BBC Third Programme: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|Former British national radio station (1946–1967)}}

The '''BBC Third Programme''' was the third national radio network broadcast by the [[BBC]], has since become '''[[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]]''', but was originally known (at least within the BBC) as '''C'''. The other two were the [[Home Service]] (mainly speech based) and the [[BBC Light Programme|Light Programme]], dedicated to light music, usually cover versions of popular music of the day played by the "in-house" BBC orchestras. The Home Service is now known as [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] and the [[Light Programme]] is [[BBC Radio 2|Radio 2]]. After the death of [[Henry Wood (conductor)|Sir Henry Wood]] the BBC stepped in to sponsor his [[The Proms|Promenade concerts]], carrying them live every night on the Third Programme.

{{more footnotes|date=August 2011}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2020}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

{{Infobox broadcasting network

| name = BBC Third Programme

| image = BBC Broadcasting House 532073098.jpg

| image_size = 220

| image_alt = A photograph of Broadcasting House showing the art deco styling of the main facade was made from Portland stone.

| caption = The Third Programme headquarters was at [[Broadcasting House]] in [[London]].

| country = [[United Kingdom]]

| headquarters = [[Broadcasting House]], London, England

| radiostations = 647 [[kHz]], 1547 kHz

| owner = [[BBC]]

| established = {{Start date and age|1946|09|29|df=y}}

| dissolved = {{End date and age|1967|09|29|df=y}}

| replaced_by = [[BBC Radio 3]]

}}

The '''BBC Third Programme''' was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by [[BBC Radio 3]]. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in [[Great Britain|Britain]], playing an important role in disseminating the arts, broadcasting music (mainly [[classical music|classical]]), plays, documentary features and talks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hewison |first=Robert |year=1995 |title=Culture and Consensus: England, Art and Politics Since 1940 |page=55 |publisher=[[Methuen Publishing]] |___location=London |isbn=0-413-69060-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHDbCQAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> It was the [[BBC]]'s third national radio network, the other two being the [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] (mainly speech-based) and the [[BBC Light Programme|Light Programme]], principally devoted to [[light entertainment]] and [[light music|music]].

Initially it broadcast for 5 hours a night from 7pm to midnight, but were actually cut by an hour in [[1957]] for a few years, until the launch of the Music Programme, then from 7am to midnight (although with only the evening output branded as "Third Programme"). The Third Programme continued as a separate evening service on the same frequency after the inception of Radio 3 in 1967, but was absorbed into Radio 3 in April 1970. It was the first station to multifrequency on 909 kHz ([[Medium frequency|MF]]) and 90.0 to 92.5 MHz ([[FM radio|FM]]).

==History==

Its existence was controversial from the start, partly because of perceived "elitism"-it was sometimes criticised for programmes of "two [[Academia|dons]] talking" and also for the costs of output relative to a small listener [[Reach|reach]]. In actuality its existence went against Reithian principles, as [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|Reith]] himself had, during his time at the BBC, been againt segmenting audiences by splitting programming genres across different networks. From the first it did have some prominent supporters; the [[Secretary of State for Education and Skills|Education Secretary]] in the [[Clement Attlee|Attlee]] government, [[Ellen Wilkinson]], spoke rather optimistically of creating a "third programme nation."

{{Further|Timeline of BBC Radio 3}}

When it started in 1946, the Third Programme broadcast for six hours each evening from 6.00 pm to midnight, although its output was cut to just 24 hours a week from October 1957, with the early part of weekday evenings being given over to educational programming (known as "Network Three"). The frequencies were also used during daytime hours to broadcast complete ball-by-ball commentary on [[Test cricket|test match cricket]], under the title ''[[Test Match Special]]''.

ItsThe Third's existence was controversial from the startbeginning, partly because of perceived "elitism"- – it was sometimes criticised for broadcasting programmes of "two [[Academia|dons]] talking" – and also for the costscost of its output relative to a small listener [[Reachreach (advertising)|reach]]. In actuality itsIts existence wentwas against Reithianthe corporation's founding principles, as [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|Reith]] himself had, during his time at the BBC, been againtagainst segmenting audiences by splitting programming genres across different networks. From the firststart, though, it did have somehad prominent supporters;: the [[Secretary of State for Education and Skills|Education Secretary]] in the [[Clement Attlee|Attlee]] government, [[Ellen Wilkinson]], spoke rather optimistically of creating a "third programme nation.". When it faced those 1957 cuts, the Third Programme Defence Society was formed and its leaders included [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Albert Camus]], and [[Laurence Olivier|Sir Laurence Olivier]].

The network was dedicated to the discerning or "high-brow" listener providing serious classical music, concerts and plays as well as room for modern composers, and jazz. Speech formed a much higher proportion of output than the later Radio 3. Particularly notable in its drama productions were the radio plays of [[Samuel Beckett]] and the [[Hilda Tablet]] plays by [[Henry Reed]]. [[Martin Esslin]] was particularly associated with the networks productions of european drama.

This situation continued until the launch on 22 March 1965 of the BBC Music Programme, which began regular daily broadcasts of [[classical music]] (with some interruptions for live sports coverage) on the Network Three / Third Programme frequencies between 7.00 am and 6.30 pm on weekdays, 8.00 am and 12.30 pm on Saturdays, and 8.00 am and 5.00 pm on Sundays. The Third Programme continued as a distinct evening service, and this continued to be the case for a short while after the inception of [[BBC Radio 3]] on 30 September 1967, before all the elements of the BBC's "third network" were finally absorbed into Radio 3 with rebranding effect from Saturday 4 April 1970.

The Third Programme is still much missed by older listeners, who often assert that its replacement by Radio 3 was a retrograde step.

==SomeOutput ofand its Announcersprogramming==

The network was broadly cultural, a [[F.R. Leavis|Leavisite]] experiment dedicated to the discerning or "high-brow" listener from an educated, minority audience. Its founders' aims were seen as promoting "something fundamental to our civilisation" and as contributing to "the refinement of society".<ref>{{cite book |last=Carpenter |first=Humphrey |date=1996 |title=The Envy of the World: Fifty Years of the Third Programme and Radio Three |publisher=[[Weidenfeld and Nicolson]] |___location=London |isbn=0-7538-0250-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYLHQgAACAAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2020}} Its musical output provided a wide range of serious [[classical music]] and live concerts, as well as contemporary composers and [[jazz]]; popular classical music such as [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]] primarily remained on the [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] until 1964. Voice formed a much higher proportion of its output than the later Radio 3, with specially commissioned plays, poetry readings, talks and documentaries. Nationally known intellectuals such as [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[Isaiah Berlin]] on philosophy or [[Fred Hoyle]] on cosmology were regular contributors.

*[[Christopher Pemberton]]

*[[Alvar Lidell]]

The network became a principal patron of the arts, within commissioned many music works for broadcast by the BBC Music Department, playing an important role in the development of the career of composers such as [[Benjamin Britten]]. Particularly notable were its drama productions, including the radio plays of [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Henry Reed (poet)|Henry Reed]] (the [[Hilda Tablet]] plays), [[Harold Pinter]], [[Wyndham Lewis]], [[Joe Orton]] and [[Dylan Thomas]], whose ''[[Under Milk Wood]]'' was written specially for the programme. [[Philip O'Connor]] discovered [[Quentin Crisp]] in his radio interviews in 1963. The series ''[[Inventions for Radio]]'' aired in 1964 and 1965, with [[sound collage]]s by [[Delia Derbyshire]] of the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=David |url=https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/156080096/Inventing_for_Radio_Revised_Shorter_Dutch_Cut.pdf |title=The Origins of Certain Lives: The Development, Reception and Influence of the 'Inventions for Radio' by Barry Bermange and Delia Derbyshire |journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television |date=4 December 2019 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=823–846 |doi=10.1080/01439685.2019.1697034}}</ref> [[Martin Esslin]], BBC Director of Drama (Radio), was associated with the network's productions of [[Europe]]an drama, and [[Douglas Cleverdon]] with its productions of poetry and radio plays.

*[[Patrick Butler]]

The Third Programme's contribution to contemporary poetry and criticism was significant, under producers and presenters such as [[John Wain]], [[Ludovic Kennedy]], [[George MacBeth]] and [[Patrick Dickinson]]. It promoted young writers such as [[Philip Larkin]] and [[Kingsley Amis]], as well as the "difficult" work of [[David Jones (poet)|David Jones]] and [[Laura Riding]]. The Third Programme was for many years the single largest source of [[copyright]] payments to poets.

The decision to close down the Third Programme was opposed by many within the BBC, some of them senior figures. Within the music division, a "BBC rebellion" gathered force, with its most vocal members including [[Hans Keller]] and [[Robert Simpson (composer)|Robert Simpson]]. Ultimately however, the attempt to prevent the culture-conscious Third being replaced by what Keller called "a daytime music station" proved unsuccessful.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

===Controllers===

{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}

* 1946–1948: [[George Barnes (BBC controller)|George Barnes]]

* 1948–1952: [[Harman Grisewood]]

* 1953–1958: [[John Morris (anthropologist)|John Morris]]

* 1959–1967: [[P. H. Newby|Howard Newby]]

{{Div col end}}

===Announcers===

{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}

*[[ Patrick Butler]]

* [[Patricia Hughes (radio presenter)|Patricia Hughes]]

* [[Alvar Lidell]]

*[[ Christopher Pemberton]]

* [[Philip O'Connor]]

{{Div col end}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

* [https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=pdf/mss0332.pdf BBC Third Programme Scripts catalogue] The collection of [[Douglas Cleverdon]], a leading talks and drama producer for the Third, at the University of Delaware Library.

* {{BBC Online|id=radio3/classical/thirdprogramme/|title=The Third Programme {{endash}} 60 Years On}}

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