BBC Third Programme: Difference between revisions
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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. |
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. |
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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 |
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 Defence Society was formed and its leaders included [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Albert Camus]], and [[Laurence Olivier|Sir Laurence Olivier]]. |
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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 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. |
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Revision as of 13:37, 1 April 2007
The BBC Third Programme was the third national radio network broadcast by the BBC, founded in 1946 and subsequently incorporated, in 1970, into BBC Radio 3. The other two were the Home Service (mainly speech based) and the 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 Radio 4 and the Light Programme is Radio 2. After the death of Sir Henry Wood the BBC stepped in to sponsor his Promenade concerts, carrying them live every night on the Third Programme.
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.
Its existence was controversial from the start, partly because of perceived "elitism" - it was sometimes criticised for programmes of "two dons talking" and also for the costs of output relative to a small listener reach. In actuality its existence went against Reithian principles, as 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 Education Secretary in the 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 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 Four, which fittingly commissioned and broadcast a documentary about the programme's rise and fall.
References
- Carpenter, Humphrey. "The Envy of the World: Fifty Years of the Third Programme and Radio Three" , Weidenfeld & Nicolson , (November 10, 1997) , ISBN 0-7538-0250-3.
Some of its announcers
See also
- For the sequence of Controllers of the Third Programme, see the list on the page relating to BBC Radio 3.
- List of BBC related topics
External links
- 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.
- The Envy of the World: Fifty Years of the Third Programme and Radio Three by Humphrey Carpenter
- 60th anniversary
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