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BBC Radio 4
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BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.
Outline
Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station, after Radio 2, and was named "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2003, 2004 and 2008 Sony Radio Academy Awards.
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Encyclopedia
BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.
Outline
Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station, after Radio 2, and was named "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2003, 2004 and 2008 Sony Radio Academy Awards. Costing £71.4 million (2005/6), it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by many to be the corporation's flagship. There is currently no comparable UK commercial network (nor any internationally). This situation is unlikely to change in the near future, as 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 controller of Radio 4 is Mark Damazer. The previous controller was Helen Boaden, who is now the head of BBC News. The most controversial controller in recent years was James Boyle, nicknamed "McBirt" for his support of the BBC's former Director-General, John Birt.
Music and sport are the only fields that largely fall outside the station's remit. There are occasional concerts, and ball-by-ball commentaries of most test matches played by England cricket are broadcast on long-wave for over 70 days a year which means only a small number of local areas can receive the normal Radio 4 broadcasts for a fifth of the year. The cricket broadcasts even takes precedence over on the hour news programmes. Because the long-wave service can be received clearly at sea around the coasts of Britain and Ireland, Radio 4 carries regular weather forecasts for shipping and gale warnings. The station has also been designated as the UK's national broadcaster in times of national emergency such as a war: if all other radio stations were forced to close, Radio 4 would still carry on broadcasting. It was confirmed in a recent documentary that Radio 4 had an additional role during the Cold War: the commanders of nuclear-armed submarines believing that the UK had suffered nuclear attack were required to check if they could still receive Radio 4, and would launch a retaliatory strike if they could not.
The station is available on FM, LW, MW (in some areas), DAB, Digital TV (including Freeview, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media), and on the Internet.
History
The BBC Home Service 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 onwards. Radio 4 replaced the Home Service on 30 September 1967, when the BBC renamed many of its domestic radio stations, and moved to long wave in 1978, taking over the 200 kHz frequency previously held by Radio Two, later moved to 198 kHz as a result of international agreements aimed at avoiding interference. It was replaced on FM between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991 by the continuous Gulf War news service.
Programmes and schedules
Daily schedule
The night-time feed from the BBC World Service ends at 05:20, with a brief introduction from the early shift continuity announcer. The five-minute Radio 4 UK Theme (composed by Fritz Spiegl) used to follow this, but was dropped in April 2006 after 33 years in favour of an extension to the early news bulletin, despite some public opposition and a campaign to save it. After a continuity link and programme trail there is a shipping forecast, weather reports from coastal stations for 04:00GMT and inshore waters forecasts, followed at 05:30 by a news bulletin, a review of British and international newspapers, and a business report. On weekdays, Farming Today, which deals with news of relevance to the agricultural sector, is followed by the Today programme from 06:00 to 09:00. On or after the hour, a news bulletin is broadcast — this is sometimes a two-minute summary, a longer piece as part of a current affairs programme, or a 30-minute broadcast on weekdays at 18:00 and midnight.
At 12:00, FM has a four-minute bulletin while long wave has the headlines and then the Shipping Forecast; for the same reason, long wave leaves PM on weekdays at 17:54.
There is a news programme or bulletin (depending on the day) at 22:00. The midnight news is followed on weekdays by a repeat of Book of the Week. The tune Sailing By is played until 00:48, when the late shipping forecast is broadcast. Radio 4 ends with the national anthem, God Save the Queen, and the World Service takes over from 01:00 until 05:20.
An online schedule page lists the running order of programmes.
Production
Many Radio 4 programmes are pre-recorded. Programmes transmitted live include daily programmes such as Today, magazine programme Woman's Hour, consumer affairs programme You and Yours, and (often) the music, film, books, arts and culture programme Front Row. Continuity is generally managed from BBC Broadcasting House whilst 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 come from the BBC News Centre at Television Centre in White City. They were moved there in 1998 when the News Centre was opened to house both radio and TV news. News is due to return to Broadcasting House in 2008.
The Greenwich Time Signal, known as 'the pips', is usually broadcast every hour to herald the news bulletin.
Programmes
Radio 4 is distinguished by its long-running programmes, many of which have been broadcast for well over 20 years.
Most programmes are available for a week after broadcast as streaming audio from Radio 4's listen again page and via BBC iPlayer. A selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files..
Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are rebroadcast on BBC Radio 7.It is common for a comedy programme to be broadcast at 6:30 p.m. on Radio Four. On Maundy Thursday 2008, a one-off comedy programme was broadcast during this slot (sometimes called "the comedy slot") entitled "Radio Four - This is Your Life". This programme began with a light-hearted satirical comment on the nature of Radio Four listeners, by saying that the first ever programme on Radio Four was Feedback with Roger Bolton.
Continuity announcers and newsreaders
Announcers link programmes and read trails for programmes and for the Shipping Forecast. Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins.
Senior Announcers
Newsreaders/Continuity Announcers
Newsreaders (non-Today programme)/Continuity Announcers
Newsreaders (non-Today programme)
Continuity Announcers
Former staff
- David Anderson (left to senior management, but covered during the May '05 strike)
- Edward Cole
- Andrew Crawford
- Caroline Nicholls (left July 2007)
- Alison Rooper (left 2005)
- Astley Jones (left 2006)
- Pennie Latin (left 11/04)
Frequencies and other means of reception
Radio 4 is broadcast on:
- 92-95 MHz FM
- 95.8 MHz in central Scotland
- 96 MHz in Greater Belfast
- 103-104.5 MHz in parts of Wales and on 103.6 MHz in the Inverness area
- 198 kHz longwave
- Medium wave in some areas:
- DAB
- Standard FM content
- Subsidiary LW content, where applicable
- Freeview channel 704 (FM only)
- The Internet
- Digital satellite:
- Virgin Media channel 904 (FM), channel 911 (LW)
- Selected other cable television providers
- Tiscali TV channel 604
Criticisms
There have been criticisms voiced by newspapers in recent years over a perceived "left-wing" bias at Radio 4 across a range of issues such as the EU and the Iraq War
, 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.
See also
Further reading
- Elmes, Simon And Now on Radio 4, 2007, Random House
- Hendy, David Life on Air: A History of Radio Four, 2007, Oxford University Press
External links
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- : A Radio 4 Announcers' Charity Walk
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