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BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters of radio programming, transmitting in 43 languages to around 150 million people throughout the world. The English service broadcasts 24 hours a day. Unlike the BBC's main radio and television services, which are primarily funded by a licence fee, the World Service is funded by the British Government through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, although it is expected to remain politically neutral.
One of the primary purposes of the BBC World Service is to disseminate fair neutral news and information around the world. In many countries in the world the World Service is relied on as the only source of reliable news not manipulated by the local government.
BBC World Service - Statistics and languages
The following audience estimates are from research conducted in 2004 by independent market research agencies on behalf of the BBC :
- English — 39 million
- Hindi — 16.1 million
- Urdu — 10.4 million
- Arabic — 12.4 million.
In Africa and the Middle East the service broadcasts to 66 million listeners, of which 18.7 million are in English.
Besides English, the BBC World Service broadcasts in Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Caribbean English, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, French, Greek, Hausa, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Kazakh, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese for Africa and Brazil, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, and Vietnamese.
The German broadcasts were stopped in March 1999 after 60 years, as research showed that the majority of German listeners tuned into the English version. Broadcasts in Dutch, Finnish, French for Europe, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Malay were stopped for similar reasons.
On 25 October 2005 it was announced that the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai language radio services would end by March 2006 in order to finance the launch of an Arabic language TV news channel in 2007.
BBC World Service - History
The BBC's first shortwave transmissions were broadcast in 1925 from Borough Hill, Daventry. BBC shortwave programming began as BBC Empire Service on December 19, 1932, broadcasting particularly to Australia. It gained a special position in world broadcasting during the Second World War as it broadcast news to a wide range of audiences. It became known as the "World Service" in 1988.
After a landmine damaged the service's original home Broadcasting House on December 8, 1940, the European Service moved to Bush House; the rest of the Overseas Service followed in 1958. When the BBC's lease on Bush House expires in 2008, the World Service plans to move back into Broadcasting House.
In August 1985, the service went off the air for the first time ever. Workers were striking in protest at the British government's decision to ban a documentary featuring an interview with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin.
BBC World Service - Transmission
News and other programming from the BBC World Service is frequently relayed by local stations around the world, and it is regarded by some as the world's premier radio news source. In addition, the World Service provides educational, drama, and sports programming. A special use of the World Service has been emergency messages to British subjects abroad, such as the order to evacuate Jordan during the Black September incidents of September 1970.
The World Service uses a mediumwave transmitter at Orfordness to provide coverage to Europe, including on the frequency 648 kHz (which can be heard in the south-east of England). Shortwave transmitters are located in the United Kingdom (at Rampisham, Woofferton and Skelton), Antigua, Ascension Island, Canada, the United States, Singapore, Cyprus, and other locations. In addition, the World Service provides specialist programming to the Caribbean and the Falkland Islands. Since the 1990s the World Service has also increasingly used satellite broadcasting as a means to deliver its signals to its overseas transmitters and to home dish owners in several countries. Because shortwave transmissions were not meeting BBC quality standards, transmissions directed to North America, where the Internet had rendered shortwave radio nearly archaic, came to an end on July 1, 2001. Users in this region are expected to use satellite radio or online streams. It is important to note that since the World Service uses a VOA transmitter for its Caribbean broadcasts, it is still very easy to receive in eastern North America. Alternately, NPR members often carry World Service news broadcasts and shortwave transmissions to other regions can sometimes be heard. After the British domestic radio station BBC Radio 4 ceases broadcasting at 1am British time, the World Service is broadcast on all Radio 4 frequencies overnight, including 198 kHz longwave which can be heard in parts of continental Europe.
In 1991 BBC World Service Television launched on satellite, split in 1995 into commercial stations BBC World and BBC Prime.
The World Service's output has recently been made more widely available in the UK — the service is now carried on DAB, Freeview and Sky Digital, as well as being available on 648MW in many parts of the UK. Both a live stream and an archive of previous programmes are available worldwide on the Internet.
BBC World Service - Interval signals
The interval signal of the BBC World Service in English is the Bow Bells, a recording made in 1926 (though only in use from the early 1940s), though this isn't used on all frequencies - some are silent until the start of broadcasts. Though for a few years in the 1970s, Oranges and Lemons was used as the interval.
January 1941 saw the beginning of the Morse code letter "V" as an interval signal. The interval signal had several variations including timpani, the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (which coincide with the letter "V"), and electronic tones which are still in use today for some Western European services.
The World Service's classic signature tune Lillibullero is broadcast just before the top of many hours, followed by the Greenwich Time Signal (five short and one long pips) and the hourly news. Modern trailers featuring a variety of international broadcasting centres sometimes replace Lillibullero entirely on themed weeks. Until fairly recently, the hourly sequence was preceded by the announcement "This is London" — it is now followed by a more promotional "Wherever you are, however you listen, this is the BBC" or "With world news every half hour, this is the BBC". In recent months, Lillibulero has been shortened by extra trailers. In other languages, the interval signal is three notes, pitched B-B-C. The exception is the non-English services to Europe, which have an interval signal of four notes, B-B-B-E, in the rhythm of the Morse code letter "V". GMT is announced on the hour on the English service, e. g. "13 hours Greenwich Mean Time" is said at 1300 GMT. 0000 GMT is announced as "midnight Greenwich Mean Time". Sometimes, however, "Greenwich Mean Time" is abbreviated to GMT when the hour is announced.
BBC World Service - News
The core feature of much World Service scheduling is the news. This is almost always transmitted at one minute past the hour, where there is a six minute long bulletin, and on the half hour where there is a two minute summary. Sometimes these bulletins are seperated from the programmes being transmitted, whilst at other times they are integral to the programme - such as with World Briefing , Newshour or The World Today.
BBC World Service - Foreign Language Broadcasting table
History of BBC World Service Language Broadcasting Services (sorted by Language)
Sources
- History of International Broadcasting (IEEE), Volume I. (James Woods, BSEE)
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/languages/
Other related archives1932, 1940, 1970, 2001, 2005, 25 October, Africa, Albanian, Antigua, Arabic, Arabic language, Ascension Island, Australia, Azeri, BBC, BBC Prime, BBC World, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Bengali, Black September, Borough Hill, Bow Bells, Brazil, British Government, British government, Broadcasting House, Bulgarian, Burmese, Bush House, Canada, Cantonese, Caribbean, Caribbean English, Croatian, Cyprus, Czech, DAB, Daventry, December 19, December 8, Dutch, English, Falkland Islands, Finnish, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Freeview, French, GMT, German, Greek, Greenwich Time Signal, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Internet, Italian, Japanese, Jordan, July 1, Kazakh, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kyrgyz, Lillibullero, Macedonian, Malay, Mandarin, Martin McGuinness, Morse code, NPR, Nepali, North America, Oranges and Lemons, Orfordness, Pashto, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Radio 4, Rampisham, Romanian, Russian, Second World War, Serbian, Singapore, Sinhala, Sinn Féin, Skelton, Sky Digital, Slovak, Slovene, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, United Kingdom, United States, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, international broadcasters, interval signal, mediumwave, radio, satellite radio, shortwave, timpani
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