BBC Radio 4
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| BBC Radio 4 | |
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| City of license | London |
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| Broadcast area |  UK - National |
| Frequency | FM: 92 MHz - 96 MHz, 103.5 - 104.9 MHz LW: 198 kHz MW: various DAB: 12B Freeview: 704 Tiscali TV: 604 Virgin Media: 904 Sky Digital: 0104 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 |
BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.[1]
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[edit] 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 2004 Sony Radio Academy Awards for the second year running and at the 2008 awards.[2][3] 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), although Channel 4 had plans to launch its own speech-based station in autumn 2007.[5]
The current 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 longwave. Because the longwave service can be received clearly at sea around the coasts of Britain and Ireland, Radio 4 also 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, meaning that even 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), and on the Internet.
[edit] History
- See also: BBC Home Service
The BBC Home Service was predecessor to 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 (this later shifted slightly to 198 kHz as a result of international agreements aimed at avoiding interference). It was temporarily replaced on FM between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991 with the continuous Gulf War news service.
[edit] Programmes and schedules
[edit] Daily schedule
The night time feed from the BBC World Service ends at 0520, 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,[7][8] despite some public opposition[9] 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 0400GMT and inshore waters forecasts, followed at 0530 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 which runs from 0600 to 0900. 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 thirty minute broadcast on weekdays at 6pm and midnight.
At 1200, FM has a four minute bulletin whilst longwave has the headlines and then the Shipping Forecast; for the same reason, longwave leaves PM on weekdays at 1754.
There is a news programme or bulletin (depending on the day) at 2200, then the midnight news at 0000, followed by (on weekdays) a repeat of Book of the Week. The tune Sailing By is then played until 0048, 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 0100 until 0520.
There is an online schedule page which lists the running-order of programmes.[11]
[edit] Production
Many Radio 4 programmes are pre-recorded, although some programmes are transmitted live including 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, PM, etc.) 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 a news bulletin.
[edit] Programmes
Radio 4 is marked out by a set of long-running programmes, many for well over 20 years. The station is notable for a varied schedule of unusually intelligent and diverse programming.
Most programmes are available as streaming audio from Radio 4's listen again page for a week after broadcast, although RealPlayer is required to listen.[14] A smaller selection of programmes are available as podcasts or downloadable audio files.[15] The BBC has announced its intention to provide an online service provisionally called the BBC iPlayer which would let its licence fee payers access a broader range of its audio and video.[16]
Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are now rebroadcast on BBC 7.
[edit] Continuity announcers and newsreaders
Announcers link programmes, read trails for programmes and read the Shipping Forecast. Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins.[17][18]
Senior Announcers
Newsreaders / Continuity Announcers
- Alice Arnold
- Carolyn Brown
- Kathy Clugston
- Corrie Corfield
- Charlotte Green
- Annie McKie
- Rory Morrison
- Susan Rae
- Neil Sleat
Newsreaders (non-Today programme) / Continuity Announcers
- Charles Carroll
- David Miles
- Vaughan Savidge
- Alan Smith
- Zebedee 'Zeb' Soanes
Newsreaders (non-Today programme)
Continuity Announcers
- Neil Nunes
- Howard Philpot
- Diana Speed
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)
- Patrick Muirhead (left 9/04)
- Laurie Macmillan (died 10/01)
- Andy Rushton (Test Match Special announcer 1998 - June 2007)
- Moira Stuart (left 1981 to TV)
- Anna Hill (left ~2000)
- Clive Roslin (left ~1990)
[edit] Frequencies and other means of reception
Radio 4 is broadcast on:[19]
- 92-95 MHz FM
- 95.8 MHz in central Scotland
- 96 MHz in Greater Belfast[20]
- 103-104.5 MHz in parts of Wales and on 103.6 MHz in the Inverness area[20]
- 198 kHz longwave
- Medium wave in some areas:
- 720 kHz in London and Northern Ireland
- 1449 kHz in Aberdeen and North East Scotland
- DAB
- standard FM content
- subsidiary LW content, where applicable
- Freeview channel 704 (FM only)[21]
- the Internet[22]
- satellite
- selected Cable television providers
- cable television
- NTL Digital Cable channel 910 in Ireland
[edit] 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 [24] [25] [26] [27], as well as sycophancy in interviews, particularly on the popular morning news magazine "Today" [28] [29] [30], as part of a reported perception of a general "malaise" at the BBC.
Accusations of institutionalised groupthink have been reported on the Radio 4 "Feedback" programme. People have also complained about a perceived prejudice towards "left-wing" comedy shows, such as "The News Quiz" and "The Now Show". They see this 'prejudice' as evidence that Radio 4 tends to favour broadcasting comedy that promotes a particular world view, rather than comedy which is broadcast purely for its humorous qualities.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b History of the BBC: 1960s
- ^ The Sony Radio Academy Awards: Winners 2004
- ^ Sony Radio Academy Awards - Winners 2008
- ^ BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006, page 106
- ^ a b Rivals talk of challenging Radio 4
- ^ Met Office Shipping Forecast key
- ^ Press release: New early morning schedule for Radio 4
- ^ UK Theme to be dropped by Radio 4
- ^ Today: The UK Theme
- ^ savetheradio4theme.co.uk
- ^ Radio 4 Daily Schedule page
- ^ BBC Annual Report and Accounts 1998-1999
- ^ New era for Broadcasting House
- ^ Radio 4: Listen Again
- ^ Radio 4 - Downloading and Podcasting
- ^ Press release: Speech given at the Edinburgh International Television Festival 2005
- ^ Being a newsreader by Harriet Cass
- ^ List of BBC Radio newsreaders
- ^ Ways of Listening to Radio 4
- ^ a b BBC analogue broadcast frequencies
- ^ BBC Radio 4 on Freeview
- ^ Radio 4 FM live
- ^ a b Free Channels on the Sky Digital Satellite Platform
- ^ Is Radio 4 alienating its core audience? - Telegraph
- ^ BBC report damns its ‘culture of bias’ - Times Online
- ^ BBC is given EU ‘bias’ rap | The Sun |HomePage|News|EU Referendum
- ^ The BBC's commitment to bias is no laughing matter - Telegraph
- ^ BBC Bias
- ^ Stephen Pollard: I don't want bias with my cornflakes - Commentators, Opinion - Independent.co.uk
- ^ BBC radio 4 "Today" bias
[edit] 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 2007-10-02.
[edit] External links
- BBC Radio 4 at bbc.co.uk
- BBC Radio 4 Newsletter at bbc.co.uk
- Last.FM: BBC Radio 4 group
- Index of Radio 4 programmes about usability and design
- Pilgrimage to the Pips: A Radio 4 Announcers' Charity Walk
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