figures|access-date=15 April 2018|publisher=Radio Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/time-inc-editor-in-chief-mark-frith-named-as-the-new-editor-of-radio-times/|title=Former Time Inc editor-in-chief Mark Frith named as the new editor of Radio Times|access-date=15 April 2018|work=Press Gazette}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.immediate.co.uk/tom-loxley-and-shem-law-named-joint-editors-of-radio-times/|title=Tom Loxley and Shem Law named joint editors of Radio Times|work=Immediate Media Co. |date=10 March 2020 | access-date=10 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328194019/http://www.immediate.co.uk/tom-loxley-and-shem-law-named-joint-editors-of-radio-times/|archive-date=March 28, 2020}}</ref>
{{Div col}}
* 1923–1926: Leonard Crocombe
* 1926–1927: [[Walter Fuller (editor)|Walter Fuller]]
* 1927–1933: [[Eric Maschwitz]]
* 1933–1941: [[Maurice Gorham]]
* 1941–1944: Gordon Stowell
* 1944–1954: Tom Henn
* 1954–1968: Douglas G. Williams
* 1968–1969: C. J. Campbell Nairne
* 1969–1979: [[Geoffrey Cannon]]
* 1979–1988: Brian Gearing
* 1988–1996: Nicholas Brett
* 1996–2000: Sue Robinson
* 2000–2001: Nicholas Brett (returned)
* 2001–April 2002: Nigel Horne
* April–July 2002: Liz Vercoe (uncredited)
* August 2002–August 2009: Gill Hudson
* September 2009 – 2017: [[Ben Preston]]
* 2017–2020: [[Mark Frith (journalist)|Mark Frith]]
* 2020–2024: Tom Loxley and Shem Law
* 2024–present: Shem Law
{{Div col end}}

==See also==
* [[Radio Times's Most Powerful People|Most Powerful People]] – an annual listing charted the three different areas of British media (include TV comedy, TV drama and radio) from January 2003 to June 2005
* [[Radio Times Extra]] – a digital programme guide which offers full television listings and synopses throughout 14 days provided by [[Inview Technology]]
* [[Radio Times's TV 100|TV 100]] – an annual listing featuring television talents since 2017
* ''[[New Zealand Listener]]'' – a weekly magazine that covers television and radio listings as well as political, culture and a variety of topics
* ''[[Radiocorriere TV]]'' – an Italian weekly listings magazine published by [[RAI]]
* ''[[Moustique]]'' – a Belgian weekly magazine with a special reference to current affairs, culture, television and radio
* ''[[Télérama]]'' – a French cultural magazine devoted to television, radio and film reviews
* ''[[Hörzu]]'' – a German weekly television and radio listings magazine

==References==
===Notes===
{{Refbegin}}
# {{note|a|a}} Renamed [[BBC Television|BBC TV]] on 8 October 1960 and later became [[BBC One]] on 20 April 1964, when [[BBC Two]] is launched.
# {{note|b|b}} All these strands including the [[BBC Third Programme|Third Programme]] kept their separate identities (such as music, sports coverage and education) within [[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]] until 4 April 1970, when there was a further reorganisation following the introduction of the structural changes which had been outlined in the BBC document ''Broadcasting in the Seventies'' on 10 July 1969.
# {{note|c|c}} Up until the early 1980s, BBC television listing schedules has giving phrases such as 'a film series' used for imported programmes and 'the feature film' were remained until 1 September 1984.
# {{note|d|d}} Between June and December 1990, the layout of programme page sections had given its own distinctive colour were used at the top along with [[Shades of pink|deep pink]] for films, [[Shades of blue|dark blue]] for television and [[Turquoise (color)|medium turquoise]] for radio, as well as each [[Names of the days of the week|day of the week]] often include: [[Shades of red|red]] for Saturday, [[Shades of orange|orange]] for Sunday, [[Shades of magenta|magenta]] for Monday, [[Chartreuse (color)|chartreuse]] for Tuesday, [[Shades of purple|purple]] for Wednesday, [[Coral (color)|coral]] for Thursday and [[Shades of green|green]] for Friday.
# {{note|e|e}} The colours for each day of the week were changed on 22 December 1990, they are: Saturday in [[Shades of red|red]], Sunday in [[Shades of azure|azure blue]], Monday in [[Shades of orange|light orange]], Tuesday in [[indigo]], Wednesday in [[Shades of green|dark green]], Thursday in [[Rose (color)|rose]], and Friday in [[Turquoise (color)|medium turquoise]]. On 30 October 2004, the day's colours were slightly changed once again that includes Tuesday in [[Lavender (color)|lavender]], Wednesday in [[Spring green|mint green]], and Friday in [[navy blue]].
# {{note|f|f}} The station is rebranded as [[BBC Radio 5 Live|Radio 5 Live]] on 28 March 1994, that replaces educational and children's programmes with a new [[24-hour news cycle|rolling news]] format, whilst retaining the sports programmes from the [[BBC Radio 5 (former)|old service]].
# {{note|g|g}} Also known as ''TV Times Magazine'' from 3 October 1981; rebranded back to its original ''[[TV Times]]'' name on 6 October 1984.
# {{note|h|h}} From 1956 to 1964, the [[Midlands]] originally had their own edition of ''TV Times'' carrying [[Associated Television|ATV]] and [[ABC Weekend TV|ABC]] programme listings, but in a separate weekly magazine called ''TV World'' on 27 September 1964, for the innovative idea of splitting itself 50:50 with a second cover in the middle allowing for the magazine to be folded over to creating both weekend and weekday sections from one publication, before ''TV Times'' went national on 21 September 1968.
# {{note|i|i}} Named after the [[TV Guide|American magazine of the same name]] that which devoted to latest celebrities and television reviews. It became a subscription-based monthly publication from February 1991, and it was later absorbed by ''Satellite TV Europe'' in 1992.
# {{note|j|j}} On 1 September 2021, [[Sky One]] has now ceased broadcasting with all the entertainment shows to be replaced by two new channels, [[Sky Showcase]] and [[Sky Max]].
# {{note|k|k}} The service closed on 8 April 1991 and replaced by [[Sky Cinema|Sky Movies]].
# {{note|l|l}} Replaced by [[Sky Sports]] on 20 April 1991.
# {{note|m|m}} ''TV Plus'' launched on 1 March 1991 by Hamfield Publications which combines a hybrid [[List of women's magazines|women's magazine]] and the full complete seven-day television listings (for BBC, [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]], [[Channel 4]] and various [[Sky UK|British Sky Broadcasting]] networks) which ran from Friday to Thursday, until the publication was ceased after three issues and it was a shortest-lived weekly listings magazine in [[History of the United Kingdom|British history]].
# {{note|n|n}} Absorbed by [[Eurosport]] on 1 March 1993.
# {{note|o|o}} The two consecutive adults-only services were unsuitabled until 19 December 1992.
# {{note|p|p}} On 19 August 1994, [[Sky Sports|Sky Sports 2]] has launched initially as a weekend-only service, which occupies the listings sandwiched between Sky Sports at the top and Eurosport at the bottom.
# {{note|q|q}} Between September 1999 and April 2001, the programme section colours returned once again which was placed halfway throughout the double-page spreads vertically that include [[Shades of violet|violet]] for films, [[Shades of orange|dark orange]] for television and [[Chartreuse (color)|chartreuse]] for radio.
# {{note|r|r}} On 1 September 2023, the channel ceased broadcasting within its children's programmes can now be viewed on the streaming service [[ITVX]].
# {{note|s|s}} Originally launched on 5 November 1982, ''[[TV Choice]]'' is the first weekly listings magazine which provide full schedules for all services (BBC One, BBC Two, ITV and Channel 4) that the publication breached their [[copyright]] forcing to be suspended on 1 January 1983, along with revamped and more detailed programme billings until it was eventually vanished without trace. [[Bauer Media Group]] revived the title used as a low-price listings magazine from its own stable on 14 September 1999.
{{Refend}}

===Sources===
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* Tony Currie, ''The Radio Times Story'' (2001, Kelly Publications) {{ISBN|1-903053-09-9}}
* David Driver, ''The Art of Radio Times: The First Sixty Years'' (1981)
* Martin Baker, ''The Art of Radio Times: A Golden Age of British Illustration'' {{ISBN|978-1854441713}}
* R.D. Usherwood, ''Drawing for Radio Times'' (1961, Bodley Head)

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource|The Radio Times}}
* {{Official website|http://www.radiotimes.com/}}
* [https://archive.today/20150126142700/http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/general/radio-times BBC – History of the ''Radio Times'']
* [https://archive.today/20130926142232/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/galleries/p01h96nf Radio programme about cover art] with gallery
* A selection of [http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/12/26/vintage-radio-times-covers/ Vintage ''Radio Times'' covers]
* [http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ BBC Genome] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203001709/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ |date=3 December 2020 }} - ''Radio Times'' listings from 1923 to 2009
* [http://nvhrbiblio.nl/biblio/tijdschrift/Radio%20Times/ Digitized versions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116230752/http://nvhrbiblio.nl/biblio/tijdschrift/Radio%20Times/ |date=16 January 2021 }} of years 1923 to 1930 and 1936 on the website of the [http://www.nvhr.nl/frameset.htm?&ContentFrame Nederlandse Vereniging voor de Historie van de Radio]
* [https://archives.ucl.ac.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DT Papers of Duncan Taylor] (containing nnotated scripts, administration files and articles from the Radio Times) at [[University College London Faculty of Arts and Humanities|University College London]]
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