Tweet of the Day is a British radio programme that was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on weekdays at 05:58 from Monday to Friday.[1] The original format of an episode is a short programme of 90 seconds, the original series featuring the song or sounds of a British bird, visitor, or bird chorus and a few facts about each bird described by a BBC wildlife presenter.[1]

Tweet of the Day
GenreFactual
Running time90 seconds
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home stationBBC Radio 4
Hosted byVarious BBC wildlife presenters
Original release6 May 2013 –
2023
No. of series3
No. of episodes500
WebsiteTweet of the Day
PodcastPodcasts & Downloads

The first episode was broadcast on 6 May 2013 and featured the song of the male common cuckoo presented by David Attenborough.[1][2] The series won the Broadcasting Press Guild's award for radio programme of the year in 2014.[3] The series was scheduled across a year, by the end of which 266 different bird sounds had been featured.[1] The original series was repeated before Series Two.

A follow-up series Tweet of the Day: World Birds, featured a mix of worldwide and British bird species. A third series features very little birdsong, but instead features a guest describing the effect a particular species' calls has had on them personally. The current broadcasts are two-week batches of repeats.[4]

In March 2024 it was announced that the series would cease to be broadcast from Mondays to Fridays, and would only be broadcast at 8: 57 a.m.[5] on Sundays.

Presenters

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The original series was presented by David Attenborough, Miranda Krestovnikoff, Steve Backshall, Michaela Strachan, Brett Westwood, Bill Oddie, Chris Packham, John Aitchison, Kate Humble, Liz Bonnin and Martin Hughes-Games.[6]

The second series included the above presenters, as well as Michael Palin and others

Sound recordists

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  • Original series - Chris Watson, Gary Moore, Geoff Sample, and Simon Elliott.[6]
  • Second series - Recordings sourced from various audio libraries worldwide.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Tweet of the day: About Tweet of the Day". BBC. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Tweet of the Day: Episodes by date". BBC. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Radio 4's Tweet of the day flies high at BPG Awards". BBC. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  4. ^ "Martin Noble Picks his Tweet of the Day, Tweet of the Day - BBC Radio 4". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  5. ^ Reporters, Telegraph (18 March 2024). "BBC drops Radio 4's Tweet of the Day". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Tweet of the Day: Presenters and Wildlife Sound Recordists". BBC. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
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