So the end looms for what was once Grampian – the wee station with the big name.
It lost its name and local programmes 20 years ago but its news service lived on.
The STV News at Six in the northern half of Scotland was really North Tonight in disguise.
Now it too is to go.
STV is proposing to change its news service.
There will, subject to Ofcom approval, be one news service presented from Glasgow for both central and northern Scotland.
The financial situation facing STV is serious. It lost £200,000 in the first half of the year. Advertising is down £5m.
But there is profound concern amongst politicians in the north of Scotland.
Of course the question now is whether Ofcom will allow this change.
Or might sone compromise emerge? Or even outright rejection?
Ofcom is not the poodle some accuse it of being.
In 2013 it helped reinstate a fuller news service for the ITV Border region.
But since then the marketplace has changed.
Advertising is down. Linear TV is not dead but some clearly prefer on demand. Younger people are not consuming old media.
It is all a very hard circle to square.
Meantime caught in the middle are 30 STV journalists set to lose their jobs.
If the change happens, “Grampian” will be the first of the official C3 franchise areas of old to completely disappear.
It will be fascinating to see if this proposal actually goes ahead.
Or will Ofcom and political pressure lead to the plan being scrapped?
The plan may make those of us who care about TV’s history feel nostalgic for Grampian.
But nostalgia and sentiment is not an argument for stopping the change.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: STV break bumper. COPYRIGHT: STV Group.