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==Description and history==
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
▲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 simulcast 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]]. 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 [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Albert Camus]], and [[Laurence Olivier|Sir Laurence Olivier]].
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