BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

Type	News, Speech & Drama
Country	United Kingdom
First air date	30 September 1967
Market share	12.5% December 2009 [1]
Owner	BBC
Key people	Mark Damazer - Controller
Former names	BBC Home Service
Digital channel	DAB 12B
Analogue channel	92.5-96.1 MHz FM 103.5-104.9 MHz FM 198 kHz LW Also on MW : 603 kHz , 720 kHz 774 kHz , 756 kHz 1.449 kHz , 1.495 kHz
BBC iPlayer	FM service LW service
Freesat	704 (FM) 710 (LW)
Freeview	704 (FM)
Sky	0104 (FM) 0143 (LW)
TalkTalk TV	604 (FM)
Virgin Media	904 (FM) 911 (LW)
UPC Ireland	910 (FM) Various frequencies on analogue cable
Official Website	http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic 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.^[2] Radio 4 broadcasts throughout the United Kingdom, and can be received in the north of France and Northern Europe as well. It is also available through Sky and Virgin media, and on the internet. It is the BBC's most expensive radio station and there is no current comparable commercial network (internationally or in the UK). There are no plans by any other companies to make a radio station like Radio 4 in the foreseeable future after Channel four abandoned plans to launch its own speech based digital radio station.

The senior announces are Chris Aldridge and Harriet Cass and the newsreaders are Alice Arnold, Carolyn Brown, Kathy Clugston, Corrie Corfield, Charlotte Green, Annie McKie, Rory Morrison, Susan Rae and Neil Sleat. Newsreaders and Continuity Announcers are Charles Caroll, David Miles, Vughan Savidge, Alan Smith, Zebedee Soanes and Diana Speed. Newsreaders from the non-Today programme are Peter Donaldson and Brian Perkins. Continuity Announcers are Jim Lee, Neil Nunes, Howard Philpott, Caroline Nicholls and Matthew Exell.

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.^[3][4] Costing £71.4 million (2005/6),^[5] 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.^[6]

The controller of Radio 4 is Mark Damazer; his successor Gwyneth Williams will take over in October 2010^[7]. The previous controller was Helen Boaden, who is now the head of BBC News.

Music and sport are the only fields that largely fall outside the station's remit. There are occasional concerts, and documentaries related to various forms of popular music, almost entirely absent from the station until fairly recently, are broadcast from time to time, and ball-by-ball commentaries of most test cricket matches played by England are broadcast on long wave for over 70 days a year which means listeners rely on FM broadcasts or increasingly DAB for mainstream Radio 4 broadcasts for a fifth of the year. However the number of those relying solely on long wave is now a small minority. The cricket broadcasts even take precedence over on the hour news bulletins, but not the Shipping Forecast. Because the long-wave service can be received clearly at sea around the coasts of Britain and Ireland, Radio 4 carries these regular weather forecasts for shipping and gale warnings.^[8] 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.^[6] It has been claimed 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 if they could not would open sealed orders which might authorize a retaliatory strike.^[9][10]

The station is available on FM (in most of the UK and the North of France), LW (throughout the UK and in parts of Northern Europe), MW (in some areas), DAB, Digital TV (including Freeview, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media), and on the Internet.

History

Previous logo of BBC Radio 4 until 2007

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,^[2] in response to the challenge of offshore radio. It moved to long wave in 1978, taking over the 200 kHz frequency previously held by Radio 2, and later moved to 198 kHz as a result of international agreements aimed at avoiding interference.

Between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991, the FM broadcasts were replaced by a continuous news service devoted to the Gulf War, nicknamed "Scud FM".

Radio 4 is part of the Royal Navy's system of Last Resort Letters. In the event of a suspected catastrophic attack on the United Kingdom, submarine commanders check for a broadcast signal from Radio 4 to verify annihilation of the homeland.^[11]

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) followed this for 33 years until April 2006. It was replaced by an extension to the early news bulletin,^[12][13] despite some public opposition^[14] and a campaign to save it.^[15] After a continuity link and programme trail there is a shipping forecast, weather reports from coastal stations for 04:00GMT and the 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.

After the Today programme, the schedule is then determined by the day of the week, though on every weekday there are 'fixtures': Woman's Hour at 10:00, You and Yours at 12:00, The World at One and a repeat of the previous day's The Archers at 2:00 pm, followed by the Afternoon Play at 2.15 pm. At 5:00 pm another current affairs programme, PM, is broadcast. At 6:30 pm there is a regular comedy 'slot', followed by The Archers. At weekends the schedule is different, but also has its 'fixtures' at various times.

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. Timing is said to be difficult as the Sailing By theme must be started at a set time and faded in as the last programme ends. Radio 4 finishes with the national anthem, God Save the Queen, and the World Service takes over from 01:00 until 05:20.

Timing is considered sacrosanct on the channel. Running over the hour except in special circumstances or occasional scheduled instance is unheard of, and even interrupting the Greenwich Time Signal^[16] on the hour (known as 'crashing the pips') is frowned upon.

An online schedule page lists the running order of programmes.^[17]

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.^[18] News returned to Broadcasting House in 2008.^[19]

The Time Signal, known as 'the pips', is broadcast every hour to herald the news bulletin, except at midnight and 6 pm, where the chimes of Big Ben are played instead.

Programmes

Radio 4 is distinguished by its long-running programmes, many of which have been broadcast for over 40 years.

Most programmes are available for a week after broadcast as streaming audio from Radio 4's listen again page^[20] and via BBC iPlayer. A selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files.^[21] Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are rebroadcast on BBC Radio 7.

Continuity announcers and newsreaders

Announcers link programmes and read trails for programmes and for the Shipping Forecast. Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins.^[22][23]

Senior Announcers

Newsreaders/Continuity Announcers

Newsreaders (non-Today programme)/Continuity Announcers

Newsreaders (non-Today programme)

Continuity Announcers

Former staff

Frequencies and other means of reception

Radio 4 is broadcast on:^[24]

• 92–95 MHz FM in England, and from some transmitters in Wales
  • 95.8 MHz in central Scotland
  • 96 MHz in Greater Belfast^[25]
  • 103-104.5 from other transmitters in Wales and generally in Scotland and Northern Ireland
• 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)^[26]
• The Internet
  • Radio 4 FM live
  • Radio 4 LW live
• Digital satellite:
  • Radio 4 FM:
    • Freesat channel 704
    • Sky channel 0104^[27]
  • Radio 4 LW:
    • Freesat channel 710
    • [[[Sky (UK & Ireland)|Sky]] channel 0143^[27]
• Virgin Media channel 904 (FM), channel 911 (LW)
• Selected other cable television providers
  • UPC Ireland channel 910 in Ireland Also on various frequencies on Analogue cable
• TalkTalk 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,^{[28][29][30][31]} as well as sycophancy in interviews, particularly on the popular morning news magazine "Today"^[32][33] as part of a reported perception of a general "malaise" at the BBC. Conversely, the station has sometimes also been criticised for an overtly socially and culturally conservative approach,^[34] though these criticisms are less prominent than they once were following the station's evolution under recent controllers.

See also

• Radio 4 UK Theme
• ABC Radio National
• Radio New Zealand National

References

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 (London: The Times). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article2529314.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 

External links

• BBC Radio 4 at BBC Online

• BBC Radio 4 Newsletter at BBC Online
• 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