BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 logo
City of license London
Broadcast area Flag of the United Kingdom UK - National
Frequency FM: 92 MHz - 96 MHz,
103.5 - 104.9 MHz
LW: 198 kHz
MW: various
DAB: 12B
Freeview: 704
Freesat: 704 (FM), 710 (LW)
Sky: 0104 (FM), 0143 (LW)
Virgin Media: 904 (FM), 911 (LW)
Tiscali TV: 604
UPC Ireland: 910
Internet: Streaming Audio Real/WM
First air date 30 September 1967
Format News & Speech
Audience share 12.2% (March 2008, [1])
Owner BBC,
BBC Radio
Website BBC Radio 4
Previous Radio 4 logo

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 1967.1

Contents

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.23 Costing £71.4 million (2005/6),4 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 following Channel 4s ditching of plans to launch its own speech-based digital radio station in October 2008 as part of a £100m cost cutting review.5

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 BBCs 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. 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. 6 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.5

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

See also: BBC Home Service

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.1, 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,78 despite some public opposition9 and a campaign to save it.10 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.11

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.12 News is due to return to Broadcasting House in 2008.13

The Greenwich Time Signal, known as 'the pips', is usually broadcast every hour to herald the news bulletin.

Programmes

Main article: List of BBC Radio 4 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 page14 and via BBC iPlayer. A selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files.15.

Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are rebroadcast on BBC 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.1617

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:18

Criticisms

There have been criticisms voiced by members of the British public and in 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 22 23 24 25, as well as sycophancy in interviews, particularly on the popular morning news magazine "Today" 26 27 28, as part of a reported perception of a general "malaise" at the BBC.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b History of the BBC: 1960s
  2. ^ The Sony Radio Academy Awards: Winners 2004
  3. ^ Sony Radio Academy Awards - Winners 2008
  4. ^ BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006, page 106
  5. ^ a b Channel 4 has abandoned its entire radio project, as it seeks to make £100m in savings
  6. ^ Met Office Shipping Forecast key
  7. ^ Press release: New early morning schedule for Radio 4
  8. ^ UK Theme to be dropped by Radio 4
  9. ^ Today: The UK Theme
  10. ^ savetheradio4theme.co.uk
  11. ^ Radio 4 Daily Schedule page
  12. ^ BBC Annual Report and Accounts 1998-1999
  13. ^ New era for Broadcasting House
  14. ^ Radio 4: Listen Again
  15. ^ Radio 4 - Downloading and Podcasting
  16. ^ Being a newsreader by Harriet Cass
  17. ^ List of BBC Radio newsreaders
  18. ^ Ways of Listening to Radio 4
  19. ^ a b BBC analogue broadcast frequencies
  20. ^ BBC Radio 4 on Freeview
  21. ^ a b Free Channels on the Sky Digital Satellite Platform
  22. ^ Is Radio 4 alienating its core audience? - Telegraph
  23. ^ BBC report damns its ‘culture of bias’ - Times Online
  24. ^ BBC is given EU ‘bias’ rap | The Sun |HomePage|News|EU Referendum
  25. ^ The BBC's commitment to bias is no laughing matter - Telegraph
  26. ^ BBC Bias
  27. ^ Stephen Pollard: I don't want bias with my cornflakes - Commentators, Opinion - Independent.co.uk
  28. ^ BBC radio 4 "Today" bias

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
  • Mullen, L (2007-09-29). "20 things you didn’t know about Radio 4", TV & Radio, The Times. Retrieved on 2 October 2007. 

External links

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