80-490: Drama (formerly Afternoon Theatre , Afternoon Drama , Afternoon Play ) is a BBC Radio 4 radio drama , broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm. Generally each play is 45 minutes in duration and approximately 190 new plays are broadcast each year. More or less three-quarters are self-contained dramas. The remainder are short series of 2 to 6 episodes. As well as original drama series, the Afternoon Play has included
160-448: A "safety net" guaranteed minimum income should the revenue fall too low, funded by large insurance payments made to the ITV companies. Such a subsidy was never required, however, and these premiums were phased out by the government in 1998. After the link with ITV was cut, the cross-promotion which had existed between ITV and Channel 4 also ended. In 2007, owing to severe funding difficulties,
240-409: A Sunday. This has reduced the total number of continuity announcers required each day down from four to three. The Greenwich Time Signal , popularly known as "the pips", is broadcast every hour to herald the news bulletin, except at midnight and 18:00, and 22:00 on Sunday, when the chimes of Big Ben are played. There is no Greenwich Time Signal at 15:00 on Saturday or 11:00 and 12:00 on Sunday due to
320-405: A lack of female broadcasters. In September 1972, Radio 4 employed the first female continuity announcers—Hylda Bamber and Barbara Edwards. For quite some time, the introduction of female newsreaders led to complaints from listeners; women discussing topics of feminist interest led to similar complaints. In addition, there has been long-running criticism by atheist and humanist groups of Thought for
400-559: A lexicographer only ever identified as Mary. Whiteley opened the show with the words: "As the countdown to a brand new channel ends, a brand new countdown begins." On its first day, Channel 4 also broadcast the soap opera Brookside , which often ran storylines thought to be controversial; this ran until 2003. After three days, ITV chiefs called for founding chief executive Jeremy Isaacs to resign due to poor ratings. Critics called it "Channel Bore" and "Channel Snore". At its launch, Channel 4 committed itself to providing an alternative to
480-479: A nationwide television channel for the first time. Since then, carriage on digital cable , satellite and digital terrestrial has introduced Channel 4 to Welsh homes where it is now universally available. After some months of test broadcasts, the new broadcaster began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982 from Scala House, the former site of the Scala Theatre . Its initial broadcasts reached 87% of
560-571: A nationwide television channel. The network's headquarters are in London and Leeds , with creative hubs in Glasgow and Bristol . Before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services: BBC1 , BBC2 , and ITV , with BBC2 the last to launch in 1964. The Broadcasting Act 1980 began the process of adding a fourth; Channel 4 was formally created, along with its Welsh counterpart , by an act of Parliament in 1982. The notion of
640-418: A non-acting role for Tom Keating in his series On Painters . Channel 4 co-commissioned Robert Ashley 's television opera Perfect Lives , which it premiered over several episodes in 1984. The channel often did not receive mass audiences for much of this period, as might be expected for a station focusing on minority interests. During this time, Channel 4 also began the funding of independent films, such as
720-487: A number of adaptations of popular works such as The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency . In one form or another, the Afternoon Play has been a feature of afternoons on Radio 4 since its launch in 1967, although the strict 45 minute format was not enforced until the reorganisation of Radio 4 by James Boyle in 1998, whereby the play directly follows the 2.00pm repeat of The Archers . Several Afternoon Plays were amongst programmes held in 20 underground radio stations of
800-464: A planned switch-off of long wave transmissions by 2025. BBC Radio 4's medium wave frequencies were switched off on 15 April 2024, which previously served as relays in areas with a weak LW signal to provide reception of BBC Radio 4 LW, such as Northern Ireland and south west England. Most were turned off at 12:27 PM BST and broadcast an endless closedown loop informing listeners to retune to other methods of reception. The final transmitter to change into
880-873: A public service broadcaster with a specific remit, it is afforded free carriage on the terrestrial platforms, in contrast with other broadcasters such as ITV. Channel 4 is available outside the United Kingdom; it is widely available in the Republic of Ireland , the Netherlands , Belgium and Switzerland . The channel is registered to broadcast within the European Union/EEA through the Luxembourg Broadcasting Regulator (ALIA). Since 2019, it has been offered by British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) to members of
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#1732787464300960-566: A remit of public service obligations which it must fulfil. The remit changes periodically, as dictated by various broadcasting and communications acts, and is regulated by the various authorities Channel 4 has been answerable to; originally the IBA, then the ITC and now Ofcom . The preamble of the remit as per the Communications Act 2003 states that: The public service remit for Channel 4
1040-432: A second commercial broadcaster in the United Kingdom had been around since the inception of ITV in 1954 and its subsequent launch in 1955; the idea of an "ITV2" was long expected and pushed for. Indeed, television sets sold throughout the 1970s and early 1980s often had a spare tuning button labelled "ITV 2" or "IBA 2". Throughout ITV's history and until Channel 4 finally became a reality, a perennial dialogue existed between
1120-661: A time during the 1970s Radio 4 carried regional news bulletins Monday to Saturday. These were broadcast twice at breakfast, at lunchtime and at 17:55. There were also programme variations for the parts of England not served by BBC Local Radio stations. These included Roundabout East Anglia , a VHF opt-out of the Today programme broadcast from BBC East 's studios in Norwich each weekday from 6.45 a.m. to 8.45 a.m. Roundabout East Anglia came to an end in August 1980, ahead of
1200-536: A year after broadcast as streaming audio from Radio 4's listen again page and via BBC Sounds . A selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files. Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra . Due to the capacity limitations of DAB and increasing sport broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra , BBC Radio 4 DAB has to reduce its bit rate most evenings, such that after 7 p.m. its DAB output
1280-499: A year, listeners had to rely on FM broadcasts or DAB for mainstream Radio 4 broadcasts – the number relying solely on long wave was now a small minority. The cricket broadcasts took precedence over on-the-hour news bulletins, but not the Shipping Forecast , carried since Radio 4's move to long wave in 1978 because long wave can be received clearly at sea. Initially the power was 100 watts on 350 metres (857 kHz ). 2LO
1360-709: A £100m cost cutting review. The station is available on FM in most of Great Britain, parts of Ireland and the north of France; LW throughout the UK and in parts of Northern Europe, and the Atlantic north of the Azores to about 20 degrees west; DAB ; Digital TV including Freeview , Freesat , Sky and Virgin Media , and on the Internet. Freesat, Sky and Virgin have a separate channel for Radio 4 LW output in mono, in addition to
1440-545: Is a delay on digital radio of three to five seconds and online up to 23 seconds. Radio 4 broadcasts the Shipping Forecast which, in August 2017, was 150 years old. According to RAJAR , the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 9.2 million with a listening share of 11.1% as of December 2023. BBC Radio 4 is the second-most-popular British domestic radio station by total hours, after Radio 2 . It recorded its highest audience, of 11 million listeners, in May 2011, and
1520-476: Is available on Freeview , Sky , and Virgin Media . Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after BBC Radio 2 . BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as Today , The World at One and PM heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben . The pips are only accurate on FM, and LW; there
1600-436: Is broadcast as in documentaries relating to various forms of both popular and classical music, and the long-running music-based Desert Island Discs . Sport is also not part of the station's output, apart from during news bulletins, although between 1994 and 2023, the station's long wave frequency was used to broadcast ball-by-ball commentaries of most Test cricket matches played by England. Consequently, for around 70 days
1680-440: Is the provision of a broad range of high quality and diverse programming which, in particular: The remit also involves an obligation to provide programming for schools, and a substantial amount of programming produced outside of Greater London . Channel 4 was carried from its beginning on analogue terrestrial, the standard means of television broadcast in the United Kingdom. It continued to be broadcast through these means until
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#17327874643001760-594: Is usually in mono, even though many of its programmes are made in stereo (including its flagship drama "The Archers"), these can be heard in stereo only on FM, Digital TV on Freeview & Freesat (Ch. 704), Sky, Virgin and on line via BBC Sounds. BBC World Service, which uses BBC Radio 4 FM & DAB frequencies between 01:00 and 05:20, is in stereo, but only on Radio 4 FM & DAB and not on its own dedicated DAB channel. BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcasts in mono on DAB, but has always been in stereo on Digital TV (Freeview / Freesat Ch 708), Sky, Virgin and online. Announcers carry out
1840-449: The BBC , it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commercial activities, including advertising . It began its transmission in 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the licence -funded BBC1 and BBC2 , and a single commercial broadcasting network, ITV . Originally a subsidiary of
1920-532: The British Armed Forces and their families around the world, BFBS Extra having previously carried a selection of Channel 4 programmes. The Channel 4 website allows people in the United Kingdom to watch Channel 4 live. Previously, some programmes (mostly international imports) were not shown. Channel 4 is also provided by Virgin Mobile 's DAB mobile TV service, which has the same restrictions as
2000-478: The GPO , the government , the ITV companies and other interested parties, concerning the form such an expansion of commercial broadcasting would take. Most likely, politics had the biggest impact leading to a delay of almost three decades before the second commercial channel became a reality. One benefit of the late arrival of the channel was that its frequency allocations at each transmitter had already been arranged in
2080-708: The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport , which was established in 1990 and came into operation in 1993. Until 2010, Channel 4 did not broadcast in Wales , but many of its programmes were re-broadcast there by the Welsh fourth channel S4C . In 2010, Channel 4 extended service into Wales and became
2160-599: The Merchant Ivory docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay . In 1987, Richard Attenborough replaced Edmund Dell as chairman. In 1988, Michael Grade became CEO. In 1992, Channel 4 faced its first libel case which was brought by Jani Allan , a South African journalist, who objected to her representation in Nick Broomfield 's documentary The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife . After control of
2240-430: The 200 kHz frequency (1,500 metres) previously held by Radio 2 - later moved to 198 kHz as a result of international agreements aimed at avoiding interference (all ITU Region 1 MW/LW broadcast frequencies are divisible by 9). At this point, Radio 4 became available across all of the UK for the first time and the station officially became known as Radio 4 UK, a title that remained until 29 September 1984. For
2320-639: The BBC and independent companies. Initially, limited frequency space meant that Channel 4 could not be broadcast alongside S4C, though some Channel 4 programmes would be aired at less popular times on the Welsh variant; this practice continued until the closure of S4C's analogue transmissions in 2010, at which time S4C became a fully Welsh channel. With this conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter group in Wales to digital terrestrial broadcasting on 31 March 2010, Channel 4 became
2400-462: The BBC's Wartime Broadcasting Service , to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack . The strand was retitled in February 2012, to bring it in line with BBC television's "Original British Drama" branding. In May 2009 it was announced that the listening figures for the Afternoon Play fluctuated between 800,000 and 1.1 million, making it one of
2480-552: The BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House , London . Since 2019, the station controller has been Mohit Bakaya . He replaced Gwyneth Williams , who had been the station controller since 2010. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM , LW and DAB , and on BBC Sounds , it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland , northern France and Northern Europe . It
Drama (BBC Radio 4) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-470: The Day , a slot dedicated exclusively to religious discussion during Radio 4's flagship morning news programme. Radio 4 has been criticised for being "too middle class " and of "little interest" to non-white listeners. Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation . It is publicly owned but, unlike
2640-638: The FM output. The longwave signal is part of the Royal Navy's system of letters of last resort . In the event of a suspected catastrophic attack on Britain, submarine captains, in addition to other checks, check for a broadcast signal from Radio 4 on 198 longwave to verify the annihilation of organised society in Great Britain. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts a wide variety of speech-related programming, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. Music
2720-525: The IBA from the ITV regional companies, in return for which each company had the right to sell advertisements on the fourth channel in its own region and keep the proceeds. This meant that ITV and Channel 4 were not in competition with each other, and often promoted each other's programmes. A change in funding came about under the Broadcasting Act 1990 when the new corporation was afforded the ability to fund itself. Originally this arrangement left
2800-515: The Internet live stream. Channel 4 is also carried by the Internet TV service TVCatchup and was previously carried by Zattoo until the operator removed the channel from its platform. Channel 4 also makes some of its programming available "on demand" via cable and the internet through the Channel 4 VoD service. During its first decade, Channel 4 was funded by subscriptions collected by
2880-480: The Races , E4 and More4 . Partially in reaction to its new "populist" direction, the Communications Act 2003 directed the channel to demonstrate innovation, experimentation, and creativity, appeal to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society, and include programmes of an educational nature which exhibit a distinctive character. On 31 December 2004, Channel 4 launched a new visual identity in which
2960-506: The Radio 4 medium wave Plymouth relay until 31 December 1982. The launch of Radio 5 on 27 August 1990 saw the removal of Open University , schools programming, children's programmes and the Study on 4 / Options adult education slot from Radio 4's FM frequencies. Consequently, the full Radio 4 schedule became available on FM for the first time. However, adult educational and Open University programming returned to Radio 4 in 1994 when Radio 5
3040-478: The Saturday Afternoon drama and the omnibus edition of The Archers respectively. Only pips broadcast on FM and LW are accurate. On digital platforms there is a delay of between three and five seconds, and up to 23 seconds online. Radio 4 programmes cover a wide variety of genre including news and current affairs, history, culture, science, religion, arts, comedy, drama and entertainment. A number of
3120-492: The Street , Without A Trace , Home Improvement , Frasier , Lost , Nip/Tuck , Ally McBeal , Dawson's Creek , Oz , Sex and The City , The Sopranos , Scrubs , King of The Hill , Babylon 5 , Stargate SG-1 , Star Trek: Enterprise , Andromeda , Family Guy , South Park and Futurama . In the early 2000s, Channel 4 began broadcasting reality formats such as Big Brother and obtained
3200-413: The United Kingdom. The first voice heard on Channel 4's opening day of 2 November 1982 was that of continuity announcer Paul Coia who said: "Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be able to say to you, welcome to Channel Four." Following the announcement, the channel played a montage of clips from its programmes set to the station's signature tune, "Fourscore", written by David Dundas , which would form
3280-419: The ability to subsidise the main network through any profits made on the corporation's other endeavours, which have in the past included subscription fees from stations such as E4 and Film4 (now no longer subscription services) and its "video-on-demand" sales. In practice, however, these other activities are loss-making, and are subsidised by the main network. According to Channel 4's published accounts, for 2005
Drama (BBC Radio 4) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-407: The basis of the station's jingles for its first decade. The first programme to air on the channel was the teatime game show Countdown , produced by Yorkshire Television , at 16:45. The first person to be seen on Channel 4 was Richard Whiteley , with Ted Moult being the second. The first woman on the channel, contrary to popular belief, was not Whiteley's Countdown co-host Carol Vorderman , but
3440-558: The changeover to digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom was complete. Since 1998, it has been universally available on digital terrestrial, and the Sky platform (initially encrypted, though encryption was dropped on 14 April 2008 and is now free of charge and available on the Freesat platform) as well as having been available from various times in various areas, on analogue and digital cable networks. Due to its special status as
3520-643: The channel broadcast the direct-to-TV documentary film Beyond Citizen Kane , in which it displayed the dominant position of the Rede Globo (now TV Globo ) television network, and discussed its influence, power, and political connections in Brazil. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Channel 4 gave many popular and influential American comedy and drama series their first exposure on British television, such as Friends , Cheers , Will & Grace , NYPD Blue , ER , Desperate Housewives , Homicide: Life on
3600-481: The channel sought government help and was granted a payment of £14 million over a six-year period. The money was to have come from the television licence fee, and would have been the first time that money from the licence fee had been given to any broadcaster other than the BBC. However, the plan was scrapped by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport , Andy Burnham , ahead of "broader decisions about
3680-510: The closedown loop was the Plymouth relay on 774 kHz at 4:59 PM BST. These relays stopped broadcasting the closedown loop and fell silent completely by 30 April 2024. An online schedule page lists the running order of programmes. The station broadcasts a mix of live and pre-recorded programmes. Live programming includes breakfast programme Today , magazine programme Woman's Hour , consumer affairs programme You and Yours , and (often)
3760-624: The corporation but the sale was blocked by the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable . In 2016, the future of the channel was again being looked into by the government, with analysts suggesting several options for its future. In June 2021, the government of Boris Johnson was considering selling the channel. In April 2022, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport acknowledged that ministerial discussions were taking place regarding
3840-410: The day. In November 2009, Channel 4 launched a week of 3D television , broadcasting selected programmes each night using stereoscopic ColorCode 3D technology. The accompanying 3D glasses were distributed through Sainsbury's supermarkets. On 29 September 2015, Channel 4 revamped its presentation for a fifth time; the new branding downplayed the "4" logo from most on-air usage, in favour of using
3920-527: The early 1960s when the launch of an "ITV2" was anticipated. This led to good coverage across most of the country and few problems of interference with other UK-based transmissions; a stark contrast to the difficulties associated with Channel 5 's launch almost 15 years later. At the time the fourth service was being considered, a movement in Wales lobbied for the creation of dedicated service that would air Welsh language programmes, then only catered for at off-peak times on BBC Wales and HTV . The campaign
4000-723: The existing channels, an agenda in part set out by its remit which required the provision of programming to minority groups. In step with its remit, the channel became well received both by minority groups and the arts and cultural worlds during this period under Isaacs, during which the channel gained a reputation for programmes on the contemporary arts. Two programmes captured awards from the Broadcasting Press Guild in March 1983: best comedy for The Comic Strip Presents …Five Go Mad in Dorset, and best on-screen performance in
4080-647: The first time to mark the new year. In 1927 the company became the British Broadcasting Corporation . On 9 March 1930 2LO was replaced by the BBC Regional Programme and the BBC National Programme . The letters LO continued to be used internally as a designation in the BBC for technical operations in the London area (for example, the numbering of all recordings made in London contained LO). The code LO
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#17327874643004160-420: The following duties from Broadcasting House: Newsreaders read hourly summaries and longer bulletins from New Broadcasting House. In 2012 the BBC announced that it would be reducing its main presentation team from 12 to ten. Other continuity announcers for whom it is not known whether they are freelance or BBC employees, include Joanna Kean, Kelsey Bennett, Arlene Fleming (who also used to read
4240-705: The future framework of public service broadcasting". The broadcasting regulator Ofcom released its review in January 2009 in which it suggested that Channel 4 would preferably be funded by "partnerships, joint ventures or mergers". As of 2022 , it breaks even in much the same way as most privately run commercial stations through the sale of on-air advertising, programme sponsorship, and the sale of any programme content and merchandising rights it owns, such as overseas broadcasting rights and domestic video sales. For example, as of 2012 its total revenues were £925 million with 91% derived from sale of advertising. It also has
4320-475: The last time, after 32 years as a main presenter on the programme, making Snow one of the UK's longest-serving presenters on a national news programme. Channel 4's parent company, Channel Four Television Corporation , was considered for privatisation by the governments of Margaret Thatcher , John Major and Tony Blair . In 2014, the Cameron-Clegg coalition government drew up proposals to privatise
4400-402: The launch of BBC Radio Norfolk . All regional news bulletins broadcast from BBC regional news bases around England ended in August 1980, apart from in the southwest as until January 1983 there was no BBC Local Radio in the southwest so these news bulletins and its weekday morning regional programme, Morning Sou'West , continued to be broadcast from the BBC studios in Plymouth on VHF and on
4480-463: The launch of Channel 4 HD, but the fourth HD slot was given to Channel 5 instead. On 2 November 2007, the station celebrated its 25th birthday. It showed the first episode of Countdown , an anniversary Countdown special, as well as a special edition of The Big Fat Quiz . It use the original multicoloured 1982–1996 blocks logo on presentation, and idents using the Fourscore jingle throughout
4560-641: The logo is disguised as different objects and the "4" can be seen from an angle. Under the leadership of Freeview founder Andy Duncan , 2005 saw a change of direction for Channel 4's digital channels. The company made E4 free-to-air on digital terrestrial television , and launched a new free-to-air digital channel called More4 . By October, Channel 4 had joined the Freeview consortium. By July 2006, Film4 had likewise become free-to-air and restarted broadcasting on digital terrestrial. Venturing into radio broadcasting, 2005 saw Channel 4 purchase 51% of shares in
4640-485: The most popular outlets for new dramatic writing in the world. Monday's Afternoon Play is usually the most popular play of the week, and Thursday's is usually the least popular. BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC . The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from
4720-597: The most recent being when Pope Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010 . On 30 May 2023, the BBC announced that Radio 4 will stop broadcasting opt-outs on long wave with the last opt-outs airing on 31 March 2024. The two displaced programmes, Daily Service and Yesterday in Parliament moved to BBC Radio 4 Extra . The daily amount of Shipping Forecasts was reduced to be broadcast 2 times on weekdays and 3 times on weekends. Test Match Special moved to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra on 31 July 2023. These end ahead of
4800-691: The music, film, books, arts and culture programme Front Row . Continuity is managed from Broadcasting House with 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 and PM , which by early 2013 had returned to Broadcasting House after 15 years at BBC Television Centre in White City . The news returning to Broadcasting House has also meant that newsreaders can provide cover for continuity, which regularly occurs at 23:00 each night and 16:00 on
4880-515: The news) and Richard Evans. Criticism voiced by centre-right newspapers in recent years have a perceived left political bias across a range of issues, as well as sycophancy in interviews, particularly on the popular morning news magazine Today as part of a reported perception of a general "malaise" at the BBC. Conversely, the journalist Mehdi Hasan has criticised the station for an overtly " socially and culturally conservative" approach. There has been criticism of Today in particular for
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#17327874643004960-512: The now defunct Oneword radio station, with UBC Media holding on to the remaining shares. New programmes such as the weekly, half-hour The Morning Report news programme were among some of the new content Channel 4 provided for the station, with the name 4Radio being used. As of early 2009, however, Channel 4's future involvement in radio remained uncertain. Before the digital switchover , Channel 4 raised concerns over how it might finance its public service obligations afterward. In April 2006, it
5040-522: The process was expensive and not encouraged by the General Post Office as it tied up large parts of the telephone network. The stations that followed the establishment of 2LO in London were therefore autonomously programmed using local talent and facilities. By May 1923, simultaneous broadcasting was technically possible at least between main transmitters and relay stations , the quality
5120-484: The programmes on Radio 4 take the form of a "magazine" show, featuring numerous small contributions over the course of the programme— Woman's Hour , From Our Own Correspondent , You and Yours . The rise of these magazine shows is primarily due to the work of Tony Whitby , controller of Radio 4 from 1970 to 1975. The station hosts a number of long-running programmes, many of which have been broadcast for over 40 years. Most programmes are available for 30 days or over
5200-455: The rights to broadcast mass appeal sporting events like cricket and horse racing . This new direction increased ratings and revenues. The popularity of Big Brother led to the launches of other, shorter-lived new reality shows to chase the populist audience, such as The Salon , Shattered and Space Cadets . In addition, the corporation launched several new television channels through its new 4Ventures offshoot, including Film4 , At
5280-434: The sale of Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel's chief executive, Alex Mahon, expressed disappointment at this, saying that its vision for the future was "rooted in continued public ownership". In January 2023, Michelle Donelan confirmed that the plans to sell Channel 4 were scrapped and that it would remain in public ownership for the foreseeable future. Channel 4 was established with, and continues to hold,
5360-530: The shapes from the logo in various forms. Four new idents were filmed by Jonathan Glazer , which featured the shapes in various real-world scenes depicting the "discovery" and "origins" of the shapes. The full logo was still occasionally used, but primarily for off-air marketing. Channel 4 also commissioned two new corporate typefaces, "Chadwick", and "Horseferry" (a variation of Chadwick with the aforementioned shapes incorporated into its letter forms), for use across promotional material and on-air. In June 2017, it
5440-518: The start of the 1990s, Radio 4 had become available on FM in most of the UK - previously FM coverage had been restricted mainly to England and south Wales. This meant that it was possible for the main Radio 4 service to be transferred from LW to FM, and this took place on 16 September 1991 with opt-outs - extra shipping forecasts, Daily Service and Yesterday in Parliament , joined in 1994 by Test Match Special . Longwave also occasionally opted out at other times, such as to broadcast special services,
5520-589: The station passed from the Channel Four Television Company to the Channel Four Television Corporation in 1993, a shift in broadcasting style took place. Instead of aiming for minority tastes, it began to focus on the edges of the mainstream, and the centre of the mass market itself. It began to show many American programmes in peak viewing time, far more than it had previously done. In September 1993,
5600-570: Was "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2023 Radio Academy Awards . It also won a Peabody Award in 2002 for File on 4: Export Controls . Costing £71.4 million (2005/6), it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by many to be its flagship. There is no comparable British commercial network: Channel 4 abandoned plans to launch its own speech-based digital radio station in October 2008 as part of
5680-412: Was allowed to transmit for seven minutes, after which the "operator" had to listen on the wavelength for three minutes for possible instructions to close down. On 14 November 1922 the station was transferred to the new British Broadcasting Company which in 1923 took up the nearby Savoy Hill for its broadcasting studios. At midnight on New Year's Eve 1923, the twelve chimes of Big Ben were broadcast for
5760-662: Was announced that Alex Mahon would be the next chief executive, and would take over from David Abraham , who left in November 2017. On 31 October 2017, Channel 4 introduced a new series of idents continuing the theme, this time depicting the logo shapes as having formed into an anthropomorphic "giant" character. On 25 September 2021, Channel 4 and several of its sub-channels went off air after an incident at Red Bee Media's playout centre in west London. Channel 4, More4 , Film4 , E4 , 4Music , The Box , Box Hits , Kiss , Magic and Kerrang! stopped transmitting, but 4seven
5840-469: Was announced that Channel 4's digital switch-over costs would be paid for by licence fee revenues. In July 2007, Channel 4 paid £28 million for a 50% stake in the TV business of British media company EMAP , which had seven music video channels. On 15 August 2008, 4Music was launched across the UK. Channel 4 announced interest in launching a high-definition version of Film4 on Freeview, to coincide with
5920-691: Was changed to LN in the early 1970s. When the British Broadcasting Company first began transmissions on 14 November 1922 from station 2LO in the Strand , which it had inherited from the Marconi Company (one of six commercial companies which created), but technology did not yet exist either for national coverage or joint programming between transmitters . Whilst it was possible to combine large numbers of trunk telephone lines to link transmitters for individual programmes,
6000-569: Was closed to make way for the launch of BBC Radio 5 Live and were broadcast until the end of the 1990s on Sunday evenings on longwave only. Between 17 January 1991 and 2 March 1991 FM broadcasts were replaced by a continuous news service devoted to the Gulf War , Radio 4 News FM , with the main Radio 4 service transferring to long wave. Before this, Radio 4's FM frequencies had occasionally been used for additional news coverage, generally for live coverage of statements and debates in Parliament. By
6080-645: Was criticised by the National Deaf Children's Society, which complained to the broadcasting watchdog. A new subtitling, signing and audio description system had to be built from scratch. The service eventually began to return at the end of October. In June 2022 after a six-month long investigation, Ofcom found that Channel 4 had breached its broadcast licence conditions on two grounds: Missing its subtitles quota on Freesat for 2021 and failure to effectively communicate with affected audiences. On 23 December 2021, Jon Snow presented Channel 4 News for
6160-478: Was not felt to be high enough to provide a national service or regular simultaneous broadcasts. In 1924, it was felt that technical standards had improved enough for London to start to provide the majority of the output, cutting the local stations back to providing items of local interest. Each of these main stations were broadcast at approximately 1 kilowatt (kW): Each of these relay stations were broadcast at approximately 120 watts (W): The BBC Home Service
6240-517: Was not impacted. The incident still affected a number of the channels by 30 September. The London Fire Brigade confirmed that a gas fire prevention system at the site had been activated, but firefighters found no sign of fire. Activation of the fire suppression system caused catastrophic damage to some systems, such as Channel 4's subtitles, signing, and audio description system. An emergency backup subtitling system also failed, leaving Channel 4 unable to provide access services to viewers. This situation
6320-482: Was taken so seriously by Gwynfor Evans , former president of Plaid Cymru , that he threatened the government with a hunger strike were it not to honour the plans. The result was that Channel 4 as seen by the rest of the United Kingdom would be replaced in Wales by S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru, meaning "Channel Four Wales" in Welsh). Operated by a specially created authority , S4C would air programmes in Welsh made by HTV,
6400-406: Was the predecessor of 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 it on 30 September 1967, when the BBC restructured and renamed its domestic radio stations, in response to the challenge of offshore radio . It moved to long wave in November 1978, taking over
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