57-618: The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4 . Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II , the BBC developed two nationwide radio stations – the National Programme and the Regional Programme (which began broadcasting on 9 March 1930) – as well as a basic service from London that include programming originated in six regions. Although
114-498: A Peabody Award in 2002 for File on 4: Export Controls . Costing £71.4 million (2005/6), it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by many to be its flagship. There is no comparable British commercial network: Channel 4 abandoned plans to launch its own speech-based digital radio station in October 2008 as part of a £100m cost cutting review. The station
171-409: A Sunday. This has reduced the total number of continuity announcers required each day down from four to three. The Greenwich Time Signal , popularly known as "the pips", is broadcast every hour to herald the news bulletin, except at midnight and 18:00, and 22:00 on Sunday, when the chimes of Big Ben are played. There is no Greenwich Time Signal at 15:00 on Saturday or 11:00 and 12:00 on Sunday due to
228-498: A breakfast magazine programme called Roundabout East Anglia was first broadcast on 5 August 1974 as the region lacked any BBC Local Radio until the service ceased on 30 May 1980, ahead of the opening of BBC Radio Norfolk four months later. The last former Home Service region for the South West England was an VHF/FM opt-out of Radio 4, Morning Sou'West was also carried on several low-power medium wave transmitters before
285-405: A lack of female broadcasters. In September 1972, Radio 4 employed the first female continuity announcers—Hylda Bamber and Barbara Edwards. For quite some time, the introduction of female newsreaders led to complaints from listeners; women discussing topics of feminist interest led to similar complaints. In addition, there has been long-running criticism by atheist and humanist groups of Thought for
342-464: A planned switch-off of long wave transmissions by 2025. BBC Radio 4's medium wave frequencies were switched off on 15 April 2024, which previously served as relays in areas with a weak LW signal to provide reception of BBC Radio 4 LW, such as Northern Ireland and south west England. Most were turned off at 12:27 PM BST and broadcast an endless closedown loop informing listeners to retune to other methods of reception. The final transmitter to change into
399-648: A time during the 1970s Radio 4 carried regional news bulletins Monday to Saturday. These were broadcast twice at breakfast, at lunchtime and at 17:55. There were also programme variations for the parts of England not served by BBC Local Radio stations. These included Roundabout East Anglia , a VHF opt-out of the Today programme broadcast from BBC East 's studios in Norwich each weekday from 6.45 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. Roundabout East Anglia came to an end in August 1980, ahead of
456-571: A week-long pilot version had been broadcast on the Midlands Home Service in 1950. From Monday 2 September 1957, the Light Programme's broadcasting hours would start to increase, with a new early morning start time of 7.00 am until midnight, later moving to 6.30 am from Monday 29 September 1958. In 1964, broadcasting hours were increased even more, with a new morning start time of 5.30 am from Monday 31 August. Up until September 1964,
513-532: A year after broadcast as streaming audio from Radio 4's listen again page and via BBC Sounds . A selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files. Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra . Due to the capacity limitations of DAB and increasing sport broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra , BBC Radio 4 DAB has to reduce its bit rate most evenings, such that after 7 p.m. its DAB output
570-491: A year, listeners had to rely on FM broadcasts or DAB for mainstream Radio 4 broadcasts – the number relying solely on long wave was now a small minority. The cricket broadcasts took precedence over on-the-hour news bulletins, but not the Shipping Forecast , carried since Radio 4's move to long wave in 1978 because long wave can be received clearly at sea. Initially the power was 100 watts on 350 metres (857 kHz ). 2LO
627-644: Is available on FM in most of Great Britain, parts of Ireland and the north of France; LW throughout the UK and in parts of Northern Europe, and the Atlantic north of the Azores to about 20 degrees west; DAB ; Digital TV including Freeview , Freesat , Sky and Virgin Media , and on the Internet. Freesat, Sky and Virgin have a separate channel for Radio 4 LW output in mono, in addition to
SECTION 10
#1732844894648684-436: Is broadcast as in documentaries relating to various forms of both popular and classical music, and the long-running music-based Desert Island Discs . Sport is also not part of the station's output, apart from during news bulletins, although between 1994 and 2023, the station's long wave frequency was used to broadcast ball-by-ball commentaries of most Test cricket matches played by England. Consequently, for around 70 days
741-594: Is usually in mono, even though many of its programmes are made in stereo (including its flagship drama "The Archers"), these can be heard in stereo only on FM, Digital TV on Freeview & Freesat (Ch. 704), Sky, Virgin and on line via BBC Sounds. BBC World Service, which uses BBC Radio 4 FM & DAB frequencies between 01:00 and 05:20, is in stereo, but only on Radio 4 FM & DAB and not on its own dedicated DAB channel. BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcasts in mono on DAB, but has always been in stereo on Digital TV (Freeview / Freesat Ch 708), Sky, Virgin and online. Announcers carry out
798-636: The British Armed Forces . The long wave signal on 200 kHz / 1500 metres was transmitted from Droitwich in the English Midlands (as it still is today for BBC Radio 4 , although adjusted slightly to 198 kHz / 1515 metres from 1 February 1988) and gave fairly good coverage of most of the United Kingdom , although a number of low-power medium wave transmitters (using 1215 kHz / 247 metres) were added later to fill in local blank spots. Over
855-564: The Holme Moss transmitter meant that listeners in much of Northern England received combined North and North West news bulletins. The "national regions" became BBC Radio Scotland , BBC Radio Wales / BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio Ulster , at first relaying the majority of Radio 4 programming but later becoming completely independent. During the 1970s, Radio 4 FM in the East of England ( Tacolneston , Peterborough and other relays ) carried
912-625: The North Home Service , as well as the Northern Ireland service used the same frequency as a North service booster. The Northern Ireland service was separated from the North region on 7 January 1963. Initially, BBC Radio 4 continued to provide more regional programming and scheduling, and the BBC's weekly programme journal magazine Radio Times listed the channel's offerings under the heading "Radio 4 – Home Service" with particular reference to
969-660: The Third Programme when it began broadcasting on 29 September 1946. During the day, the service also included programmes of classical music . These were reduced in number when government limits on radio broadcasting hours were relaxed in 1964, and the Music Programme began broadcasting during the daytime on the frequencies of the (evening-only) Third Programme . They were discontinued when regular broadcasting began daily from 7.00 am to 6.30 pm on 22 March 1965. The service also broadcast educational programmes for schools during
1026-430: The 200 kHz frequency (1,500 metres) previously held by Radio 2 - later moved to 198 kHz as a result of international agreements aimed at avoiding interference (all ITU Region 1 MW/LW broadcast frequencies are divisible by 9). At this point, Radio 4 became available across all of the UK for the first time and the station officially became known as Radio 4 UK, a title that remained until 29 September 1984. For
1083-464: The Day , a slot dedicated exclusively to religious discussion during Radio 4's flagship morning news programme. Radio 4 has been criticised for being "too middle class " and of "little interest" to non-white listeners. BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it
1140-622: The FM output. The longwave signal is part of the Royal Navy's system of letters of last resort . In the event of a suspected catastrophic attack on Britain, submarine captains, in addition to other checks, check for a broadcast signal from Radio 4 on 198 longwave to verify the annihilation of organised society in Great Britain. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts a wide variety of speech-related programming, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. Music
1197-627: The Home and Light's sports coverage as well as the Third Programme itself. The BBC Home Service had seven different regions, within London and South East England was served by the "basic" service, which was not considered a region by the BBC and acted as the sustaining service for the other regions: A shortage of frequencies meant that the Northern Ireland Home Service was treated as part of
SECTION 20
#17328448946481254-403: The Light Programme would always end its broadcasting day at midnight; however this changed on Sunday 27 September 1964, when a new closedown time of 2.02 am was introduced. The Light Programme closed down for the last time at 2.03 am on Saturday 30 September 1967. At 5.30 am, it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and at 7.00 am by BBC Radio 1 on medium wave. Some programmes broadcast from
1311-423: The Light Programme. Even after the fuel shortage had ended by spring 1947, the 11.00 pm closedown each night continued as BBC Radio found itself in financial problems and needed to save money. The midnight closedown of the Light Programme resumed one year later from Sunday 11 April 1948. The long-running soap opera The Archers was first heard nationally on the Light Programme on New Year's Day 1951, although
1368-532: The Music Programme losing its separate identities (the Third, Study Session and Sports Service were retained under the banner of Network Three until 4 April 1970), and the Home Service was replaced by BBC Radio 4 . The service provided between five and seven national news bulletins a day from London – with drama , talks and informational programmes. Non-topical talk programmes and heavier drama output were transferred to
1425-502: The Radio 4 medium wave Plymouth relay until 31 December 1982. The launch of Radio 5 on 27 August 1990 saw the removal of Open University , schools programming, children's programmes and the Study on 4 / Options adult education slot from Radio 4's FM frequencies. Consequently, the full Radio 4 schedule became available on FM for the first time. However, adult educational and Open University programming returned to Radio 4 in 1994 when Radio 5
1482-470: The Saturday Afternoon drama and the omnibus edition of The Archers respectively. Only pips broadcast on FM and LW are accurate. On digital platforms there is a delay of between three and five seconds, and up to 23 seconds online. Radio 4 programmes cover a wide variety of genre including news and current affairs, history, culture, science, religion, arts, comedy, drama and entertainment. A number of
1539-496: The UK's second most-popular radio station after BBC Radio 2 . BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as Today , The World at One and PM heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben . The pips are only accurate on FM, and LW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five seconds and online up to 23 seconds. Radio 4 broadcasts the Shipping Forecast which, in August 2017,
1596-422: The air at 8.00 am until 11.00 pm. There was, however, a period of a year when the Light Programme was forced to end its broadcasting day one hour earlier at 11.00 pm. This commenced in mid-February 1947 as an effect from the appalling winter of 1946–1947 which saw a fuel shortage in the country with the government enforcing electricity saving measures, one of which was losing one hour of broadcasting per day from
1653-505: The closedown loop was the Plymouth relay on 774 kHz at 4:59 PM BST. These relays stopped broadcasting the closedown loop and fell silent completely by 30 April 2024. An online schedule page lists the running order of programmes. The station broadcasts a mix of live and pre-recorded programmes. Live programming includes breakfast programme Today , magazine programme Woman's Hour , consumer affairs programme You and Yours , and (often)
1710-601: The course of the 1950s and 1960s, the Light Programme (along with the BBC's two other national stations – the BBC Home Service and the BBC Third Programme ) gradually became available on what was known at the time as VHF , as the BBC developed a network of local FM transmitters. From its first day of broadcasting in 1945 until Monday 2 September 1957, the Light Programme would be on the air from 9.00 am until midnight each day, apart from Sundays when it would come on
1767-577: The day, backed with booklets and support material. Programmes were reorganised across the three BBC networks on 30 September 1957, with much of the Home Service's lighter content transferring to the BBC Light Programme and the establishment of the Third Network , which used the frequencies of the Third Programme to carry the Home Service's adult education content known as the Study Session, and
BBC Home Service - Misplaced Pages Continue
1824-710: The end of regional broadcasting. The report began to be implemented on 4 April 1970 and the Home Service regions gradually disappeared, with some of their frequencies reallocated to Independent Local Radio , until 23 November 1978 when Radio 4 was given the national longwave frequency previously used by Radio 2 and was relaunched as the "Radio 4 UK" service (remained until 29 September 1984), with two additional transmitters opened in Scotland. Radio 4 FM continued to carry four daily five-minute regional news bulletins on Mondays to Saturdays until mid-1980, by which time BBC Local Radio had reached most areas of England. The wide coverage of
1881-596: The end of the war, the Home Service adjusted its broadcasting hours, now commencing at 6.25 am each weekday and 7.50 am on Sundays, and ending at around 11.10 pm each night. By 1964, the Home Service was on the air each day from 6.35 am (7.50 am on Sundays) and would conclude each night at the precise time of 11.48 pm. On 30 September 1967, the BBC split the Light Programme into separate pop music and entertainment stations, becoming BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 respectively. The Third Programme became BBC Radio 3 , with
1938-663: The first time to mark the new year. In 1927 the company became the British Broadcasting Corporation . On 9 March 1930 2LO was replaced by the BBC Regional Programme and the BBC National Programme . The letters LO continued to be used internally as a designation in the BBC for technical operations in the London area (for example, the numbering of all recordings made in London contained LO). The code LO
1995-420: The following duties from Broadcasting House: Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins from New Broadcasting House. In 2012 the BBC announced that it would be reducing its main presentation team from 12 to ten. Other continuity announcers for whom it is not known whether they are freelance or BBC employees, include Joanna Kean, Kelsey Bennett, Arlene Fleming (who also used to read
2052-402: The launch of BBC Radio Norfolk . All regional news bulletins broadcast from BBC regional news bases around England ended in August 1980, apart from in the southwest as until January 1983 there was no BBC Local Radio in the southwest so these news bulletins and its weekday morning regional programme, Morning Sou'West , continued to be broadcast from the BBC studios in Plymouth on VHF and on
2109-591: The most recent being when Pope Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010 . On 30 May 2023, the BBC announced that Radio 4 will stop broadcasting opt-outs on long wave with the last opt-outs airing on 31 March 2024. The two displaced programmes, Daily Service and Yesterday in Parliament moved to BBC Radio 4 Extra . The daily amount of Shipping Forecasts was reduced to be broadcast 2 times on weekdays and 3 times on weekends. Test Match Special moved to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra on 31 July 2023. These end ahead of
2166-682: The music, film, books, arts and culture programme Front Row . Continuity is managed from Broadcasting House with news bulletins, including the hourly summaries and longer programmes such as the Six O'Clock News and Midnight News , and news programmes such as Today , The World at One and PM , which by early 2013 had returned to Broadcasting House after 15 years at BBC Television Centre in White City . The news returning to Broadcasting House has also meant that newsreaders can provide cover for continuity, which regularly occurs at 23:00 each night and 16:00 on
2223-508: The need to prevent enemy aircraft from using differentiated output from the Regional Programme's transmitters as navigational beacons . To this end, the former regional transmitters were synchronised in chains on (initially) two frequencies, 668 (South) and 767 kHz (North), with an additional chain of low-powered transmitters (known as "Group H") on 1474 kHz appearing later. Under this arrangement, regional broadcasting in its pre-war form
2280-515: The news) and Richard Evans. Criticism voiced by centre-right newspapers in recent years have a perceived left political bias across a range of issues, as well as sycophancy in interviews, particularly on the popular morning news magazine Today as part of a reported perception of a general "malaise" at the BBC. Conversely, the journalist Mehdi Hasan has criticised the station for an overtly " socially and culturally conservative" approach. There has been criticism of Today in particular for
2337-461: The process was expensive and not encouraged by the General Post Office as it tied up large parts of the telephone network. The stations that followed the establishment of 2LO in London were therefore autonomously programmed using local talent and facilities. By May 1923, simultaneous broadcasting was technically possible at least between main transmitters and relay stations , the quality
BBC Home Service - Misplaced Pages Continue
2394-468: The programme ended on 31 December 1982, to paving the way for two new local stations ( BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Cornwall ) launched on 17 January 1983. BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC . The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House , London . Since 2019,
2451-479: The programme items attracting the greatest number of listeners tended to appear on the National, they were each designed to appeal "across the board" to a single but variegated audience by offering at most times of the day a choice of programme type rather than simply catering to two distinct audiences. On 1 September 1939, the BBC merged the two programmes into one national service from London. The reasons given included
2508-484: The programmes on Radio 4 take the form of a "magazine" show, featuring numerous small contributions over the course of the programme— Woman's Hour , From Our Own Correspondent , You and Yours . The rise of these magazine shows is primarily due to the work of Tony Whitby , controller of Radio 4 from 1970 to 1975. The station hosts a number of long-running programmes, many of which have been broadcast for over 40 years. Most programmes are available for 30 days or over
2565-453: The seven broadcasting regions individually. With the introduction of BBC Local Radio , starting with BBC Radio Leicester on 8 November 1967, it was felt that the future of non-national broadcasting lay in local rather than regional services. The BBC produced a report called Broadcasting in the Seventies on 10 July 1969, proposing the reorganisation of programmes on the national networks and
2622-518: The start of the 1990s, Radio 4 had become available on FM in most of the UK - previously FM coverage had been restricted mainly to England and south Wales. This meant that it was possible for the main Radio 4 service to be transferred from LW to FM, and this took place on 16 September 1991 with opt-outs - extra shipping forecasts, Daily Service and Yesterday in Parliament , joined in 1994 by Test Match Special . Longwave also occasionally opted out at other times, such as to broadcast special services,
2679-646: The station controller has been Mohit Bakaya . He replaced Gwyneth Williams , who had been the station controller since 2010. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM , LW and DAB , and on BBC Sounds , it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland , northern France and Northern Europe . It is available on Freeview , Sky , and Virgin Media . Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it
2736-486: The war, BBC Home Service would air each day from 7.00 am until 12.15 am, with main news bulletins airing at 7.00 am, 8.00 am, 1.00 pm, 6.00 pm, 9.00 pm and midnight. The Home Service continued in this form until the end of World War II. On 29 July 1945, the BBC resumed its previous regional structure. Following the wartime success of the BBC Forces Programme and BBC General Forces Programme , light entertainment
2793-547: Was 150 years old. According to RAJAR , the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 9.2 million with a listening share of 11.1% as of December 2023. BBC Radio 4 is the second-most-popular British domestic radio station by total hours, after Radio 2 . It recorded its highest audience, of 11 million listeners, in May 2011, and was "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2023 Radio Academy Awards . It also won
2850-412: Was allowed to transmit for seven minutes, after which the "operator" had to listen on the wavelength for three minutes for possible instructions to close down. On 14 November 1922 the station was transferred to the new British Broadcasting Company which in 1923 took up the nearby Savoy Hill for its broadcasting studios. At midnight on New Year's Eve 1923, the twelve chimes of Big Ben were broadcast for
2907-668: Was changed to LN in the early 1970s. When the British Broadcasting Company first began transmissions on 14 November 1922 from station 2LO in the Strand , which it had inherited from the Marconi Company (one of six commercial companies which created), but technology did not yet exist either for national coverage or joint programming between transmitters . Whilst it was possible to combine large numbers of trunk telephone lines to link transmitters for individual programmes,
SECTION 50
#17328448946482964-564: Was closed to make way for the launch of BBC Radio 5 Live and were broadcast until the end of the 1990s on Sunday evenings on longwave only. Between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991 FM broadcasts were replaced by a continuous news service devoted to the Gulf War , Radio 4 News FM , with the main Radio 4 service transferring to long wave. Before this, Radio 4's FM frequencies had occasionally been used for additional news coverage, generally for live coverage of statements and debates in Parliament. By
3021-531: Was no longer feasible, but much of the programming was gradually decentralised to the former regional studios because of the risks from enemy attack or bombing in London to broadcasting nationally. This new station was named the Home Service , which was also the internal designation at the BBC for domestic radio broadcasting (the organisation had also both the Television and Overseas Service departments). During
3078-478: Was not felt to be high enough to provide a national service or regular simultaneous broadcasts. In 1924, it was felt that technical standards had improved enough for London to start to provide the majority of the output, cutting the local stations back to providing items of local interest. Each of these main stations were broadcast at approximately 1 kilowatt (kW): Each of these relay stations were broadcast at approximately 120 watts (W): The BBC Home Service
3135-533: Was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 . It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the long wave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939 – by the BBC National Programme . The service was intended as a domestic replacement for the wartime BBC General Forces Programme which had gained many civilian listeners in Britain as well as members of
3192-457: Was the predecessor of Radio 4 and broadcast between 1939 and 1967. It had regional variations and was broadcast on medium wave with a network of VHF FM transmitters being added from 1955. Radio 4 replaced it on 30 September 1967, when the BBC restructured and renamed its domestic radio stations, in response to the challenge of offshore radio . It moved to long wave in November 1978, taking over
3249-483: Was transferred to the new BBC Light Programme , whilst "serious" programming – news, drama and discussion – remained on the regionalised Home Service. Popular light programming such as It's That Man Again remained on the Home Service, and some speech programming of the type pioneered by the Forces Programme – the newly launched Woman's Hour being very much in this mould – was on the Light Programme. Following
#647352