BBC Third Programme: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:34, 20 August 2006

Revision as of 22:00, 30 August 2006

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When it started on 29 September [[1946]] it broadcast for 5 hours a night from 7pm to midnight, but its duration was cut from 40 hours a week to 24 hours a week 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]]).

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 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 Defense Society was formed and its leaders included [[TS_EliotTS Eliot|T. S. Eliot]], [[Albert_Camus|Albert Camus]], and [[Laurence_OlivierLaurence 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.

The Third Programme is still much missed by older listeners, who often assert that its replacement by Radio 3 was a retrograde step. Some of its high-minded mission has arguably been taken up on television by [[BBC_4BBC 4|BBC Four]], which fittingly commissioned and broadcast a documentary about the programme's rise and fall.

==Some of its Announcers==

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==References==

* Carpenter, Humphrey. ''"The Envy of the World: Fifty Years of the Third Programme and Radio Three"'' , Weidenfeld & Nicholson , (November 10, 1997) , ISBN 07538025030-7538-0250-3.

==External links==