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<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center; padding: 10px 0 10px 0;"></td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right;">Type</th><td>Radio network</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right;">Country</th><td>United Kingdom</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right;">Availability</th><td>International</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right;">Owner</th><td>BBC</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right;">Key people</th><td>Nigel Chapman (Head of World Service)</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right;">Launch date</th><td>1925</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right;">Website</th><td>http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice</td></tr>

BBC World Service

The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters of radio programming, transmitting in 33 languages to many parts of the world. The English service broadcasts 24 hours a day. In May 2006 the BBC reported that the World Service's average weekly audience had reached 163 million people, beating the previous record of 153 million listeners set in 2001.<ref>BBC World Service hits new record. BBC.</ref> Unlike the BBC's main radio and television services, which are primarily funded by a licence fee which is compulsory for every household in the United Kingdom with a television set, the World Service is funded by the British Government through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office<ref>BBC World Service (BBCWS), The UK's Voice around the World. BBC.</ref>. The current head of the World Service is Nigel Chapman.

Contents 1 Mission 2 Statistics and languages 3 History 4 Transmission 4.1 Europe 4.2 North America and Australasia 4.3 UK 4.4 Falkland Islands 5 World Service Television 6 Interval signals 7 News 8 Foreign Language Broadcasting 9 References 10 External links

[edit] Mission

According to the World Service, its aim is to "be the world's best-known and most-respected voice in international broadcasting, thereby bringing benefit to Britain".<ref>"Annual Review 2004/2005", BBC News, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-05-22.</ref>

The UK Government spent £225 million on the World Service in 2005. This spending of the British taxpayers' money by the Government was justified by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1985. According to Hansard, the journal of the British Parliament, in an answer to a question in the House of Commons Mrs Thatcher said: "The World Service earns every penny we put into it, by promoting our world-view and policy, It has done so in the past and will continue to do so in the future".^{[citation needed]}

The BBC is a Crown Corporation of the British Government, but operates independently of the government. There is no direct control of the BBC by the British Government. The World Service does, however, promote the British point of view and foreign policy. Examples of this are the coverage of the Suez Crisis in July 1956, its coverage of the Falklands War from April to June 1982, and its coverage of the handover of Britain's former colony of Hong Kong in 1997.^{[citation needed]}

The BBC World Service is widely respected in parts of the world where the media is not free.^{[citation needed]} With the BBC’s powerful transmitters broadcasting in the local language, the BBC World Service can be the only source of reliable news not manipulated by the local government. This is the strategy that the BBC adopted successfully, to become a widely respected broadcaster in the Third World and during the Cold War amongst the former countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. However, in 2005 the BBC scrapped many of its Eastern European language services, including its hugely popular Polish service, and others in order to enhance funding to its Middle Eastern service, arguing that they were in decline after the end of censorship<ref>"BBC East Europe voices silenced", BBC News, 21 December 2005. Retrieved on 2006-05-22.</ref>.

[edit] Statistics and languages

The following audience estimates are from research conducted in 2004 by independent market research agencies on behalf of the BBC:

Language	2004	2006
English	39 million	44 million
Hindi	16.1 million	21 million
Urdu	10.4 million	12 million
Arabic	12.4 million	16 million

In Africa and the Middle East the service broadcasts to 66 million listeners, of which 18.7 million are in English.

Besides English, the BBC World Service currently broadcasts in Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Burmese, Caribbean English, Cantonese, French, Hausa, Hindi [1], Indonesian, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese for Africa and Brazil, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, and Vietnamese.

The German broadcasts were stopped in March 1999 after 60 years, as research showed that the majority of German listeners tuned into the English version. Broadcasts in Dutch, Finnish, French for Europe, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Malay were stopped for similar reasons.

On 25 October 2005 it was announced that the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai language radio services would end by March 2006 in order to finance the launch of an Arabic language TV news channel in 2007.

[edit] History

The BBC's first shortwave transmissions were broadcast in 1925 from Borough Hill, Daventry. BBC shortwave programming began as BBC Empire Service on December 19, 1932, broadcasting particularly to Australia.

On January 31938 the first foreign language service (Arabic) was launched. German programmes started shortly before the start of WW2 and by the end of 1942 broadcasts were being made in all major European languages.

The World Service gained a special position in world broadcasting during the Second World War as it broadcast news to a wide range of audiences. The German Service, created on March 29, 1938 and discontinued in 1999, played an important part in the propaganda war against Nazi Germany. The authoritative source on the BBC's German Service is Carl Brinitzer's book "Hier spricht London". Brinitzer, a German lawyer from Hamburg living in exile in London, was a founding member.

After a landmine damaged the service's original home Broadcasting House on December 8 1940, the European Service moved to Bush House; the rest of the Overseas Service followed in 1958. It is planned that the World Service will return to Broadcasting House in 2008 when the BBC's lease on Bush House expires and new facilities at Broadcasting House become available.

In August 1985, the service went off the air for the first time ever. Workers were striking in protest at the British government's decision to ban a documentary featuring an interview with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin.

In March 2006, ten language services were shut in order to make financial savings. These savings will be used to pay for BBC Arabic Television, an arabic TV service aimed at the middle east.

[edit] Transmission

News and other programming from the BBC World Service is frequently relayed by local stations around the world, and it is regarded by some as the world's premier radio news source. In addition, the World Service provides educational, drama, and sports programming. A special use of the World Service has been emergency messages to British subjects abroad, such as the order to evacuate Jordan during the Black September incidents of September 1970.

BBC World Service is available as a Free to Air channel on WorldSpace satellite radio. Both a live stream and an archive of previous programmes are available worldwide on the Internet.

[edit] Europe

The World Service uses a mediumwave transmitter at Orford Ness to provide coverage to Europe, including on the frequency 648 kHz (which can be heard in the south-east of England). Shortwave transmitters are located in the United Kingdom (at Rampisham, Woofferton and Skelton), Antigua, Ascension Island, United States, Singapore, Cyprus, and other locations. In addition, the World Service provides specialist programming to the Caribbean. Since the 1990s the World Service has also increasingly used satellite broadcasting as a means to deliver its signals to its overseas transmitters and to home dish owners in several countries.

In 2005 the BBC World Service commenced regular transmissions via the DRM format to Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and adjacent areas on 1296kHz and DRM shortwave frequencies across Europe.<ref>BBC Launches DRM Service In Europe. BBC World Service (2005-09-07). Retrieved on 2006-11-15.</ref>

[edit] North America and Australasia

According to the BBC, "changing listening habits" led the World Service to end shortwave radio transmission directed to North America and Australasia on July 1 2001.<ref>[2],Pages 1--136 from BBC AR Cover 03.</ref> A shortwave listener coalition formed to oppose the change.<ref>http://www.savebbc.org/press/6_june_2001.html</ref> Currently, both XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio rebroadcast the World Service over commercial satellite radio to Canada and the United States,<ref>http://www.xmradio.com/newsroom/screen/press_release_1999_07_26.html</ref> and NPR stations often carry World Service news broadcasts over AM and FM radio. It is possible to receive the Caribbean and Western African shortwave radio broadcasts from eastern North America, but the BBC does not guarantee reception in this area.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/schedules/010119_namerica.shtml</ref> However, BBC World Service is available as part of the commercial Foxtel Digital Air package on cable and satellite in Australia, and various programs can be heard on the ABC's NewsRadio.

[edit] UK

After the British domestic radio station BBC Radio 4 ceases broadcasting at 1am British time, the World Service is broadcast on all Radio 4 frequencies overnight, including 198 kHz longwave which can be heard in parts of continental Europe.

The World Service's output has recently been made more widely available in the UK — the service is now carried on DAB, Freeview and Sky Digital, as well as being available on 648MW in many parts of the UK.

[edit] Falkland Islands

It has recently ended its specialist programming to the Falkland Islands but continues to provide a stream of World Service programming to the Falkland Islands Radio Service. <ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/02_february/23/falklands.shtml</ref>

[edit] World Service Television

Main article: BBC World Service Television

In 1991 BBC World Service Television launched on satellite, split in 1995 into commercial stations BBC World and BBC Prime.

[edit] Interval signals

The interval signal of the BBC World Service in English is the Bow Bells, a recording made in 1926. Introduced as a symbol of hope during the Second World War, it is still used preceding many (though not all) English language broadcasts today. Though for a few years in the 1970s, Oranges and Lemons was used as the interval, the Bow Bells were soon reintroduced.

January 1941 saw the beginning of the Morse code letter "V" as an interval signal. The interval signal had several variations including timpani, the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (which coincide with the letter "V"), and electronic tones which are still in use today for some Western European services.

The World Service's classic signature tune Lillibullero is broadcast just before the top of many hours, followed by the Greenwich Time Signal (five short and one long pips) and the hourly news. Modern trailers featuring a variety of international broadcasting centres sometimes replace Lillibullero entirely on themed weeks. Until fairly recently, the hourly sequence was preceded by the announcement "This is London" — it is now followed by a more promotional "Wherever you are, however you listen, this is the BBC" or "With world news every half hour, this is the BBC". In recent months, Lillibulero has been shortened by extra trailers. In other languages, the interval signal is three notes, pitched B-B-C. The exception is the non-English services to Europe, which have an interval signal of four notes, B-B-B-E, in the rhythm of the Morse code letter "V". GMT is announced on the hour on the English service, e. g. "13 hours Greenwich Mean Time" is said at 1300 GMT. 0000 GMT is announced as "midnight Greenwich Mean Time". Sometimes, however, "Greenwich Mean Time" is abbreviated to GMT when the hour is announced.

[edit] News

The core feature of much World Service scheduling is the news. This is almost always transmitted at one minute past the hour, where there is a five minute long bulletin, and on the half hour where there is a two minute summary. Sometimes these bulletins are separated from the programmes being transmitted, whilst at other times they are integral to the programme (such as with World Briefing, Newshour or The World Today).

[edit] Foreign Language Broadcasting

History of BBC World Service Language Broadcasting Services (sorted by Language)

Language	Start Date	Stop Date	Restart Date
Arabic	1936	-	-
Chinese-Cantonese	1968 (not verified)	-	-
Chinese-Mandarin	1968 (not verified)	-	-
Czech	1942 (see Slovak)	25 March 2005	-
Danish	1942	4 March 1961	-
Dutch	1942	4 March 1961	-
English	25 December 1936	-	-
English (Caribbean)	25 December 1976	-	-
Finnish	December 1942	29 January 1955	-
French	25 December 1940	-	-
German	1939	25 March 1999	-
Hindi	11 May 1940 BBC Hindi	-	-
Hungarian	January 1941	25 March 2005	-
Japanese	1948	25 March 1992	-
Italian	January 1941	4 March 1961	-
Malay	1956 (Malaya Crisis)	4 March 1980	-
Norwegian	1941	4 March 1961	-
Polish	January 1941	25 November 2005	-
Portuguese-Brasil	6 July 1941	25 March 1991	2004
Russian	January 1941	-	-
Slovak	January 1941	25 March 1991	-
Spanish	6 July 1936	-	-
Swedish	1941	4 March 1961	-
Thai	1941	1 January 2006 (not verified)	-
Ukrainian	September 1952	-	-
Vietnamese	6 January 1952	-	-
Welsh (to Patagonia)	1946	1947 (1946 exclusive?)	-

Sources

• History of International Broadcasting (IEEE), Volume I. (James Woods, BSEE)
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/languages/

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Please expand this article. Further information might be found in a section of the talk page or at Requests for expansion.

For a comparison of BBCWS to other broadcasters see External total direct programme hours per week of some external radio broadcasters:

	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	1996
United States of America	497	1495	1907	1901	2611	1821
Chinese People's Republic	66	687	1267	1350	1515	1620
United Kìngdom (BBC)	643	589	723	719	796	1036
Russia/USSR	533	1015	1908	2094	1876	726
German Federal Republic	0	315	779	804	GDR abolished
Egypt	0	301	540	546	605	604
Iran	12	24	155	175	400	575
India	116	157	271	389	456	500
Japan	0	203	259	259	343	468
France	198	326	200	125	379	459
Netherlands	127	178	335	289	323	392
Israel	0	91	158	210	253	365
Turkey	40	77	88	199	322	364
North Korea	0	159	330	597	534	364
Bulgaria	30	117	164	236	320	338
Australia	181	257	350	333	330	307
Albania	26	63	487	560	451	303
Romania	30	159	185	198	199	298
Spain	68	202	251	239	403	270
PortugaI	46	133	295	214	203	226
Cuba	0	0	320	424	352	203
Italy	170	205	165	169	181	203
Canada	85	80	98	134	195	175
Poland	131	232	334	337	292	171
South Africa	0	63	150	183	156	159
Sweden	28	114	140	155	167	149
Hungay	16	120	105	127	102	144
Czech Republic	119	196	202	255	131	131
Nigeria	0	0	62	170	120	127
Yugoslavia	80	70	76	72	96	68

Notes

Source: International Broadcast Audience Research, June 1996.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BBC World Service at bbc.co.uk
• BBC World Service - Languages at bbc.co.uk
• Evolution of BBC broadcasting languages

BBC Radio stations
FM/AM: Radio 1 | Radio 2 | Radio 3 | Radio 4 | Radio Five Live
Digital: 6 Music | BBC 7 | 1Xtra | Five Live Sports Extra | Asian Network
Nations: Radio Scotland | Radio nan Gàidheal | Radio Wales | Radio Cymru | Radio Ulster | Radio Foyle
English Regions: BBC Local Radio
International: BBC World Service

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