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BBC History: From Radio to TV

The BBC was established in 1922 as a private corporation to handle public broadcasting in Britain. It was restructured as a public corporation called the BBC in 1927, giving it a monopoly over broadcasting. The BBC pioneered the world's first regular television service beginning in 1936, broadcasting from Alexandra Palace in London. It established television as a public service and continued expanding its radio and television services throughout the 20th century.

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Topics covered

  • BBC history,
  • John Reith,
  • commercial broadcasting,
  • television licensing,
  • television audience,
  • television service interruptio…,
  • television service resumption,
  • Wimbledon broadcast,
  • World Service,
  • broadcasting technology
176 views6 pages

BBC History: From Radio to TV

The BBC was established in 1922 as a private corporation to handle public broadcasting in Britain. It was restructured as a public corporation called the BBC in 1927, giving it a monopoly over broadcasting. The BBC pioneered the world's first regular television service beginning in 1936, broadcasting from Alexandra Palace in London. It established television as a public service and continued expanding its radio and television services throughout the 20th century.

Uploaded by

BEeNa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Topics covered

  • BBC history,
  • John Reith,
  • commercial broadcasting,
  • television licensing,
  • television audience,
  • television service interruptio…,
  • television service resumption,
  • Wimbledon broadcast,
  • World Service,
  • broadcasting technology

BBC2, publicly financedbroadcasting system in Great Britain, operating

under royal charter. It held a monopoly on television in Great Britain from


its introduction until 1954 and on radio until 1972. Headquarters are in
theGreater London borough of Westminster.

The first initiatives in British radio after World War I were taken by
commercial firms that regarded broadcasting primarily as point-to-point
communications. The British Broadcasting Company, Ltd., was established
in 1922 as a private corporation, in which only British manufacturers were
permitted to hold shares. In 1925, upon recommendation of a
parliamentary committee, the company was liquidated and replaced in 1927
by a public corporation, the British Broadcasting Corporation. Although
ultimately answerable to Parliament, the BBC has virtually complete
independence in the conduct of its activities. The British monarch appoints
the members of the BBC Trust, an independent 12-member panel, governed
by a chairman, that oversees day-to-day operations.

The original charter gave the BBC a monopoly covering all phases of
broadcasting in Britain. A key figure in the early history of the corporation
was John Reith (later Lord Reith), general manager from 1922 and director
general from 1927 to 1938. He developed radio broadcasting throughout
the British Isles, inaugurated the empire shortwave broadcasting service,
and directed the development of the world’s first
regular television service in 1936. His concept of public service
broadcasting prevailed in Great Britain and influenced broadcasting in
many other countries.

British television service was interrupted during World War II but


resumed in 1946. The BBC established its second channel in 1964, and it
introduced the first regular colour television service in Europe in 1967. It
retained its monopoly of television service in Britain until the passage of
the Television Act of 1954 and the subsequent creation of a commercial
channel operated by the Independent Television Authority (later the
Office of Communications [Ofcom]) in 1955. A second commercial channel
commenced broadcasting in 1982. The BBC’s radio monopoly ended with the
government’s decision to permit, starting in the early 1970s, local
commercial broadcasts.
BC World Service radio broadcasts began in 1932 as the Empire Service.
By the early 21st century the service broadcast in more than 40 languages
to roughly 120 million people worldwide. World Service Television began
broadcasting in 1991 and unveiled a 24-hour news channel, BBC News 24, in
1997. The BBC also has been successful with the overseas syndication of
its television programming. In the United States, series such as All
Creatures Great and Small, Doctor Who, Mr. Bean, and Upstairs,
Downstairs have been featured on the Public Broadcasting Service.

The BBC is largely financed by annual television licensing fees, which are
paid by those who own TV sets or watch live television transmissions on
such devices as computers. It offers five radio networks in Britain, ranging
from popular music to news and information services, as well as national
television channels. Under its charter the BBC may not advertise or
broadcast sponsored programs. It is required to refrain from broadcasting
any opinion of its own on current affairs and matters of public policy and to
be impartial in its treatment of controversy.

The history of BBC: first era

On May 18th 1922 the Post Office met representatives of eighteen


companies, each with a single purpose in mind. Until now officialdom had
refused permission for regular broadcasting of radio transmitters in
Britain, worried that they would interfere with essential services such as
the armed forces. However, by 1922 public opinion, as well as the
spectacular growth and popularity of radio in the United States, had
bought too much public pressure on the authorities to deny a full service
any longer. After five months of deliberation a company to be known as the
British Broadcasting Company was to set up eight stations in major cities
around the country. Thus the BBC was born.

The British Broadcasting Company started daily transmissions on


November 14th 1922, by which time more than one million ten-shilling (50p)
licences had been issued. In 1927 the company was restructured as a public
corporation -the BBC that we know today- by its founding father, John
(later Lord) Reith, but by this time an even newer technology was being
developed -television
In 1923 the Scotsman John Logie Baird began developing a system by
which television would be made possible. Baird wasn't the only one
developing this new system at that time; indeed, Earl Ferdinand Braun had
invented the first commercial cathode ray tube as early as 1897. But it was
Baird who developed the disc-scanning equipment that made television
possible. In 1926 Baird enlisted the aid of Selfridges in London to put on
public demonstrations of his [Link], the BBC's official line
was that Baird's pictures were well below standard and that they had too
little potential for improvement.

In truth, the Corporation was very interested in Baird's experiments and


wanted them to continue under their sponsorship, and not under that of
any other company. Accordingly, Baird's company was offered the use of
facilities on London's South Bank. By 1932 the BBC were sufficiently happy
to allow regular experimental broadcasting. They now offered Baird a
studio in their newly acquired premises in Portland Place, W1. Studio BB,
Britain's first dedicated television studio, was housed in the basement of
Broadcasting House

In May of 1934 the British government appointed a committee, under the


guidance of Lord Selsdon, to begin enquiries into the viability of setting up
a public television service, with recommendations as to the conditions
under which such a service could be [Link] BBC was to be entrusted
with the development of television, which had to transmit a definition of
not less than 240 lines with a minimum of 25 pictures per second.

The committee proposed that the two new high definition systems
(Baird's 240 line and Marconi-EMI's 405 line) would be chosen to
alternate transmissions by the BBC over a set period, until it was
decided which was the better. Looking for a suitable site for the new
service, the BBC chose Alexandra Palace in Haringey, Greater London.
Its position, high on a hill, made it the ideal place to place a
transmitter that would cover all of London and many of its
surrounding counties

Sanctioned with the monumental task of bringing high-definition


broadcasting to the British public as a regular service was Director of
Radio Outside Broadcasting, Gerald Cock, now appointed the BBC's
Director of Television. Cock's first task was to assemble a team of
experts and then summon them to a meeting where a plan of strategy
could be worked out. The team comprised of experienced stage
designer Peter Bax (appointed studio manager), Cecil Madden, a
playwright with more than half-a-dozen West End productions to his
credit (appointed programme organiser), Stephen Thomas, Douglas
Bower and Harry Pringle (appointed producers), Cecil Lewis, film
cameraman Bill Barbrooke, George Moore O'Farrell and Mary Adams.
In front of camera was to be experienced Movietone News
commentator, Leslie Mitchell, and female announcers Jasmine Bligh
and Elizabeth Cowell.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is with great


pleasure that I introduce you to the magic of
television..."

With those words Leslie Mitchell introduced Britain's first


high-definition public television programme from Radiolympia. The
date was 26th August 1936.

On November 2nd 1936 the world's first regular high definition service
began transmitting to the 100 or so TV sets available in Britain. Sir
John Reith, who was to resign from the BBC two years later, had little
enthusiasm for the new medium, noting in his diary, "To Alexandra
Palace for the television opening, I have declined to be televised or
take part..."
With Reith's approval or not, the BBC began transmitting from
Alexandra Palace for two hours every day (except Sunday's)
The range of the service offered by the BBC covered a radius of
approximately 40 miles from Muswell Hill, although that was by no
means a rigid limit.
John Logie Baird was effectively out of the television business. It took
the Postmaster General three months to confirm Baird's fate by
announcing that the Television Advisory Committee had
recommended termination of the dual-transmission period, and that a
single standard -Marconi EMI's, would be adopted. On Saturday 13th
February 1937 viewers watched the last Baird programme; A Half
Hour of Variety.
The next landmark for the BBC came one month later, 12th May 1937,
when cameras were sent to cover the Coronation of King George V1.
Following this, viewers got their first chance to witness a major
sporting event when the Wimbledon Tennis Championships were first
broadcast on June 21st, 1937, with a match between Bunny Austin
and George Rogers. Freddie Grisewood commentated. The BBC sent
three vans -a scanner with the camera's, a van housing the
transmitter and another with a generator. However, the coverage was
completely overshadowed when the cameras swung round to capture
Queen Mary entering the Royal Box.

The Boat Race (April 2nd 1938) and the FA Cup Final (April 30th 1938)
and Test Match cricket (June 24th 1938), were also available to
viewers in the comfort of their own homes for the first time. The next
truly historic occasion to be broadcast on television occurred on
September 30th 1938 when Richard Dimbleby was at Heston Airport
to report for both radio and television on Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain's return after his historic Munich meeting with Adolf
Hitler. It was here that Chamberlain made his "peace in our time"
announcement. A year later Britain was at war with Germany

By now the corporation were taking great strides in television


development. Not only were there improvements in picture quality
with the introduction of EMI's Super Emitron/

By 1939 programmes were being broadcast seven days a week from


Alexandra Palace -which Gracie Fields had nicknamed 'Ally Pally'.
There were 23,000 licences and the television industry now had its
own slogan. "You can't shut your eyes to it." Predictions were made
(not unrealistically) that by Christmas there could be as many as
80,000 receivers in use.

Eustace Robb put out the 30-line "low definition" television


programmes, which were really the first BBC sound and vision
broadcasts.
It was now the BBC's job to find a site for the first Television Station,
and it selected Alexandra Palace. Six miles from Charing Cross, the
Palace sprawls along an emparked hilltop, 306 feet above sea level,
over the suburbs of Wood Green and Muswell Hill, for the benefit of
whose populace it was erected as an entertainment and exhibition
centre

The official start to television service


The BBC decided that the official start to the Television Service proper
should be on November 2 1936, and it laid down the red carpets at
Alexandra Palace and had the thing done in style, with an opening
ceremony before the cameras performed by a strangely mixed
company
Lord Selsdon, judicial chairman of the Government's television
committee, the Post Master General, and the chairman of the BBC
governors were joined by Adele Dixon, singing, and by a coloured pair
known as Buck and Bubbles, dancing

There is a popular misconception that at midday on 1st September


1939, in the middle of the Mickey Mouse cartoon Touchdown
Mickey, BBC Television suddenly went off the air in mid broadcast
and didn't return until the end of the Second World War, restarting
with the same cartoon.
However, there is a document in existence at the BBC Archive
microfilm library at Caversham, which was discovered by Television
Heaven contributor Malcolm Bachelor. The document is a broadcast
log called a 'PasB' (Programme as Broadcast) and gives the precise
running order for 1 September as was actually transmitted and not as
publicised in the Radio Times.

When BBC television returned after the War, at 3pm, 7 June, 1946,
Jasmine Bligh kicked off the resumption of television broadcasting
with all the quiet stiff deportment of a BBC presenter and said to
viewers, "Good afternoon everybody. How are you? Do you remember
me, Jasmine Bligh...?" The BBC did not begin immediately with the
Mickey Mouse cartoon. It was, however, broadcast from the very
beginning some twenty minutes into programming.

Common questions

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Alexandra Palace played a crucial role in the development of early television broadcasting in the UK by serving as the site for the first regular high-definition television service. Chosen for its advantageous location, high on a hill, it allowed for effective signal transmission across London and surrounding areas. The facility housed essential broadcasting equipment and studios that enabled the BBC to conduct regular programming. This choice was instrumental in covering important historical broadcasts, such as the 1937 coronation of King George VI and significant sporting events. Alexandra Palace became a symbol of the BBC's pioneering advances in broadcasting technology .

The BBC's charter guidelines are designed to maintain its independence and uphold its commitment to public service broadcasting. The charter prohibits the BBC from airing advertisements or sponsored content, which prevents commercial influence over programming. It mandates impartiality in current affairs and public policy, ensuring objective reporting and public trust. The charter also obligates the BBC to provide diverse content across different platforms. The independence from direct government control is reinforced by the appointment of the BBC Trust members by the British monarch, which provides a buffer against political pressures, while its accountability to Parliament ensures public oversight .

The evolution of the BBC's broadcast content from its inception involved significant diversification from primarily radio programming to the inclusion of television and international broadcasts. Initially, the BBC focused on radio as a point-to-point communication service, advancing to a public service model in 1927. With the launch of television in 1936, its content began to include news, entertainment, and live event coverage. Post-World War II, the BBC expanded television services with improved technology and additional channels like BBC2. The launch of the BBC World Service extended its reach globally, broadcasting in over 40 languages. Television series such as 'Doctor Who' gained international popularity, showcasing the BBC's ability to engage audiences worldwide .

Before World War II, the BBC innovated with high-definition broadcasts from Alexandra Palace, covering major events and launching regular programming. However, challenges arose with the onset of World War II, which led to the suspension of television services to avoid being used as a navigational aid for enemy bombers. This suspension lasted from 1939 to 1946. Post-war, broadcasting resumed with technological advancements such as improved picture quality and regular programming. The BBC had to rebuild its audience and infrastructure, but successfully continued its public service mission with expanded programming, demonstrating resilience and adaptability in the face of global conflict .

The BBC’s interaction with John Logie Baird's innovations was pivotal in shaping television broadcasting. Baird pioneered television technology with his disc-scanning equipment. Initially, the BBC was critical of Baird’s system due to quality concerns but recognized the potential for public broadcasting and collaborated with him by providing studio facilities on London’s South Bank and later at Portland Place. This partnership allowed for experimentation and development of television, ultimately guiding the development of a more robust broadcasting system. Although Baird’s system was later replaced by Marconi-EMI’s higher definition standard, his work laid essential groundwork for television broadcasting .

The transition of the BBC to a public corporation in 1927 was driven by a parliamentary committee’s recommendation to dissolve its predecessor, the British Broadcasting Company. This move was propelled by the need for a broadcasting entity that served the public interest rather than commercial imperatives. The BBC's establishment as a public corporation was significant as it held a monopoly over all phases of broadcasting in Britain. This monopoly allowed it to pioneer radio and television broadcasting, setting standards for programming content focused on public service, education, and unbiased reporting. The public corporation model influenced other countries, establishing the BBC as a global leader in broadcasting .

To ensure wide coverage and success in television broadcasting, the BBC employed several strategies including the strategic placement of broadcast transmitters like the one at Alexandra Palace, which provided extensive reach across London and surrounding counties. The BBC also invested in high-definition transmission technologies, alternating between systems like Baird's and Marconi-EMI's to test their effectiveness. Additionally, the BBC assembled a skilled production team, developed diverse programming, and conducted regular broadcasts to build a robust schedule that would engage a broad audience. These measures facilitated the establishment of television as a staple medium in British households .

John Reith, serving as the general manager from 1922 and later as director general from 1927 to 1938, was instrumental in developing the BBC's public service broadcasting model. Reith's vision emphasized providing comprehensive, impartial news coverage and education to serve the public interest, which established the foundation for the BBC’s broadcasting approach. His influence led to the establishment of radio broadcasting throughout the British Isles and the commencement of the world's first regular television service in 1936. Reith's ideals shaped the BBC's operations and set a standard for public broadcasting that impacted many other countries .

The introduction of commercial broadcasting had significant impacts on the BBC's policies and operations, leading to the end of its television monopoly following the Television Act of 1954. This legislation allowed for the creation of commercial channels, which introduced competition and compelled the BBC to adapt by diversifying its programming and enhancing service quality to maintain audience share. Despite these pressures, the BBC upheld its public service model without advertisements, funded by television licensing fees. The advent of commercial broadcasting necessitated a balance between innovation in content delivery and adherence to its original charter-mandated objectives of impartiality and public service .

The essential technological advancements necessary for the BBC's television broadcasting service were the development of high-definition television systems and broadcasting infrastructure. The BBC adopted two high-definition systems, Baird's 240-line system and Marconi-EMI's 405-line system, to initially alternate broadcasts. The service required a definition of not less than 240 lines and 25 pictures per second. The selection of Alexandra Palace, positioned ideally for broadcasting across London, was critical. Additionally, the assembly of a skilled team for programme production and the use of technological facilities such as television studios were fundamental in initiating the service .

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