 Logo used since 2022 | |
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom and internationally viaBBC Sounds |
|---|---|
| Frequencies | FM: 92.5–96.1 MHz, 103.5–104.9 MHz LW: 198kHz DAB: 12B Freesat: 704 Freeview: 704 Sky(UK only): 0104 Virgin Media: 904 Virgin Media Ireland: 910 |
| RDS | BBC R4 |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Format | News,talk,comedy anddrama |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | BBC |
| BBC Radio 4 Extra | |
| History | |
First air date | 30 September 1967; 57 years ago (1967-09-30) |
Former call signs | 2LO London BBC National Programme BBC Regional Programme BBC Home Service |
Former names | BBC Radio 4 UK (1978–1984) |
Former frequencies | 200 LW 603 MW 692 MW 720 MW 756 MW 774 MW 809 MW 881 MW 908 MW 1052 MW 1088 MW 1151 MW 1340 MW 1449 MW 1457 MW 1485 MW |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | Ofcom |
| Links | |
| Website | BBC Radio 4 viaBBC Sounds |
| BBC Radio |
|---|
| Nationwide |
| Digital-only |
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by theBBC.[1] The station replaced theBBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety ofspoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters atBroadcasting House,London. Since 2019, the station controller has beenMohit Bakaya.[2] He replacedGwyneth Williams, who had been the station controller since 2010.[2][3]
Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, theIsle of Man and theChannel Islands onFM,LW andDAB, and onBBC Sounds,[4] it can be received in the eastern counties ofIreland, northernFrance andNorthern Europe. It is available onFreeview,Sky, andVirgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making itthe UK's second most-popular radio station afterBBC Radio 2.[5]
BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such asToday,The World at One andPM heralded on air by theGreenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes ofBig Ben. The pips are only accurate on FM, and LW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five seconds and online up to 23 seconds. Radio 4 broadcasts theShipping Forecast which, in August 2017, was 150 years old.[6]
According toRAJAR, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 9.2 million with a listening share of 11.1% as of December 2023.[7]
BBC Radio 4 is the second-most-popularBritish domesticradio station by total hours,[8] afterRadio 2. It recorded its highest audience, of 11 million listeners, in May 2011,[9] and was "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2023Radio Academy Awards.[10][11] It also won aPeabody Award in 2002 forFile on 4: Export Controls.[12] Costing £71.4 million (2005/6),[13] it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by many to be its flagship. There is no comparable British commercial network:Channel 4 abandoned plans to launch its own speech-based digital radio station in October 2008 as part of a £100m cost cutting review.[14]
The station is available onFM in most of Great Britain, parts of Ireland and the north of France;LW throughout the UK and in parts of Northern Europe, and the Atlantic north of theAzores to about 20 degrees west;DAB; Digital TV includingFreeview,Freesat,Sky andVirgin Media, and on the Internet. Freesat, Sky and Virgin have a separate channel for Radio 4 LW output in mono, in addition to the FM output.
The longwave signal is part of theRoyal Navy's system ofletters of last resort. In the event of a suspected catastrophic attack on Britain,submarine captains, in addition to other checks, check for a broadcast signal from Radio 4 on 198 longwave to verify the annihilation of organised society in Great Britain.[15][16][17][failed verification]
BBC Radio 4 broadcasts a wide variety of speech-related programming, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. Music is broadcast as in documentaries relating to various forms of bothpopular and classical music, and the long-running music-basedDesert Island Discs. Sport is also not part of the station's output, apart from during news bulletins, although between 1994 and 2023, the station's long wave frequency was used to broadcastball-by-ball commentaries of mostTest cricket matches played by England. Consequently, for around 70 days a year, listeners had to rely on FM broadcasts or DAB for mainstream Radio 4 broadcasts – the number relying solely on long wave was now a small minority. The cricket broadcasts took precedence over on-the-hour news bulletins, but not theShipping Forecast, carried since Radio 4's move to long wave in 1978 because long wave can be received clearly at sea.[18]
.jpg)
Initially the power was 100 watts on 350 metres (857 kHz). 2LO was allowed to transmit for seven minutes, after which the "operator" had to listen on the wavelength for three minutes for possible instructions to close down. On 14 November 1922 the station was transferred to the newBritish Broadcasting Company which in 1923 took up the nearbySavoy Hill for its broadcasting studios. At midnight on New Year's Eve 1923, the twelve chimes ofBig Ben were broadcast for the first time to mark the new year.[19]
In 1927 the company became theBritish Broadcasting Corporation. On 9 March 1930 2LO was replaced by theBBC Regional Programme and theBBC National Programme. The letters LO continued to be used internally as a designation in the BBC for technical operations in the London area (for example, the numbering of all recordings made in London contained LO). The code LO was changed to LN in the early 1970s.
When theBritish Broadcasting Company first began transmissions on 14 November 1922 from station2LO inthe Strand, which it had inherited from theMarconi Company (one of six commercial companies which created), but technology did not yet exist either for national coverage or joint programming betweentransmitters. Whilst it was possible to combine large numbers oftrunktelephone lines to link transmitters for individual programmes, the process was expensive and not encouraged by theGeneral Post Office as it tied up large parts of the telephone network. The stations that followed the establishment of 2LO inLondon were therefore autonomously programmed using local talent and facilities.
By May 1923,simultaneous broadcasting was technically possible at least between main transmitters andrelay stations, 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.
Each of these main stations were broadcast at approximately 1kilowatt (kW):
| Airdate | Station ID | City | Initial frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 November 1922 | 2LO | London | 822 kHz |
| 15 November 1922 | 5IT | Birmingham | 626 kHz |
| 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 |
| 14 September 1924 | 2BE | Belfast | 689 kHz |
Each of theserelay stations were broadcast at approximately 120watts (W):
| Airdate | Station ID | City | Relay of | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 November 1923 | 6FL | Sheffield | 2ZY | 980 kHz |
| 28 March 1924 | 5PY | Plymouth | 6BM | 887 kHz |
| 1 May 1924 | 2EH | Edinburgh | 5SC | 914 kHz |
| 11 June 1924 | 6LV | Liverpool | 2ZY | 906 kHz |
| 8 July 1924 | 2LS | Leeds andBradford | 935 kHz | |
| 15 August 1924 | 6KH | Kingston upon Hull | 896 kHz | |
| 16 September 1924 | 5NG | Nottingham | 920 kHz | |
| 21 October 1924 | 6ST | Stoke-on-Trent | 996 kHz | |
| 12 November 1924 | 2DE | Dundee | 2BD | 952 kHz |
| 12 December 1924 | 5SX | Swansea | 5WA | 622 kHz |
TheBBC Home Service was the predecessor of Radio 4 and broadcast between 1939 and 1967. It hadregional variations and was broadcast onmedium wave with a network ofVHF FM transmitters being added from 1955. Radio 4 replaced it on 30 September 1967, when the BBC restructured and renamed its domestic radio stations,[1] in response to the challenge ofoffshore radio. It moved to long wave in November 1978, taking over the 200 kHz frequency (1,500 metres) previously held byRadio 2 - later moved to 198 kHz as a result ofinternational agreements aimed at avoiding interference (allITU Region 1 MW/LW broadcast frequencies are divisible by 9). At this point, Radio 4 became available across all of the UK for the first time and the station officially became known as Radio 4 UK, a title that remained until 29 September 1984.
For a time during the 1970s Radio 4 carried regional news bulletins Monday to Saturday. These were broadcast twice at breakfast, at lunchtime and at 17:55. There were also programme variations for the parts of England not served byBBC Local Radio stations. These includedRoundabout East Anglia, a VHF opt-out of theToday programme broadcast fromBBC East's studios inNorwich each weekday from 6.45 a.m. to 8.45 a.m.[20]Roundabout East Anglia came to an end in August 1980, ahead of the launch ofBBC Radio Norfolk.[20]
All regional news bulletins broadcast from BBC regional news bases around England ended in August 1980, apart from in the southwest as until January 1983 there was noBBC Local Radio in the southwest so these news bulletins and its weekday morning regional programme,Morning Sou'West, continued to be broadcast from the BBC studios in Plymouth on VHF and on the Radio 4 medium wave Plymouth relay until 31 December 1982.
The launch ofRadio 5 on 27 August 1990 saw the removal ofOpen University, schools programming, children's programmes and theStudy on 4/Options adult education slot from Radio 4's FM frequencies. Consequently, the full Radio 4 schedule became available on FM for the first time. However, adult educational andOpen University programming returned to Radio 4 in 1994 when Radio 5 was closed to make way for the launch ofBBC Radio 5 Live and were broadcast until the end of the 1990s on Sunday evenings on longwave only.
Between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991 FM broadcasts were replaced by a continuous news service devoted to theGulf War,Radio 4 News FM, with the main Radio 4 service transferring to long wave. Before this, Radio 4's FM frequencies had occasionally been used for additional news coverage, generally for live coverage of statements and debates in Parliament.
By the start of the 1990s, Radio 4 had become available on FM in most of the UK - previously FM coverage had been restricted mainly to England and south Wales. This meant that it was possible for the main Radio 4 service to be transferred from LW to FM, and this took place on 16 September 1991 with opt-outs - extra shipping forecasts,Daily Service andYesterday in Parliament, joined in 1994 byTest Match Special. Longwave also occasionally opted out at other times, such as to broadcast special services, the most recent being whenPope Benedict XVIvisited Britain in 2010.
On 30 May 2023, the BBC announced that Radio 4 will stop broadcasting opt-outs on long wave[21] with the last opt-outs airing on 31 March 2024.[22] The two displaced programmes,Daily Service andYesterday in Parliament moved toBBC Radio 4 Extra. The daily amount ofShipping Forecasts was reduced to be broadcast 2 times on weekdays and 3 times on weekends.Test Match Special moved toBBC Radio 5 Sports Extra on 31 July 2023. These end ahead of a planned switch-off of long wave transmissions by 2025.[22]
BBC Radio 4's medium wave frequencies were switched off on 15 April 2024, which previously served as relays in areas with a weak LW signal to provide reception of BBC Radio 4 LW, such as Northern Ireland and south west England. Most were turned off at 12:27 PM BST and broadcast an endless closedown loop informing listeners to retune to other methods of reception.[23][24] The final transmitter to change into the closedown loop was the Plymouth relay on 774 kHz at 4:59 PM BST.[25] These relays stopped broadcasting the closedown loop and fell silent completely by 30 April 2024.[26]
An online schedule page lists the running order of programmes.[27]
The station broadcasts a mix of live and pre-recorded programmes. Live programming includes breakfast programmeToday, magazine programmeWoman's Hour, consumer affairs programmeYou and Yours, and (often) the music, film, books, arts and culture programmeFront Row.Continuity is managed fromBroadcasting House with news bulletins, including the hourly summaries and longer programmes such as theSix O'Clock News andMidnight News, and news programmes such asToday,The World at One andPM, which by early 2013 had returned to Broadcasting House after 15 years atBBC Television Centre inWhite City.[28] The news returning to Broadcasting House has also meant that newsreaders can provide cover for continuity, which regularly occurs at 23:00 each night and 16:00 on a Sunday. This has reduced the total number of continuity announcers required each day down from four to three.
TheGreenwich Time Signal, popularly known as "the pips", is broadcast every hour to herald the news bulletin, except at midnight and 18:00, and 22:00 on Sunday, when the chimes ofBig Ben are played. There is no Greenwich Time Signal at 15:00 on Saturday or 11:00 and 12:00 on Sunday due to the Saturday Afternoon drama and the omnibus edition ofThe Archers respectively. Only pips broadcast on FM and LW are accurate. On digital platforms there is a delay of between three and five seconds, and up to 23 seconds online.
Radio 4 programmes cover a wide variety of genre including news and current affairs, history, culture, science, religion, arts, comedy, drama and entertainment. A number of the programmes on Radio 4 take the form of a "magazine" show, featuring numerous small contributions over the course of the programme—Woman's Hour,From Our Own Correspondent,You and Yours. The rise of these magazine shows is primarily due to the work ofTony Whitby, controller of Radio 4 from 1970 to 1975.[29] The station hosts a number of long-running programmes, many of which have been broadcast for over 40 years.
Most programmes are available for 30 days or over a year after broadcast as streaming audio from Radio 4'slisten again page[30] and viaBBC Sounds. A selection of programmes is also available aspodcasts ordownloadable audio files.[31] Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are broadcast onBBC Radio 4 Extra.Due to the capacity limitations of DAB and increasing sport broadcasts onBBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Radio 4 DAB has to reduce its bit rate most evenings, such that after 7 p.m. its DAB output is usually in mono, even though many of its programmes are made in stereo (including its flagship drama "The Archers"), these can be heard in stereo only on FM, Digital TV on Freeview & Freesat (Ch. 704), Sky, Virgin and on line via BBC Sounds. BBC World Service, which uses BBC Radio 4 FM & DAB frequencies between 01:00 and 05:20, is in stereo, but only on Radio 4 FM & DAB and not on its own dedicated DAB channel. BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcasts in mono on DAB, but has always been in stereo on Digital TV (Freeview / Freesat Ch 708), Sky, Virgin and online.
Announcers carry out the following duties from Broadcasting House:
Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins from New Broadcasting House.[32][33] In 2012 the BBC announced that it would be reducing its main presentation team from 12 to ten.[34]
|
|
|
|
Other continuity announcers for whom it is not known whether they are freelance or BBC employees, include Joanna Kean, Kelsey Bennett, Arlene Fleming (who also used to read the news) and Richard Evans.
| Broadcast type | Frequency |
|---|---|
| FM |
|
| Longwave | 198 kHz (Droitwich,Burghead, andWesterglen) |
| DAB | 12B multiplex (BBC National DAB) |
| Terrestrial television | Freeview channel 704[37] |
| Satellite television | |
| Cable television |
|
| Internet | BBC Sounds live streaming |
| Broadcast type | Recent frequencies | Switch off date |
|---|---|---|
| Medium wave |
| 15 April 2024 |
| 1973 | |
| 1975 | |
| 1978 | |
| Long wave |
| 1988 |
Criticism voiced by centre-right newspapers in recent years have a perceived left political bias across a range of issues,[39][40][41] as well assycophancy in interviews, particularly on the popular morning news magazineToday[42] as part of a reported perception of a general "malaise" at the BBC. Conversely, the journalistMehdi Hasan has criticised the station for an overtly "socially andculturally conservative" approach.[43]
There has been criticism ofToday in particular for a lack of female broadcasters.[44] In September 1972, Radio 4 employed the first female continuity announcers—Hylda Bamber and Barbara Edwards. For quite some time, the introduction of female newsreaders led to complaints from listeners; women discussing topics of feminist interest led to similar complaints.[45] In addition, there has been long-running criticism by atheist and humanist groups ofThought for the Day, a slot dedicated exclusively to religious discussion during Radio 4's flagship morning news programme.[46][47][48]
Radio 4 has been criticised for being "toomiddle class" and of "little interest" to non-white listeners.[49][50]
A few days earlier a microphone had been set up on the roof of a nearby building, No. 1 Bridge Street, just opposite the Houses of Parliament. As the time approached midnight the chimes of the Great Clock ringing out the old year were followed on the hour by the twelve deep strokes of Big Ben ringing in the new, and broadcast, by means of a temporary line running to the control room at Savoy Hill, to listeners tuned to 2LO, the BBC's first radio transmitter, then barely a year old.
Links to related articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
