[Mike]

Weren't Network, News 24 and World titles based on the location of BBC studios and bureaus? Is there any industry connection between them - locations of BBC offices, transmitters?

Looking at the Midlands Today titles of the era, I doubt it - there's no BBC office in Solihull, and the NWT ones there isn't a BBC office in Bolton.

I think it's probably a case of someone looking at a UK street atlas for the larger locations in each region and picking places that are big enough population wise to appear on them?

Again, some choices smack of someone not knowing the transmission/editorial locations for each region (Gloucester and Cheltenham are on the fringe of Bristol and Birmingham's patch for instance, and appeared on both the Midlands and West titles of the era)

Edit: I'm going to say after many years of looking at presentation stuff, I've only just noticed the locations are laid out in geographical proximity to one another, and aren't as randomly placed as I thought... Hence why Gloucester and Cheltenham appear in the top right of the Points West titles and bottom left of the Midlands Today titles.