BBC Light Programme









BBC Broadcasting House in London.


The Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967, when it was rebranded as BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the longwave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 – by the BBC National Programme.


The service was intended as a domestic replacement for the wartime BBC Forces Programme (later, the General Forces Programme) which had proved popular with civilian audiences in Britain as well as members of the armed forces.


The longwave signal on 200 kHz / 1500 metres was transmitted from Droitwich in the Midlands (as it still is today for Radio 4, although adjusted slightly to 198 kHz / 1515 metres in 1988), and gave fairly good coverage of most of the United Kingdom, although a number of low-power mediumwave transmitters (using 1214 kHz / 247 metres) were added later to fill in local blank spots. Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, the Light Programme (along with the BBC's two other national programmes, the Home Service and the Third Programme) gradually became available on what was known at the time as VHF, as the BBC developed a network of local FM transmitters.


From its first day of broadcasting in 1945 until Monday 2 September 1957, the Light Programme would be on the air from 9 am until midnight each day, apart from Sundays when it would come on the air at 8 am. From Monday 2 September 1957, the Light Programme's broadcasting hours would start to increase, with a new early morning start time of 7 am, later moving to 6:30 am from Monday 29 September 1958. In 1964 broadcasting hours were increased even more, with a new morning start time of 5:30 am from Monday 31 August 1964. Up until September 1964, the Light Programme would always end its broadcasting day at midnight, however this changed on Sunday 27 September 1964, when a new closedown time of 2:02 am was introduced.[1][2][3][4]


The Light Programme closed down for the last time at 2:02 am on Saturday 30 September 1967. At 5:30 am on the same day it was replaced by Radio 1 on its mediumwave frequencies, and by Radio 2 (the renamed Light Programme) on its longwave frequency. The FM frequencies were mainly used by Radio 2 but sometimes by Radio 1 until that station acquired its own FM frequencies in 1988.


The long-running soap opera The Archers was first heard nationally on the Light Programme, on 1 January 1951,[5] although a week-long pilot version had been broadcast on the Midlands Home Service in 1950.




Contents






  • 1 Notable programmes


  • 2 Presenters


  • 3 References


  • 4 External links





Notable programmes




  • The Al Read Show

  • Appointment with Fear

  • The Archers

  • Beyond Our Ken

  • The Billy Cotton Band Show

  • Breakfast Special

  • Children's Favourites

  • The Clitheroe Kid

  • Dick Barton – Special Agent

  • Does The Team Think?

  • Educating Archie

  • Family Favourites

  • Friday Night is Music Night


  • The Goon Show (repeats from the BBC Home Service)

  • Hancock's Half Hour

  • Have a Go!

  • Housewives' Choice

  • Ignorance is Bliss

  • I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again


  • ITMA (repeats from the BBC Home Service)

  • Journey into Space

  • Children's Favourites

  • Life with the Lyons

  • Listen with Mother

  • Meet the Huggetts

  • Movie-Go-Round

  • Mrs Dale's Diary

  • Much Binding in the Marsh

  • Music While You Work

  • The Navy Lark

  • Orbiter X

  • Pick of the Pops

  • Radio Newsreel

  • Ray's a Laugh

  • Riders of the Range

  • Round the Horne

  • Roundabout

  • Shadow of Sumuru

  • The Showband Show

  • Sing Something Simple

  • Sports Report

  • Take It From Here

  • Variety Bandbox

  • Waterlogged Spa

  • Welsh Rarebit

  • Woman's Hour


  • Workers' Playtime (BBC Home Service until September 1957)




Presenters




  • Barry Alldis

  • Marjorie Anderson

  • Tim Brinton

  • Michael Brooke

  • Desmond Carrington

  • Sam Costa

  • Bill Crozier

  • Alan Dell

  • Robert Dougall

  • David Dunhill

  • John Dunn

  • Don Durbridge

  • Franklin Engelmann

  • Peter Fettes

  • Alan Freeman

  • Tim Gudgin

  • Peter Haigh

  • Colin Hamilton

  • Paul Hollingdale

  • David Jacobs

  • Brian Matthew

  • Jean Metcalfe

  • Roger Moffat

  • Pete Murray

  • Phillip Slessor

  • Douglas Smith

  • Ken Sykora

  • David Symonds

  • John Webster

  • Roy Williams

  • Bruce Wyndham




References





  1. ^ "Light Programme - 26 September 1964 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ "Light Programme - 2 September 1957 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.


  3. ^ "Light Programme - 29 September 1958 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.


  4. ^ "Light Programme - 29 July 1945 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.


  5. ^ Reynolds, Gillian (24 August 1996). "William Smethurst: the man who turned The Archers into a cult". The Telegraph.




External links


  • Radio Rewind – The 1500m Light Programme








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