The
BBC Regional Programme was a
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
radio networkThere are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
which operated from the end of the 1920s until the outbreak of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939.
Foundation
When the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
first began transmissions on 14 November 1922, the technology did not exist either for national coverage or for joint programming between
transmitterIn electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
s. Whilst it was possible to combine large numbers of
trunkIn modern communications, trunking is a concept by which a communications system can provide network access to many clients by sharing a set of lines or frequencies instead of providing them individually. This is analogous to the structure of a tree with one trunk and many branches. Examples of...
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
2LO2LO was the second radio station to regularly broadcast in the United Kingdom . It began broadcasting on 11 May 1922, for one hour a day from the seventh floor of Marconi House in London's Strand...
in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
were therefore autonomously programmed using local talent and facilities.
By May 1923,
simultaneous broadcastingSimulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
was technically possible, at least between main transmitters and relay stations, but 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.
Original local stations
Each of these stations broadcast at approximately 1 kW.
| Airdate |
Station ID |
City |
Initial Frequency |
| 14 November 1922 |
2LO 2LO was the second radio station to regularly broadcast in the United Kingdom . It began broadcasting on 11 May 1922, for one hour a day from the seventh floor of Marconi House in London's Strand...
|
London |
822 kHz |
| 15 November 1922 |
5IT 5IT was a BBC radio station which broadcast from Birmingham, England, between 1922 and 1927. It was the BBC's second station, going live at 17.20 on 15 November 1922, the day after 2LO started daily BBC broadcasting from London and one hour forty minutes before 2ZY launched BBC broadcasting in...
|
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
|
626 kHz |
| 15 November 1922 |
2ZY 2ZY was the name of a radio station broadcast by the British Broadcasting Company from Manchester, England, between 1922 and 1927. It had its first test transmission on 450 metres on 17 May 1922 and began regular broadcasts on 15 November 1922, one day after sister station 2LO started daily...
|
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
|
794 kHz |
| 24 December 1922 |
5NO |
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
|
743 kHz |
| 13 February 1923 |
5WA |
CardiffCardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
|
850 kHz |
| 6 March 1923 |
5SC |
Glasgow Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
|
711 kHz |
| 10 October 1923 |
2BD |
AberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
|
606 kHz |
| 17 October 1923 |
6BM |
BournemouthBournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
|
777 kHz |
| 16 November 1923 |
2FL |
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
|
980 kHz |
| 28 March 1924 |
5PY |
PlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
|
887 kHz |
| 14 September 1924 |
2BE 2BE was the call sign of the first official radio station in Northern Ireland which started broadcasting from Belfast in 1924 on a frequency of 682 kHz. Operated by the British Broadcasting Company, later Corporation, the station was in 1936 subsumed into the Northern Ireland Regional...
|
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
|
682 kHz |
Relay stations
Each of these stations broadcast at approximately 120 W
| Airdate |
Station ID |
City |
Relay of |
Frequency |
| 1 May 1924 |
2EH |
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
|
5SC |
914 kHz |
| 11 June 1924 |
6LV |
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
|
2ZY |
906 kHz |
| 8 July 1924 |
2LS |
LeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and BradfordBradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
|
2ZY |
935 kHz |
| 15 August 1924 |
6KH |
Kingston-upon-Hull |
2ZY |
896 kHz |
| 16 September 1924 |
5NG |
NottinghamNottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
|
2ZY |
920 kHz |
| 9 November 1924 |
2DE |
Dundee Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
|
2BD |
952 kHz |
| 21 November 1924 |
6ST |
Stoke-on-TrentStoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
|
2ZY |
996 kHz |
| 12 December 1924 |
5SX |
SwanseaSwansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
|
5WA |
622 kHz |
The Regional Scheme
On 21 August 1927, the BBC opened a high power
mediumwaveMedium wave is the part of the medium frequency radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. For Europe the MW band ranges from 526.5 kHz to 1606.5 kHz...
transmitter at Daventry, 5GB, to replace the existing local stations in the
English MidlandsThe Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
. That allowed the experimental
longwaveIn radio, longwave refers to parts of radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths. The term is a historic one dating from the early 20th century, when the radio spectrum was considered to consist of long, medium and short wavelengths...
transmitter 5XX to provide a service programmed from London for the majority of the population. This came to be called the
BBC National ProgrammeThe BBC National Programme was a BBC radio station from the 1920s until the outbreak of World War II.-Foundation:When the BBC first began transmissions on 14 November 1922, the technology for both national coverage and joint programming between transmitters did not exist – transmitter powers were...
.
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
centralisingCentralisation, or centralization , is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, become concentrated within a particular location and/or group....
the management of the radio service. This was known as
The Regional Scheme.
Each local transmitter was slowly 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 BBC National Programme on a local frequency to supplement the longwave broadcasts from 5XX, Scotland receiving a modified service known as the "Scottish National Programme".
Regional transmitters
| Airdate |
Transmitter |
Region |
Initial frequency |
Frequency in 1939 |
| 21 August 1927 |
Daventry Daventry is a market town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population of 22,367 .-Geography:The town is also the administrative centre of the larger Daventry district, which has a population of 71,838. The town is 77 miles north-northwest of London, 13.9 miles west of Northampton and 10.2...
(a) |
Midland |
767 kHz |
| 21 October 1929 |
Brookmans Park The Brookmans Park transmitting station is a facility for medium wave broadcasting north of London . The station was built by the BBC as the first of a network of regional dual transmitter stations, replacing the city based ones used previously, and this was to cover the Home Counties, London and...
(b) |
Basic Regional Programme (London) |
842 kHz |
877 kHz |
| 17 May 1931 |
Moorside Edge Moorside Edge, originally constructed in 1931 to radiate the BBC's "North Regional" and "National" programmes ., has one of the most powerful mediumwave radio transmitters in Britain at 200 kW erp. Formed of two 158 m steel lattice towers it is located just above Moorside Edge...
|
North |
626 kHz |
668 kHz |
| 12 June 1932 |
Westerglen |
Scottish |
797 kHz |
767 kHz |
| 28 May 1933 |
Washford (c) |
West |
968 kHz |
1050 kHz |
| 17 February 1935 |
Droitwich |
Midland |
1013 kHz |
1013 kHz |
| 20 March 1936 |
Lisnagarvey The Lisnagarvey transmitting station is a facility for mediumwave broadcasting located in the townland of Magherageery, on the southern edge of Lisburn, Northern Ireland...
|
Northern Ireland (opt-out from North) |
977 kHz |
977 kHz |
| 12 October 1936 |
Burghead |
Scottish (for northern Scotland) |
767 kHz |
767 kHz |
| 1 February 1937 |
Penmon |
Welsh (West and Wales until 4 July) |
804 kHz |
804 kHz |
| 4 July 1937 |
Washford |
Welsh |
804 kHz |
804 kHz |
| 19 October 1937 |
Stagshaw |
North East and Cumbria (opt-out from North) |
1122 kHz |
1122 kHz |
| 14 June 1939 |
Clevedon |
West |
1474 kHz |
1474 kHz |
| 14 June 1939 |
Start Point |
West |
1050 kHz |
1050 kHz |
(a) Until 16 February 1935.
(b) The Brookmans Park transmitter covered London,
South East EnglandSouth East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
, and much of
East AngliaEast Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
. However, as the sustaining service for the rest of the network, the London programme was not normally referred to as such on-air or in the
Radio TimesRadio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
, but simply as the "Regional Programme" (internally, "the basic Regional programme").
(c) Until 13 June 1939.
Closure
Upon the outbreak of World War II, the BBC closed the Regional Programme and combined it with the National Programme to form a single channel known as the
BBC Home ServiceThe BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of The Second World War, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
. The former transmitters of the Regional Programme continued to be used to broadcast this service, but their frequencies were changed and synchronized in order to allow them all to transmit on just two wavelengths (668 and 767 kHz) which, in the event of
air raidStrategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
s, could be turned off in sequence to prevent their signals being used as navigational beacons by enemy aircraft.
On 29 July 1945, within 12 weeks of
Victory in Europe DayVictory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...
, the BBC reintroduced a regional service, but kept the name "BBC Home Service". The transmitters and frequencies which had been used prewar by the National Programme (the most powerful of which was 200 kHz longwave) were transferred on the same date to a new
BBC Light ProgrammeThe Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967, when it was rebranded as BBC Radio 2...
.
Inheritance
Both the Regional Programme and the National 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. Therefore, the pre-war Regional Programme, whilst using the same regions, frequencies and transmitters as the post-war Home Service, was not the middlebrow news and drama station its successor became. Similarly. the pre-war National Programme was not the general entertainment network its successor the Light Programme became.
Further reading
- Briggs, Asa History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom Oxford:Oxford University Press 1995 ISBN 0-19-212930-9
External links