BBC Regional Programme

BBC Broadcasting House in London.

The BBC Regional Programme was a UK radio broadcasting service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – when it replaced a number of earlier BBC local stations – until 1 September 1939, when it was subsumed into the BBC Home Service, two days before the outbreak of World War II.

Foundation

When the British Broadcasting Company first began transmissions on 14 November 1922 from the station 2LO in the Strand, Westminster, which it had inherited from the Marconi Company (one of the six commercial companies which created the BBC), the technology did not exist either for national coverage or for joint programming between transmitters. Whilst it was possible to combine large numbers of trunk 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 2LO in London were therefore autonomously programmed using local talent and facilities.

By May 1923, simultaneous broadcasting 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 London 822 kHz
15 November 1922 5IT Birmingham 626 kHz
15 November 1922 2ZY Manchester 794 kHz
24 December 1922 5NO Newcastle upon Tyne 743 kHz
13 February 1923 5WA Cardiff 850 kHz
6 March 1923 5SC Glasgow 711 kHz
10 October 1923 2BD Aberdeen 606 kHz
17 October 1923 6BM Bournemouth 777 kHz
16 November 1923 2FL Sheffield 980 kHz
28 March 1924 5PY Plymouth 887 kHz
14 September 1924 2BE Belfast 682 kHz

Relay stations

Each of these stations broadcast at approximately 120 W

Airdate Station ID City Relay of Frequency
1 May 1924 2EH Edinburgh 5SC 914 kHz
11 June 1924 6LV Liverpool 2ZY 906 kHz
8 July 1924 2LS Leeds and Bradford 2ZY 935 kHz
15 August 1924 6KH Kingston-upon-Hull 2ZY 896 kHz
16 September 1924 5NG Nottingham 2ZY 920 kHz
12 November 1924 2DE Dundee 2BD 952 kHz
21 November 1924 6ST Stoke-on-Trent 2ZY 996 kHz
12 December 1924 5SX Swansea 5WA 622 kHz

The Regional Scheme

On 21 August 1927, the BBC opened a high-power mediumwave transmitter, 5GB, at its Daventry site, to replace the existing local stations in the English Midlands. That allowed the experimental longwave transmitter 5XX to provide a service – which eventually came to be called the BBC National Programme – programmed from London and available to the majority of the population.

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 centralising the management of the radio service. This was known as The Regional Scheme.

The local transmitters were gradually 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, initially these were on three separate frequencies and carried some local opt-outs. As the regional network expanded these were synchronized with Brookmans Park.

Regional transmitters

Airdate Transmitter Region Initial frequency Frequency in 1939
21 August 1927 Daventry [a] Midland 767 kHz
21 October 1929 Brookmans Park [b] Basic Regional Programme (London) 842 kHz 877 kHz
17 May 1931 Moorside Edge North 626 kHz 668 kHz
13 September 1931 [1] 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 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 3 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 England, and much of East Anglia. 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 Times, but simply as the "Regional Programme" (internally, "the basic Regional Programme").
^c Until 13 June 1939.

A relay station for Brookmans Park on 1402 kHz was due to open at Acle near Norwich in 1940. Construction was postponed by the outbreak of war. The station was never completed and was replaced by one at Postwick.

Closure

Upon the outbreak of World War II, the BBC closed the Regional and National Programmes and replaced them with a single channel known as the BBC Home Service. The transmitter network was synchronized on 668 and 767 kHz in order to use the other frequencies for propaganda broadcasts in foreign languages. Each transmitter group would be turned off during an air raid to prevent their signals being used as navigational beacons and listeners were required to retune to a low-powered single-frequency network on 1474 kHz.

On 29 July 1945, within 12 weeks of VE Day, the BBC reactivated the Regional Programme, but kept the name "BBC Home Service". The National Programme was also reopened under a new name as the BBC Light Programme.

Inheritance

Both the National Programme and the Regional 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, rather, they were intended to offer a choice of programming to a single audience. While using the same transmitters, the National Programme broadcast significantly more speech and classical music than its successor, the Light Programme. Similarly, the Regional Programme broadcast much more light and dance music than its successor, the Home Service.

References

  1. ↑ The Radio Times. 32 (415 (Southern Edition)). 1931. Missing or empty |title= (help)

Further reading

External links


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