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BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company, Ltd. National The BBC today runs ten national domestic radio stations, four of which are only available in a digital format: via DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting – i.e. Digital Radio), the Internet or the different forms of Digital Television in the UK. The "main" stations, available via both analogue and digital, are The new digital-only stations are Regional The BBC also runs regional radio stations throughout the UK, for example BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Devon. These stations focus on regional issues to a greater extent than their national counterparts, organising live phone-in debates about these issues, as well as lighter talk shows with music from different decades of the 20th Century. Compared to many advertising-funded Independent Local Radio (ILR) stations, which often broadcast contemporary popular music, BBC Local Radio stations offer a more "serious" alternative. Broadcast BBC Radio services are broadcast on various FM and AM frequencies, and also now on digital radio. They are also available on Digital Television sets in the UK, and for 7 days after broadcast on the bbc.co.uk website; a number of trials are also underway of MP3 downloads and podcasting for selected shows - see bbc.co.uk#Streaming media. Programming Throughout its history the BBC has produced far too many programmes to list here in full. Some particularly significant, influential, popular or long lasting programmes include: For more BBC radio programmes see . History of BBC Radio The BBC radio services began in 1922 with the British Broadcasting Company, Ltd., which was licensed under pressure to provide a radio service for the British public. It was licensed by the British Government through its General Post Office which had original control of the airwaves because they had been interpreted under law as an extension of the Post Office services. Today radio broadcasting still makes up a large part of the corporation's output and this is still reflected in the title of the BBC's listings magazine called Radio Times. First charter In 1927 the British Broadcasting Company became the British Broadcasting Corporation and gained control of the airwaves under the terms of a Royal Charter. John Reith, who had been the founding Managing Director of the commercial company, became the first director. He expounded firm principles of centralised, all-encompassing radio broadcasting, stressing programming standards and moral tone. These are set out in his autobiography, Broadcast Over Britain (1924). Reith's ideas were highly influential on modern ideas of public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. To this day, the BBC claims to follow the Reithian directive to "inform, educate and entertain". Critics of his approach claim that he was dictatorial and that he imposed a theocratic viewpoint on the broadcasting service. Reith's ideals were utterly at odds with the model of light entertainment based commercial radio adopted in some other countries (e.g. the USA). Competition from overseas stations
American Armed Forces influence The respite from American influence on British broadcasting was short lived. When the US military flooded Europe with troops during World War II, American-style programming followed and the BBC was forced to transmit these shows, first on the BBC Forces Programme and later on the BBC General Forces Programme, both on the former frequencies of the BBC National Programme. After the war the BBC Forces transmitters that had carried these shows were transformed into a network called the BBC Light Programme. The original BBC stations which had been linked together to form the BBC Regional Programme were transfomed into the BBC Home Service. A third part-time service was created under the name of the BBC Third Programme. For the history of these stations see Timeline of the BBC. Another operation had originally been called the BBC Empire Service and later the BBC General Overseas Service, but it served a different purpose from the domestic stations. It later became known as the BBC World Service and it was formed at the behest of the British Foreign Office. Commercial radio influence WWII silenced all but one of the original IBC stations and Radio Luxembourg continued its nightly tranmsissions to Britain as a commercial radio station featuring American-style entertainment and religion. Beginning in 1964 the first in what became a fleet of 10 offshore pirate radio stations began to ring the British coastline. By 1967 millions were tuning into these commercial operations and the BBC was rapidly losing its radio listening audience. The British Government reacted by imposing a draconian censorship law which all but wiped out all of the stations by midnight on August 14, 1967. One of the stations called Wonderful Radio London ("Big L") was so successful that the BBC was told to copy it as best they could. The creator of BBC Radio One told the press that his family had been fans of that station. The BBC hired many out-of-work broadcasting staff who had come from the former offshore stations, including Tony Blackburn who presented the very first BBC Radio One morning show. He had previously presented the same morning show on Radio Caroline and Tony Blackburn attempted to duplicate the same sound for BBC Radio One. Among the other djs hired was the late John Peel who had presented the overnight show on "Big L". That station's PAMS jingles were commissioned to be resung in Dallas, Texas so that "Wonderful Radio London" became "Wonderful Radio One on BBC". New BBC networks BBC Radio 1 was launched as a part-time pop music station September 30, 1967. The BBC Light Programme was renamed Radio 2 and broadcast easy listening, folk, jazz and light entertainment. The BBC Third Programme was renamed Radio 3 and the BBC Home Service became Radio 4. BBC Radio 5 was launched on 27 August 1990 as a home for sport and children's programming, and was it later renamed BBC Radio Five Live when it became a dedicated news and sport network. See also | |||||||||
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