Editing Swindon (section)

==Media==

=== Online ===
Swindon has many online media outlets with the largest being ''[[The Swindon Advertiser]]''. SwindonWeb was the first website dedicated to Swindon in 1997 followed by SwindonLink and The Swindonian with many other sites now available, including Total Swindon and ''The Swindon Post''.

=== Print ===
[[File:King George V pulling the Bristolian.JPG|thumb|right|King George V pulling the 'Bristolian' passenger train at the [[Swindon Steam Railway Museum]]]]

==== Newspapers and magazines ====
Swindon has a daily [[local newspaper|newspaper]], the ''[[Swindon Advertiser]]'', with daily circulation of about 4,000 with an estimated readership of 21,000. Other newspapers covering the area include [[Bristol]]'s daily ''[[Western Daily Press]]'' and the ''Swindon Advertiser''s weekly, the ''[[Gazette and Herald]]''; the ''Wiltshire Ocelot'' (a free listings magazine), ''The Swindonian Monthly Magazine''  ''Swindon Star'', ''Hungry Monkeys'' (a comic), ''Stratton Outlook'', ''Frequency'' (an arts and cultural magazine), ''Great Swindon Magazine'', ''Swindon Business News'', ''Swindon Link'' and ''Highworth Link''.

==== Literature ====
Swindon is the setting for the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' series of novels by [[Jasper Fforde]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=SwindonWeb - Swindon accommodation, jobs and hotels in Swindon, news, property, business, what's on, eating out, shopping and Swindon Town football club |url=http://www.swindonweb.com/?m=8&s=9&ss=776&c=2646&t=Jasper+Fforde |access-date=17 May 2022 |website=www.swindonweb.com}}</ref> and ''[[The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time]]'' by [[Mark Haddon]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time: Setting |url=https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time/setting/ |access-date=17 May 2022 |website=SparkNotes |language=en}}</ref>

===Radio===
The first commercial radio station launched in Swindon was [[Wiltshire Radio]] in 1982, with [[BBC Radio Wiltshire|BBC Wiltshire Sound]] launched in 1989. Wiltshire Radio later changed to [[GWR FM]], then to [[Heart Wiltshire]], and is now [[Heart West]], broadcasting from studios in Bristol.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Heart |url=https://www.heart.co.uk/southwest/ |access-date=1 September 2020 |website=Heart South West |language=en}}</ref> An alternative commercial radio station, [[Brunel FM]], was launched in 2006 and replaced in turn by [[Total Star Swindon]], [[More Radio (Swindon)|More Radio]], [[Jack FM (Swindon)|Jack FM]] and [[Sam FM (Swindon)|Sam FM]]; the frequency is now used by [[Greatest Hits Radio Swindon]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Greatest Hits Radio - Latest Show Schedule |url=https://planetradio.co.uk/greatest-hits/schedule/ |access-date=1 September 2020 |website=Greatest Hits Radio |language=en}}</ref> Another independent station called [[Swindon FM]] was also on the air between 2001 and 2006.

Since 2008, the town has had its own 24-hour community radio station, [[Swindon 105.5]], which was given the [[Queen's Award for Voluntary Service]] in 2014, the highest award which can be given to a voluntary group.{{cn|date=October 2024}} In regards to the wider Wiltshire county, the public-sector station [[BBC Radio Wiltshire]] remains based in Swindon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wiltshire - Listen Live - BBC Sounds |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_wiltshire |access-date=1 September 2020 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Television===
The Swindon area is in the overlap between TV transmitters from two regions, [[Oxford transmitting station|Oxford]] (Thames Valley) and [[Mendip transmitting station|Mendip]], supplemented by a local relay transmitter in the town <ref>{{cite web |url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Seagry_Court |title=Seagry Court (Swindon, England) Freeview Light transmitter |date=May 2004}}</ref> (West of England). [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] regional news programmes come from [[ITV News Meridian]] (with offices at Abingdon) and [[ITV West Country]] (Bristol). On [[BBC One]], the area is served by both [[South Today]] (from Southampton) and [[BBC Points West|Points West]] (Bristol).

Between 1973 and 1982, the town had its own cable television channel called [[Swindon Viewpoint]]. This was a community television project run mainly by enthusiasts from studios in Victoria Hill, and later by Media Arts at the Town Hall Studios. It was followed by the more commercial [[Swindon Cable|Swindon's Local Channel]], which included pay-per-view films.<ref>[http://www.swindoncable.co.uk/ ''Swindon Cable — Swindon View Point — The Local Channel'', Swindoncable.co.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809025914/http://www.swindoncable.co.uk/ |date=9 August 2007 }}. Retrieved on 21 July 2007.</ref> NTL (later [[Virgin Media]]) took over the channel's parent company, ComTel, and closed the station.