BBC Radio 4
Broadcast area	UK - National
First air date	30 September 1967
Frequency	FM: 92 MHz - 95 MHz LW: 198 kHz MW: various DAB: 12B Freeview: 704 Virgin Media: 904 Sky Digital: 0104 UPC Ireland: 910 Internet: Streaming Audio Real/WM
Format	News & Speech
Owner	BBC
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

old Radio 4 logo

BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It was created out of the old BBC Home Service in 1967.^[1] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... FreQuency is a music video game developed by Harmonix and published by SCEI. It was released in November 2001. ... In telecommunications, frequency modulation (FM) conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Mediumwave radio transmissions (sometimes called Medium frequency or MF) are those between the frequencies of 300 kHz and 3000 kHz. ... Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), also known as Eureka 147, is a technology for broadcasting of audio using digital radio transmission. ... Freeview is the operator of free digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom, using the DVB-T standard. ... Virgin Media Inc. ... Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcastings digital satellite television service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28. ... UPC Ireland N.V. is Liberty Global Europes operation in Ireland. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Speech communication is the aural form of transferring ideas, thoughts, instructions and/or directives utilizing the speakers vocal chords and mouth to stimulate the air, thus causing waves of sound to strike the audible receptors of the hearer, resulting in a transformation back into mental images and/or symbols... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... Image File history File links R4logo. ... Image File history File links R4logo. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... The word comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humor with an intent to provoke laughter in general). ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... The title page to The Historians History of the World. ... The BBC Home Service was the original name for Radio 4 and was on the air from 1939 until 30 September 1967. ...

Outline

Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station after Radio 2 and was awarded "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2004 Sony Radio Academy Awards for the second year running.^[2] Costing £71.4 million (2005/6),^[3] it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by some to be the corporation's flagship channel. There is no comparable UK commercial network. A radio station is an audio (sound) broadcasting service, traditionally broadcast through the air as radio waves (a form of electromagnetic radiation) from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. ... The Sony Radio Academy Awards (the Sonys), started in 1983, are some of the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. ...

The current controller of Radio 4 is Mark Damazer. The previous controller was Helen Boaden who is the current head of BBC News. The most famous — and controversial — controller in recent years was James Boyle. Mark Damazer (1955-) is the controller of Radio 4 and BBC 7 in the United Kingdom. ... Helen Boaden is the current director of BBC News and Current Affairs. ... BBC News is the department within the BBC responsible for the corporations news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ... James Boyle is one of the leading public figures in the British arts world, with a long track record in broadcasting in particular. ...

Music and sport are the only fields that fall outside the station's remit. There are occasional concerts and ball-by-ball commentaries of most test matches played by England cricket are broadcast on longwave. Because the longwave service can be received clearly at sea in the vicinity of the British Isles, Radio 4 also carries regular weather forecasts for shipping and gale warnings. // Music is an art form consisting of sound and silence expressed through time. ... Test Match Special (known as TMS) is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (long wave), Five Live Sports Extra (digital) and the internet to the United Kingdom and (where broadcasting rights permit) the rest of the world, including Englands winter tours to Sri Lanka and New Zealand... A Test match between South Africa and England in January 2005. ... Bowler Shaun Pollock bowls to batsman Michael Hussey. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article describes the archipelago in north-Western Europe. ... The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. ...

The station is available on FM, LW, DAB, Digital TV (including Freeview), and on the Internet. The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an SI measure of length... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), also known as Eureka 147, is a technology for broadcasting of audio using digital radio transmission. ... Freeview is the operator of free digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom, using the DVB-T standard. ...

History

See also: BBC Home Service

The BBC Home Service was predecessor to Radio 4 and broadcast between 1939 and 1967. It had regional variations and was broadcast on medium wave with a network of VHF FM transmitters being added from 1955. Radio 4 replaced the Home Service on 30 September 1967, when the BBC renamed many of its domestic radio stations.^[1] It was temporarily replaced on FM between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991 with the continuous Gulf War news service. The BBC Home Service was the original name for Radio 4 and was on the air from 1939 until 30 September 1967. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Regional variations is a common term used in British television listings publications to show the different programmes broadcast in different areas of the country. ... Mediumwave radio transmissions (sometimes called Medium frequency or MF) are those between the frequencies of 300 kHz and 3000 kHz. ... Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. ... The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an SI measure of length... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an SI measure of length... is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 61st day of the year (62nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... Scud FM was the name given by the journalists to the BBC radio rolling news service that was on air during the first Gulf War from 16 January until 2 March 1991. ...

Programmes and schedules

Daily Schedule

Radio 4 splits from the BBC World Service at 0520, with a brief introduction from the early shift continuity announcer. The five-minute Radio 4 UK Theme (composed by Fritz Spiegl) would follow but was dropped in April 2006 after 33 years in favour of an extension to the early news bulletin,^[4][5] despite some public opposition^[6] and a campaign to save it.^[7] After a continuity link and programme trail there is a shipping forecast, weather reports from coastal stations for 0400GMT and inshore waters forecasts, followed at 0530 by a news bulletin, a review of British and international newspapers, and a business report. On weekdays, Farming Today, which deals with news of relevance to the agricultural sector, is followed by the Today programme which runs from 0600 to 0900. On or after the hour, a news bulletin is broadcast — this is sometimes a two minute summary, a longer piece as part of a current affairs programme, or a thirty minute broadcast on weekdays at 6pm and midnight. 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 examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The BBC Radio 4 UK Theme is a piece of music composed by Fritz Spiegl, played every morning on BBC Radio 4. ... Fritz Spiegl (27 January 1926 - 23 March 2003) was was born at Zurndorf, Austria, the son of an agricultural merchant and his Jewish wife. ... This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. ... Modern weather predictions aid in timely evacuations and potentially save lives and property damage Weather map of Europe, 10 December 1887 Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. ... Wall Street, Manhattan is the location of the New York Stock Exchange and is often used as a symbol for the world of business. ... Today, sometimes referred to as the Today programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4s long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, which is now broadcast from 6am to 9am from Monday to Friday and from 7am to 9am on Saturdays. ...

At 1200, FM has a four minute bulletin whilst longwave has the headlines and then the Shipping Forecast; for the same reason, longwave leaves the PM programme on weekdays at 1754. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it. ... The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. ... PM is an early evening (PM at five PM) news analysis, politics and current affairs programme on BBC Radio 4. ...

There is a news programme or bulletin (depending on the day) at 2200, then the midnight news at 0000, followed by (on weekdays) a repeat of Book of the Week. The tune Sailing By is then played until 0048, when the late shipping forecast is broadcast. Radio 4 ends with the national anthem, God Save the Queen and the World Service takes over from 0100 until 0520. UK Shipping map Sailing By is a short piece of light music composed by Ronald Binge, which is famous amongst British radio listeners. ... Publication of an early version in The Gentlemans Magazine, 15 October 1745. ... Logo of the BBC World Service The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters of radio programming, transmitting in 43 languages to around 150 million people throughout the world. ...

There is an online schedule page which lists the running-order of programmes.^[8]

Production

Many Radio 4 programmes are pre-recorded, although some programmes are transmitted live including daily programmes such as Today, magazine programme Woman's Hour, consumer affairs programme You and Yours, and music, film, books, arts and culture programme Front Row. Continuity is generally managed from BBC Broadcasting House whilst news bulletins (including the hourly summaries and longer programmes such as the Six O'Clock News and Midnight News) and news programmes (such as Today, The World at One, PM, etc.) are based at the BBC News Centre at Television Centre in White City. They moved there in 1998 when the News Centre was opened to house both radio and TV news.^[9] News is due to return to Broadcasting House in 2008.^[10] Today, sometimes referred to as the Today programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4s long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, which is now broadcast from 6am to 9am from Monday to Friday and from 7am to 9am on Saturdays. ... Womans Hour is a magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom. ... You and Yours is BBC Radio 4s consumer affairs programme. ... Front Row is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. ... Broadcasting House is also the name of a BBC Radio 4 programme. ... BBC Television Centre BBC Television Centre (sometimes abbreviated TVC or TC) in London is home to the vast majority of BBC television output and, since 1998, almost all of the corporations national TV and radio news output by BBC News. ... White City is a place in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London in England. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Greenwich Time Signal (known as 'the pips') is broadcast most hours, sometimes as part of a programme. Graph of the six pips The Greenwich Time Signal (abbreviated GTS) or BBC pips is a time code heard on some BBC radio stations at the start of the hour, most notably on Radio 4 and the World Service. ...

Programmes

Main article: List of BBC Radio 4 programmes

Most programmes are available as streaming audio from Radio 4's listen again page for a week after broadcast, although; RealPlayer is required to listen.^[11] A smaller selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files.^[12] The BBC has announced its intention to provide an online service provisionally called the BBC iPlayer which would let its license fee payers access a broader range of its audio and video.^[13] Current programmes and former programmes broadcast on BBC Radio 4. ... RealPlayer, briefly known also as RealOne Player, is a cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo formats. ... Podcasting is a way of publishing sound files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new audio files automatically. ... This article is about the computer terms. ... BBC iPlayer (formerly known as iMP, Integrated Media Player, Interactive Media Player, and MyBBCPlayer) is a computer programme being developed by the BBC to extend its existing RealPlayer-based Radio Player and other streamed video clip content. ...

Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives can now be heard on BBC 7. The original logo of BBC 7. ...

Continuity announcers and newsreaders

Announcers link programmes, read trails for programmes and read the Shipping Forecast. Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins.^[14][15]

Senior Announcers

• Chris Aldridge
• Harriet Cass

Newsreaders / Continuity Announcers Chris Aldridge is a newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4. ... Harriet Cass is one of two BBC Radio 4 senior announcers with responsibility for newsreaders and continuity. ...

• Alice Arnold
• Carolyn Brown
• Corrie Corfield
• Charlotte Green
• Annie McKie
• Rory Morrison
• Susan Rae
• Neil Sleat

Newsreaders (non-Today programme) / Continuity Announcers ≈Alice Arnold is a newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4. ... Carolyn Brown is a BBC Radio 4 newsreader and continuity announcer. ... Corrie Corfield (born 1961) is a BBC Radio 4 continuity announcer and newsreader, was born in Oxford but grew up near Stratford Upon Avon. ... Charlotte Green Charlotte Green is a British radio announcer and news reader for the BBCs Radio 4. ... Susan Rae is a newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4. ... Neil Sleat is a newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4. ...

• Charles Carroll
• David Miles
• Vaughan Savidge
• Kathy Clugston

Newsreaders (non-Today programme) David Miles is a continuity announcer and newsreader on BBC Radio 4. ... Vaughan Savidge (1956-) is a freelance newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4, also working on the World Service and BBC Radio 3. ... Kathy Clugston is a newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. ...

• Peter Donaldson
• Brian Perkins

Continuity Announcers Peter Donaldson is a main newsreader on BBC Radio 4. ... Brian Perkins (born 1943 in Wanganui, New Zealand) is a senior newsreader on BBC Radio 4. ...

• Peter Jefferson
• Jim Lee
• Caroline Nicholls
• Neil Nunes
• Howard Philpot
• Alan Smith
• Zebedee 'Zeb' Soanes
• Diana Speed

Former staff Peter Jefferson is a BBC Radio 4 continuity announcer. ... Jim Lee is a freelance continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4 and a newsreader and announcer at the BBC World Service. ... Neil Nunes is a continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service. ... Alan Smith (born )is a continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ...

• David Anderson (left to senior management, but covered during the May '05 strike)
• Andrew Crawford
• Astley Jones (left 2006)
• Pennie Latin (left 11/04)
• Patrick Muirhead (left 9/04)
• Laurie Macmillan (died 10/01)
• Andy Rushton (Test Match Special announcer 1998 - June 2007)
• Moira Stuart (left 1981 to TV)
• Anna Hill (left ~2000)
• Clive Roslin (left ~1990)

Astley Jones is a continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4. ... Patrick Muirhead is a former newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4. ... Laurie Macmillan (10th May 1947 - 8th October 2001) was a BBC Radio 4 newsreader and continuity announcer. ... Test Match Special (known as TMS) is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (long wave), Five Live Sports Extra (digital) and the internet to the United Kingdom and (where broadcasting rights permit) the rest of the world, including Englands winter tours to Sri Lanka and New Zealand... Moira Stuart OBE (born 1952) was the first Afro-Caribbean female newsreader on British television. ...

Frequencies and other means of reception

Radio 4 is broadcast on:^[16]

• 92-95 MHz FM
  • 95.8 MHz in central Scotland
  • 96 MHz in Greater Belfast^[17]
  • 103-104.5 MHz in parts of Wales and on 103.6 MHz in the Inverness area^[17]
• 198 kHz longwave
• Medium wave in some areas:
  • 720 kHz in London and Northern Ireland
• DAB
  • standard FM content
  • subsidiary LW content, where applicable
• Freeview channel 704 (FM only)^[18]
• the Internet^[19]
• satellite
  • Radio 4 FM: Sky channel 0104^[20]
  • Radio 4 LW: Sky channel 0143^[20]
• selected Cable television providers
• cable television
  • NTL Digital Cable channel 910 in Ireland

The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an SI measure of length... Greater Belfast is an area surrounding and including Belfast in Northern Ireland. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Mediumwave radio transmissions (sometimes called Medium frequency or MF) are those between the frequencies of 300 kHz and 3000 kHz. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Northern Ireland (Irish: ) is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ... Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), also known as Eureka 147, is a technology for broadcasting of audio using digital radio transmission. ... Freeview is the operator of free digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom, using the DVB-T standard. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house. ...

See also

• Radio 4 UK Theme

The BBC Radio 4 UK Theme is a piece of music composed by Fritz Spiegl, played every morning on BBC Radio 4. ...

References

External links

• Last.FM: BBC Radio 4 group
• BBC Radio 4 message boards
• BBC Radio 4 at bbc.co.uk
• BBC Radio 4 weekly newsletter
• RadioListings episode guides
• Index of Radio 4 programmes about usability and design