British Broadcasting Company formed 18th Oct 1922.
John Reith (managing director)- 1923 ‘Bring best broadcasting to widest possible number of homes’.
‘Mission is to inform, educate and entertain’.
Dec-, first regular news bulletin, radio station 2LO, general news agency- though no news until after 7pm due to newspapers.
News provided by ‘Rueters’, an international news agency.
2LO also had music, talks on different subjects and dramas.
1926- nationalised to ‘British Broadcasting Corporation’.
Introduced 10 year Royal Charter- a document specifying its rights- reason for licence fee.
Reith- ‘pledge it will remain independent’, instead of being dependant on government. Then it would be free from political inference.
1936- news shown in cinema by Pathe, in 1948- 1st TV news reel debuts.
First television trials on BBC frequencies in 1929.
-First recognisable BBC news bulletin in 1954, ‘BBC news and newsreel’ introduced by Richard Baker.
Several feats- 1st British Monarch to broadcast on radio- George V in 1932- famous by King’s Speech.
First broadcaster in the world to provide high definition TV service in 1936, but halted by the war in 1939.
-1953- first live coronation- Elizabeth II, which boosted TV sales.
1967- 1st full colour TV service in Europe- BBC2
Even first video recorder- VERA developed by the BBC.
-Even though competitors- ITV, Channel 4 from 1955-1989, they still stood out, produced BBC news online in 1997 along with their digital channel ‘BBC News 24’.
Is now a tri-media company.
Caters for all, ‘accommodates for all minorities’- as everyone pays for it.
‘Brings UK to the world and the world to the UK’. It is a main element of British Culture.
It is their public purpose to ‘sustain citizenship and civil society’.
1938- first foreign language broadcast in Arabic, which brings in different cultures. Have World Service- 28 languages.
Also Olympic Games first broadcast in 1948, 68.5hrs in all.
Use regional accents to reflect diversity of UK.
-1939-45- news bulletins ‘fundamental to morale of troops during the war’.
Catered for different social groups- women’s hour in 1946 which talked about politics, women’s citizenship (keeping house and childcare less after 60’s)
Children’s shows started in 1946- ‘Muffin the Mule’- a puppet with a piano.
The Archer’s- world’s longest running soap- 1950, brings people together, gets them talking. The same applies to news.
Corronation- 20mil watched it, all came together to share televisions.
Now online so different ways to view BBC, radio, twitter. News at different times so everyone can see it.