When it started on [[29 September]] [[1946]] itthe Third Programme broadcast for 5six hours a night, from 7pm6.00 pm to midnight, butalthough its durationoutput was cut from 40to hours a week tojust 24 hours a week infrom October [[1957]], forwith athe fewearly years,part of weekday evenings being given over to educational programming (known as "Network 3"). This situation continued until the launch, on [[22 March]] [[1965]], of the [[BBC Music Programme]], thenwhich frombegan 7amregular todaily midnightbroadcasts (althoughof classical music between 7.00 am and 6.30 pm daily (with onlysome theinterruptions eveningfor outputlive brandedsports ascoverage) on the Network 3 / "Third Programme") frequencies. The Third Programme itself continued as a separatedistinct evening service, onand this continued to be the samecase frequencyfor a short while after the inception of Radio 3 in 1967,butuntil wasall the elements of the BBC's "third network" were finally absorbed into Radio 3 in April 1970.
ItsThe Third's 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]]. In actuality its existence went against Reithian principles, as [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|Reith]] himself had, during his time at the BBC, been against 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." When it faced cuts in 1957, 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 network's productions of European drama.
