BBC Regional Programme
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2009) |
Country | |
---|---|
Headquarters | Broadcasting House, London, England |
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Ownership | |
Owner | BBC |
History | |
Launch date | 9 March 1930 |
Replaced | 5XX |
Closed | 31 August 1939 |
Replaced by | BBC Home Service |
The BBC Regional Programme was a radio service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – replacing a number of earlier BBC local stations between 1922 and 1924 – until 1 September 1939 when it was subsumed into the BBC Home Service, two days before the outbreak of World War II.
Both the BBC National Programme and the Regional Programme provided a mixed mainstream radio service. Whilst the two services provided different programming, allowing listeners a choice they were not streamed to appeal to different audiences, rather they were intended to offer a choice of programming to a single audience. While using the same transmitters, the National Programme broadcast significantly more speech and classical music than its successor, the BBC Light Programme. Similarly, the Regional Programme broadcast much more light and dance music than its successor, the Home Service.
History
[edit]Development
[edit]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, 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 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.
Main stations
[edit]Each of these main stations was broadcast at approximately 1 kilowatt (kW):
Airdate | Station ID | City | Initial frequency |
---|---|---|---|
14 November 1922 | 2LO | London | 822 |
15 November 1922 | 5IT | Birmingham | 626 |
2ZY | Manchester | 794 | |
24 December 1922 | 5NO | Newcastle upon Tyne | 743 |
13 February 1923 | 5WA | Cardiff | 850 |
6 March 1923 | 5SC | Glasgow | 711 |
10 October 1923 | 2BD | Aberdeen | 606 |
17 October 1923 | 6BM | Bournemouth | 777 |
14 September 1924 | 2BE | Belfast | 689 |
Relay stations
[edit]Each of these relay stations were broadcast at approximately 120 watts (W):
Airdate | Station ID | City | Relay of | Frequency |
---|---|---|---|---|
16 November 1923 | 6FL | Sheffield | 2ZY | 980 |
28 March 1924 | 5PY | Plymouth | 6BM | 887 |
1 May 1924 | 2EH | Edinburgh | 5SC | 914 |
11 June 1924 | 6LV | Liverpool | 2ZY | 906 |
8 July 1924 | 2LS | Leeds and Bradford | 935 | |
15 August 1924 | 6KH | Kingston upon Hull | 896 | |
16 September 1924 | 5NG | Nottingham | 920 | |
21 October 1924 | 6ST | Stoke-on-Trent | 996 | |
12 November 1924 | 2DE | Dundee | 2BD | 952 |
12 December 1924 | 5SX | Swansea | 5WA | 622 |
Regional scheme
[edit]On 21 August 1927, the BBC opened a high-power medium wave transmitter 5GB at its Daventry site to replace the existing local stations in the English Midlands, that allowed the experimental longwave transmitter 5XX to provide a service – which eventually came to be called the BBC National Programme from London and available to the majority of the population.
By combining the resources of the local stations into one regional station in each area with a basic sustaining service from London, the BBC hoped to increase programme quality whilst also centralising the management of the radio service known as the "regional scheme".
The local transmitters were gradually either converted to a regional service relay or closed entirely and replaced by high-power regional broadcasts. Some local studios were retained to provide for programming from specific areas within each region. Most transmitters also carried the National Programme on a local frequency to supplement the longwave broadcasts from 5XX; initially these were on three separate frequencies and programming included some local variations. As the regional network expanded these transmissions were fully synchronised with those from Brookmans Park and several other frequencies initially:
Airdate | Transmitter | Service | Initial frequency | Frequency (1939) |
---|---|---|---|---|
21 August 1927 | Daventry[a] | Midland Regional Programme (5GB station until 8 March 1930) | 767 |
N/A |
21 October 1929 | Brookmans Park[b] | London Regional Programme (basic network sustaining service) (2LO station until 8 March 1930) | 842 |
877 |
17 May 1931 | Moorside Edge | Northern Regional Programme | 626 |
668 |
13 September 1931[1] | Westerglen | Scottish Regional Programme | 797 |
767 |
28 May 1933 | Washford[c] | Western Regional Programme | 968 |
1050 |
17 February 1935 | Droitwich | Midland Regional Programme | 1013 |
1013 |
20 March 1936 | Lisnagarvey | Northern Ireland Regional Programme | 977 |
977 |
12 October 1936 | Burghead | Scottish Regional Programme | 767 |
767 |
1 February 1937 | Penmon | Welsh Regional Programme (Wales and West until 3 July) | 804 |
804 |
4 July 1937 | Washford | Welsh Regional Programme | ||
19 October 1937 | Stagshaw | Stagshaw Programme (North Regional with some relays from Scottish Regional at times) | 1122 |
1122 |
14 June 1939 | Clevedon | West Regional Programme | 1474 |
1474 |
Start Point | 1050 |
1050 |
A relay station for Brookmans Park on 1402
Closure
[edit]Upon the outbreak of World War II, the BBC closed both existing National and Regional radio programmes to replace them with a single channel known as the BBC Home Service. The transmitter network was synchronised on 668
On 29 July 1945, within 12 weeks of Victory in Europe Day, the BBC reactivated the Regional Programme but kept the name "Home Service" (until 30 September 1967 as the station became BBC Radio 4). The National Programme was also reopened under a new name as the BBC Light Programme.
Sources
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^a Until 16 February 1935.
- ^b The Brookmans Park transmitter covered London, South East England and much of East Anglia. However as the sustaining service for the rest of the network, the London programme was not normally referred to on-air such as Radio Times, but simply as the "Regional Programme" (internally, "the basic Regional Programme").
- ^c Until 13 June 1939.
References
[edit]- ^ Radio Times (11 September 1931), Other Stations' Programmes, vol. 32, p. 565
Further reading
[edit]- The BBC Year-book 1933. London: BBC. 1933. OCLC 867862862.
- The BBC Year Book 1947. London: BBC. 1948. OCLC 770477752.
- Graham, Russ J (15 August 2001). "A local service". Transdiffusion Broadcasting System.
- Graham, Russ J (15 August 2001). "A new lease of life". Transdiffusion Broadcasting System.
- Groves, Paul (2004). "History of Radio Transmission in the UK" (PDF). Frequency Finder (published May 2016).
- McCarthy, Clive (28 May 2007). "Development of the BBC AM Transmitter Network" (PDF). BBCeng.info. 6a.
- Paulu, Burton (1967). Radio and Television Broadcasting on the European Continent. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816660469. OCLC 503607289 – via Google Books.
- Briggs, Asa (1995). The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom: Volume II: The Golden Age of the Wireless. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-212930-9 – via Google Books.
- Smith, Mike (2010). "How It All Began". UK Radio: A Brief History - Part 1. MDS975. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011.