BBC Radio 4

Information about BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4
Broadcast area UK - National
First air date30 September 1967
FrequencyFM: 92 MHz - 95 MHz
LW: 198 kHz
MW: various
DAB: 12B
Freeview: 704
Virgin Media: 904
Sky Digital: 0104
UPC Ireland: 910
Internet: Streaming Audio Real/WM
FormatNews & Speech
OwnerBBC
Websitewww.bbc.co.uk/radio4
BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It was created out of the old BBC Home Service in 1967.[1]

Outline

Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station after Radio 2 and was awarded "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2004 Sony Radio Academy Awards for the second year running.[2] Costing £71.4 million (2005/6),[3] it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by some to be the corporation's flagship channel. There is currently no comparable UK commercial network, although Channel 4 plans to launch its own speech-based station in autumn 2007.[4]

The current controller of Radio 4 is Mark Damazer. The previous controller was Helen Boaden who is the current head of BBC News. The most famous — and controversial — controller in recent years was James Boyle.

Music and sport are the only fields that 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 in the vicinity of the British Isles, Radio 4 also carries regular weather forecasts for shipping and gale warnings. 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.<ref name="radio4rival" />

The station is available on FM, LW, DAB, Digital TV (including Freeview), and on the Internet.

History

See also:
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. Radio 4 replaced the Home Service on 30 September 1967, when the BBC renamed many of its domestic radio stations.<ref name="history1960s" /> It was temporarily replaced on FM between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991 with the continuous Gulf War news service.

Programmes and schedules

Daily Schedule

Radio 4 splits from the BBC World Service at 0520, with a brief introduction from the early shift continuity announcer. The five-minute Radio 4 UK Theme (composed by Fritz Spiegl) would follow but was dropped in April 2006 after 33 years in favour of an extension to the early news bulletin,[5][6] despite some public opposition[7] and a campaign to save it.[8] 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 the PM programme 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.[9]

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 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.) are based at the BBC News Centre at Television Centre in White City. They moved there in 1998 when the News Centre was opened to house both radio and TV news.[10] News is due to return to Broadcasting House in 2008.[11]

The Greenwich Time Signal (known as 'the pips') is broadcast most hours, sometimes as part of a programme.

Programmes

Main article: List of BBC Radio 4 programmes


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.[12] A smaller selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files.[13] The BBC has announced its intention to provide an online service provisionally called the BBC iPlayer which would let its license fee payers access a broader range of its audio and video.[14]

Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives can now be heard on BBC 7.

Continuity announcers and newsreaders

Announcers link programmes, read trails for programmes and read the Shipping Forecast. Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins.[15][16]

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:[17]

See also

References

1. ^ History of the BBC: 1960s
2. ^ The Sony Radio Academy Awards: Winners 2004
3. ^ BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006, page 106
4. ^ Rivals talk of challenging Radio 4
5. ^ Press release: New early morning schedule for Radio 4
6. ^ UK Theme to be dropped by Radio 4
7. ^ Today: The UK Theme
8. ^ savetheradio4theme.co.uk
9. ^ Radio 4 Daily Schedule page
10. ^ BBC Annual Report and Accounts 1998-1999
11. ^ New era for Broadcasting House
12. ^ Radio 4: Listen Again
13. ^ Radio 4 - Downloading and Podcasting
14. ^ Press release: Speech given at the Edinburgh International Television Festival 2005
15. ^ Being a newsreader by Harriet Cass
16. ^ List of BBC Radio newsreaders
17. ^ Ways of Listening to Radio 4
18. ^ BBC analogue broadcast frequencies
19. ^ BBC Radio 4 on Freeview
20. ^ Radio 4 FM live
21. ^ Free Channels on the Sky Digital Satellite Platform

Further reading

External links

 •  • [ e]
BBC Radio
Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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September 30 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England.

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1964 1965 1966 - 1967 - 1968 1969 1970

Year 1967 (MCMLXVII
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FreQuency is a music video game developed by Harmonix and published by SCEI. It was released in November 2001. A sequel, titled Amplitude was released in 2003.
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frequency modulation (FM) conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency (contrast this with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant).
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hertz (symbol: Hz) is the SI unit of frequency. Its base unit is cycle/s or s-1 (also called inverse seconds, reciprocal seconds). In English, hertz is used as both singular and plural.
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longwave radio broadcasting band is the range of frequencies lying between 148.5 and 283.5 kHz (corresponding to wavelengths between 1000 and 2000 metres).

This range is included within the low-frequency (LF) band, although the LF band covers a wider range than that used for
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Medium wave or mediumwave (MW) is a part of the Medium frequency (MF) radio band used for AM broadcasting. For most of the world the frequencies used for broadcasting are from 520 kHz up to 1611 kHz, and in North America an extended AM broadcast band goes up to
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Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), also known as Eureka 147, is a technology for broadcasting of audio using digital radio transmission.

The original objectives of converting to digital transmission were to enable higher fidelity, more stations and more resistance to
..... Click the link for more information.
Freeview
(DTV Services Ltd)

Digital terrestrial television provider
Founded 2002
Headquarters London

Key people Cary Wakefield (General Manager)
Industry Media
Products Package of free-to-air digital terrestrial television channels
Website www.
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Virgin Media Incorporated

Public: (NASDAQ:  VMED )
Founded NTL: 1992; Telewest: 1984
Headquarters Corporate: New York City, United States
Operational: Hook, England, UK

Key people James Mooney, Chairman
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Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2°E (Astra 2A/2B/2D) and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E.
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UPC Ireland N.V.


Dutch public company
Founded 12 December 2005
Headquarters Dublin, Ireland

Area served Ireland
Industry Communications
Products Cable television, communications
Parent Liberty Global Europe
Subsidiaries NTL Ireland
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A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve.
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NeWS (for Network extensible Window System) was a windowing system developed by Sun Microsystems in the late 1980s. Its primary architect was James Gosling, who subsequently designed Java.
..... Click the link for more information.
Speech communication refers to the processes associated with the production and perception of sounds used in spoken language. A number of academic disciplines study speech and speech sounds, including acoustics, psychology, speech pathology, linguistics, and computer science.
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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Type Broadcast radio and television
Country  United Kingdom
Availability    National
International 
Founder John Reith
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A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2]   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
..... Click the link for more information.
NeWS (for Network extensible Window System) was a windowing system developed by Sun Microsystems in the late 1980s. Its primary architect was James Gosling, who subsequently designed Java.
..... Click the link for more information.
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance.[1] It is derived from a Greek word meaning "action" (Classical Greek δράμα), derived from "to do" (Classical Greek
..... Click the link for more information.
In common, present day usage the word comedy almost always refers to the creation or presentation of humor with the intention of provoking laughter. Most comedy contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations,
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Science (from the Latin scientia, 'knowledge'), in the broadest sense, refers to any systematic knowledge or practice.[1] Examples of the broader use included political science and computer science, which are not incorrectly named, but rather named according to
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History is the study of the past, focused on human activity and leading up to the present day.[1] More precisely, history is the continuous, systematic narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race [1]
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The BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.

Development

Between the 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme.
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worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
Radio broadcasting is an audio (sound) broadcasting service, traditionally broadcast through the air as radio waves (a form of electromagnetic radiation) from a
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BBC Radio 2

Broadcast area UK - National
First air date 30 September 1967
Frequency FM: 88 MHz - 91 MHz
DAB: 12B
Freeview: 702
Sky: 0102
Virgin Media:0102
UPC Ireland: 908
Live Stream Real/WM
Format Adult-oriented Pop Music
Owner BBC
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The Sony Radio Academy Awards (the Sonys), started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. They are run by the Radio Academy.
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Availability
Terrestrial
Analogue Normally tuned to 4 (excluding Wales)
Freeview Channel 4
Channel 8 (Wales)
Channel 13 (+1)
Satellite
Sky Digital Channel 104
Channel 117 (Wales)
Channel 135 (+1)
Channel 135, 136 +1 (ROI)
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Mark Damazer (born April 15 1955) is the controller of Radio 4 and BBC 7 in the United Kingdom.

He is the son of a delicatessen owner in Willesden in north London. He studied history at Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge University from 1974, where he gained a Double
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