 | |
.svg) BBC Cymru Wales' area within the UK | |
| TV stations | |
|---|---|
| TV transmitters | |
| Radio stations | |
| Headquarters | New Broadcasting House,Cardiff |
| Area | Wales |
| Parent | BBC |
Key people | Rhuanedd Richards (Director of BBC Cymru Wales) |
Launch date | 9 February 1964; 61 years ago (1964-02-09) |
Official website | bbc |
| Language | English andWelsh (Cymraeg) |
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of theBBC and the mainpublic broadcaster inWales.[1]
It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside theBBC English Regions,BBC Northern Ireland andBBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is based inCardiff and directly employs some 1,200 people to produce a range of programmes for television, radio and online services in both English andWelsh.[2]
BBC Cymru Wales operates two TV channels (BBC One Wales,BBC Two Wales) and three radio stations (BBC Radio Wales,BBC Radio Cymru andBBC Radio Cymru 2). The total budget for BBC Cymru Wales (includingS4C's £76 million) is £151 million, £31 million of which is for BBC-produced television productions.[3]
BBC Cymru Wales operates two television services,BBC One Wales andBBC Two Wales, which can opt out of the main network feed ofBBC One andBBC Two in England to broadcast national programming. These two channels broadcast a variety of programmes in English, including the flagship news programmeBBC Wales Today which broadcasts several bulletins throughout the day including the main evening programme.
In addition to these two channels, BBC Cymru Wales is required to provide programmes inWelsh, which it supplies to the Welsh language channelS4C free of charge using the BBC Cymru brand.[4] These programmes include a Welsh news serviceNewyddion, covering Welsh, general UK and international news, and a soap operaPobol y Cwm, the longest running television soap opera made by the BBC. Under a partnership agreement withS4C, BBC Cymru Wales provides playout and technology services to the channel.
BBC Cymru Wales operates three radio stations covering the entire country.BBC Radio Wales is the English language network, broadcasting local programmes for approximately 20 hours a day and simulcastingBBC Radio 5 Live during the station's down time.BBC Radio Cymru broadcasts Welsh language programming for over 18 hours a day, providing a mix of general entertainment and factual programming, whileBBC Radio Cymru 2 provides separate music-led programming at certain hours. While off air, both Radio Cymru stations simulcast overnight programme from theBBC World Service.
BBC Cymru Wales operates its own mini-site onBBC Online as well as providing news and features for other areas of BBC Online. In addition, news stories are provided for theBBC Red Button interactive service.
BBC Cymru Wales employs a full-time orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW), who give concerts in Cardiff,Swansea and across Wales. The majority of the orchestra's concerts are recorded for broadcast onBBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru. Since January 2009 the administrative base of the NOW has been theBBC Hoddinott Hall, in theWales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.
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The first broadcast in Wales was on 13 February 1923[5] from the radio station 5WA at 19 Castle Street, Cardiff.[6]
In March 1924 they moved into larger premises at 39 Park Place, later taking over most of the properties on the street.[6]
During this time, the region was served from bases around Wales. DuringWorld War II, the regional services all ceased and broadcast the Home Service fromLondon, although some Welsh content was included.[5] The BBC'sBangor base played host to the BBC Variety Department during the war, although this fact was never officially announced.[5]
Following the end of the Second World War, the BBC Home Service continued its regional opt-outs, including an opt-out service for Wales. This opt-out continued after the change from the Home Service toRadio 4 and paved the way for two full-time radio services -BBC Radio Cymru in 1977, followed a year later byBBC Radio Wales.[7]
In 1952 they bought a 10-acre site at Baynton House inLlandaff, Cardiff, to house all of its operations in the city.[8][9][6]
The BBC has also occupied other locations in Cardiff such as: Celtic Road in Gabalfa, Newport Road in Roath, above a Spar shop in Llandaff village, and Charles Street in the city centre.[6]
The first television signals in Wales came on 15 August 1952 from the newly constructedWenvoe transmitter. The transmitter itself broadcast the nationalBBC Television service. Wales would gain some significance when, in 1957, theBBC West region fromBristol was established including a daily five-minute news bulletin for Wales, followed five years later by the launch of the daily magazine programme,Wales Today.[5]
The launch of BBC Wales on 9 February 1964 provided a specific television service for the country. The new service was heavily promoted (proclaiming thatWales gets its very own TV service in 1964!) with animated promos using the sound of Welsh choirs to explain about interference from the mountains.[10] Two years later in 1966, BBC Cymru Wales' new headquarters atBroadcasting House in Cardiff opened and the first colour broadcast for Wales followed in 1970.[7]
Prior to 1982, BBC Cymru Wales on television provided programmes in both English and Welsh, with the news programmeHeddiw and the long-running serialPobol y Cwm figuring among the key output. However, this changed with the launch ofS4C on 1 November 1982 as all Welsh-language programming on both the BBC and theITV contractorHTV was transferred to the new channel. As part of a guaranteed ten hours a week of BBC-produced programming,Pobol y Cwm switched to the new channel while a newly expanded news service,Newyddion, was launched.
Into the late 1990s, BBC Cymru Wales continued to expand their services. The first web pages for Wales began to appear onBBC Online in 1997, including a variety of features surrounding programming, schedules, community events and other stories.[7][11] The following year, BBC Wales gained additional air time through the use of a late prime-time to midnight opt-out from new digital channelBBC Choice.[7] This lasted until opt-outs ended on the channel in 2001; subsequently BBC Wales opted out of theBBC Two prime-time schedule on digital platforms to broadcastBBC 2W.[7][12] This latter service closed on 2 January 2009 – prior to thedigital switchover which would have ceased separate broadcasting on analogue and digital.[13]
Expansion in the number of drama productions handled by BBC Cymru Wales since 2011 has resulted in the construction and opening on a new studio centre in Cardiff.[14]
In August 2013, it was announced that Broadcasting House and Ty Oldfield (Oldfield House), opposite, was for sale, with plans to move to a new a purpose-built headquarters in the city centre. The BBC attributed the decision to "ageing infrastructure at Llandaff" and considered sites includingCentral Square, land south of Cardiff Central railway station, and land between theSenedd andAtradius.[15] In 2014, it was confirmed that Broadcasting House would be demolished and turned into 400 residential units.[16] The BBC confirmed in 2015 that Central Square would be the location of theirnew headquarters building[17] and began to move out of Llandaff studios in 2019.
TheNew Broadcasting House opened in 2020. In July 2020BBC One Wales andBBC Two Wales Presentation and Playout move from Llandaff to become the first live services from the new building.[18] This was followed by the first radio broadcasts, byBBC Radio Cymru 2 host Daniel Glyn on the 25 July[19] and byRadio Wales hostOwen Money on the 31 July.[20] TV News moved into the building in September 2020 when viewers saw the building's roof garden in a live report by reporter Alex Jennings as part of an afternoon broadcast ofWales Today.[21]
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The current headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales isNew Broadcasting House, based in Cardiff'sCentral Square in the heart of the city. It opened in 2019, with broadcasting starting in 2020.[22] The new building is the base for almost all BBC Cymru Wales staff, and is purpose built to house radio and TV production teams. It is the home of BBC Cymru Wales's news services, in English and Welsh,Wales Today,BBC Radio Wales andBBC Radio Cymru, as well as production teams for UK-wide programming and programmes commissioned by S4C.
Its location was decided in June 2014, on the site of the formerCardiff Central bus station. It can house up to 1,000 staff, with around half the floor space of its former Llandaff base and with 70% less studio space. Fewer studios were needed in the new headquarters partly as a result of the new purpose build facilities for drama and BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff Bay.[23] Staff started to move into the new headquarters in October 2019,[24]
The expansion of BBC Cymru Wales' drama productions in recent years has resulted in investment for new studios. Drama production for BBC Cymru Wales is currently based atRoath Lock studios in Cardiff Bay. The main year-round productions on site includeDoctor Who andCasualty, both made forBBC One, andPobol y Cwm, which BBC Cymru Wales produces on behalf ofS4C.
In the 2000s, as a temporary measure to generate extra capacity, BBC Wales invested intoUpper Boat Studios inPontypridd to house several productions, notable centred around the 2005 revival ofDoctor Who and its sister productionsTorchwood andThe Sarah Jane Adventures. Despite the investment in Upper Boat, the studio complex soon became too small to house new productions being moved to the BBC Nations.[25] As part of this decision, it was decided in March 2009 that BBC productionsCasualty andCrimewatch were to relocate from their former homes at BBC Bristol network production unit toCardiff.[25]
To house these new programmes, a new 170,000-square-foot (16,000 m2) studio complex was built, designed to house the productions ofDoctor Who,The Sarah Jane Adventures,Casualty,Upstairs Downstairs, andPobol y Cwm. Located inPorth Teigr,Cardiff Bay,Roath Lock Studios gained permission in January 2009[26] and construction began in June 2010[27] with the building topping out in February 2011. Production began at the site in autumn 2011[26] and the site was officially opened on 12 March 2012.[28] As a result,Pobol y Cwm moved from the Llandaff studios andDoctor Who moved from Upper Boat studios to the new complex, withCasualty joining them at the site. Despite being designed to house them, the site never housed theSarah Jane Adventures, following the death of main actressElisabeth Sladen in 2011, orUpstairs Downstairs, following the series' cancellation.
BBC National Orchestra of Wales operated from a purpose-built orchestra studio, Studio 1, in Broadcasting House from 1966 to 2008. They then moved to new purpose built facilities atBBC Hoddinott Hall in January 2009, as part of theWales Millennium Centre campus.
Until 2020, BBC Cymru Wales's headquarters were atBroadcasting House,Llandaff,Cardiff.[7]
The studio centre was built in 1966 and opened the following year as a purpose-built location to house the expanding presence of the BBC in Cardiff.[7] The centre contained studios for the news programmes, radio space including that used by theBBC National Orchestra of Wales until 2009, and another studio for drama productions constructed in the mid-1970s.[29] It was the first time that all of BBC Cymru Wales's departments within Cardiff were located on one site.
Broadcasting House was built next to Baynton House which housed all of the BBC Wales' operations from 1952 until construction was finished. Baynton House remained in use by the BBC until 1975 when it was demolished to make way for the E-Block extension.[8][9][6]
Previously, the BBC in Wales had been located in the converted Broadway Methodist Chapel on Broadway in Roath, Cardiff from 1955, and in nearby premises on Stacey Road in Roath, Cardiff from 1959.[6] A temporary broadcasting centre was set up on the banks of theRiver Taff, in 1958 to cover the Empire Games.[6][5] While these studios played host to drama, entertainment and regional programmes, the site was still not ideal. The site only held two studios, both located in the church, and the ability to broadcast film was not installed on the site for several years; film played into programmes from a telecine machine in Bristol or London and film processing for news was carried out by a firm called Park Pictures in Cardiff until BBC processing was installed in Stacey Road.
BBC Cymru Wales's main studios outside of Cardiff are based in Bangor, Gwynedd, and are home to around 50 staff. Much of BBC Radio Cymru's daytime output is broadcast from here.
Across Wales, there are also a number of properties that the BBC owns are local radio studios. These are primarily used as contributor studios, where interviewees or reporters can join a radio programme from an ISDN line, with the presenter remaining in the main studio in Cardiff or Bangor. These studios are located inAberystwyth,Carmarthen,Newtown,Penrhyndeudraeth,Swansea andWrexham.
BBC Cymru Wales produces local and networked programming for broadcast in Wales and the rest of the UK. In recent years, its drama output has been particularly successful, including the 2005 revival of the classicscience fiction seriesDoctor Who and its spin-offsTorchwood (2006) andThe Sarah Jane Adventures (2007). In addition, BBC Wales commissions other drama output for the BBC network from independent producers, such asLife on Mars (2006–07).
The following productions were created by BBC Cymru Wales for broadcast in Wales:
In addition to programming for Wales, networked productions from BBC Cymru Wales include:
In addition to the in-house commissions, BBC Wales also commissions other independent companies to produce programmes. These include:
For Wales:
For the UK:
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