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Isle of Wight newspapers, radio stations and news websites

The Isle of Wight is well served for newspapers, radio stations and online news outlets, in my opinion. Thankfully there aren't many high-profile crimes on the Island, but there is a steady stream of council squabbles and contentious planning applications to keep everyone gossiping as well as plenty of images of people holding giant cheques.

I've put them in alphabetical order rather than in any kind of ranking.

BBC Radio Solent

The Isle of Wight gets a bit of a raw deal from BBC local radio, sharing a station with Hampshire and Dorset. Nonetheless, BBC Solent do cover some Isle of Wight stories in depth, and their coverage of my beloved Southampton FC is very good. They were good enough to give me some work experience back in the day. More recently, I've been a guest on BBC Solent to discuss the Isle of Wight Festival, my love of benches and how to save money on the ferry. 

Island Echo

Island Echo does a good job of making the Isle of Wight seem like a rather exciting news patch with dramatic photos of overturned cars and 'BREAKING NEWS' banners announcing missing poodles.

They also have a knack of getting to the scene of things quickly and getting good photos.

It has a very big social media following with thousands of people keeping up with news via their Facebook page and other platforms.

Isle of Wight County Press

The Isle of Wight County Press is more like a weekly diary of Island life, with every bin fire, speeding ticket and planning application for a new conservatory being reported on.

There used to be an advertising campaign for the paper which claimed that it was read by 97% of Islanders, or something equally implausible (presumably they were assuming that the paper was passed around the village, as it was in 1757). It remains popular though, despite the tough climate for print media nowadays.

The Isle of Wight County Press featured in a Sky TV series where Nish Kumar and Josh Widdicombe spent a few days trying to get a front page story. Where do they get these crazy ideas?!

Isle of Wight Observer

The Isle of Wight Observer turned up in 2018 as a rival newspaper to the long-established Isle of Wight County Press. Rather boldly, it launched with an actual paper copy rather than just a website.

Centenarian readers of this website will be well aware that there was a newspaper with the same name that was published on the Isle of Wight until 1922 (according to Wikipedia). 

Isle of Wight Radio

Many years ago, I spent a few Saturdays reporting on football matches for Isle of Wight Radio where my attendance doubled the crowd size. The station was very highly thought of by industry nerds and as far as I'm aware that's still the case. It is obviously a commercial station so the news is mixed with Supertramp songs and adverts for Geoff's Sheds of Godshill.

Isle of Wight Radio is based in Newport and also does a lot of online and social media work.

Back in 2003, it was involved in a bizarre squirrel-related hoax/waste of police time. ​

On the Wight

On The Wight started as Ventnor Blog but has morphed into a broader site covering the whole Island. I'm a big fan of On The Wight, which manages to churn out a decent amount of news considering they have a small team. I also get the impression that it was something of a hobby that got out of hand, which is my favourite kind of website.

They tend to do a mix of bog standard churned out press releases alongside some more probing pieces of citizen journalism. They have a particular interest in the Isle of Wight's artsy scene.

Isle of Wight Can Depress

OK, not exactly a legitimate source of Isle of Wight news, but Isle of Wight Can Depress is full of chortles and in-jokes for Isle of Wight news junkies. 

Related guides from Isle of Wight Guru