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181-502: The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC . It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news , speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming , podcasting , satellite , DAB , FM , LW and MW relays. In 2024,

362-881: A low-intensity undeclared war on Czechoslovakia on 17 September 1938. In reaction, Britain and France on 20 September formally requested Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland territory to Germany. This was followed by Polish and Hungarian territorial demands brought on 21 and 22 September, respectively. Meanwhile, German forces conquered parts of the Cheb District and Jeseník District , where local battles included use of German artillery, Czechoslovak tanks, and armored vehicles. Lightly armed German infantry briefly overran other border counties before being repelled. Poland also grouped its army units near its common border with Czechoslovakia and conducted an unsuccessful probing offensive on 23 September. Hungary moved its troops towards

543-455: A parachute mine nearby on 8 December 1940, it relocated to premises away from the likely target of Broadcasting House. The Overseas service relocated to Oxford Street while the European service moved temporarily to the emergency broadcasting facilities at Maida Vale Studios . The European services moved permanently into Bush House towards the end of 1940, completing the move in 1941, with

724-549: A "balanced British view" of international developments. Former director Peter Horrocks visualised the organisation as fighting an " information war " of soft power against Russian and Chinese international state media , including RT . As such, the BBC has been banned in both Russia and China, the former following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine . The director of the BBC World Service is Jonathan Munro . The controller of

905-457: A collective agreement to guarantee the borders of Germany and Czechoslovakia. A new Czechoslovak cabinet, under General Jan Syrový , was installed and on 23 September a decree of general mobilization was issued which was accepted by the public with a strong enthusiasm – within 24 hours, one million men joined the army to defend the country. The Czechoslovak Army , modern, experienced and possessing an excellent system of frontier fortifications ,

1086-486: A day to 18 per day, and eventually twelve languages were broadcast on a 24-hour basis, including English. A 100 kilowatt transmitter and antenna complex was built at Zeesen , near Berlin. Specialty target programming to the United States began in 1933, to South Africa, South America, and East Asia in 1934, and South Asia and Central America in 1938. German propaganda was organized under Joseph Goebbels , and played

1267-531: A deadline of 28 September at 2:00 pm to cede the Sudetenland to Germany or face war. At this point the British government began to make war preparations, and the House of Commons was reconvened from a parliamentary recess. On 27 September 1938, when negotiations between Hitler and Chamberlain were strained, Chamberlain addressed the British people, saying, in particular: "How horrible, fantastic, incredible it

1448-494: A direct transfer of the area to its own control. Polish envoy to Prague Kazimierz Papée marked that the return of Cieszyn Silesia will be a sign of a goodwill and the "redress of injustice" of 1920. Similar notes were sent to Paris and London with a request that Polish minority in Czechoslovakia should gain the same rights as Sudeten Germans. On the next day Beneš sent a letter to Polish president Ignacy Mościcki with

1629-886: A foreign language, such as Radio Exterior de España 's Spanish class, Un idioma sin fronteras , or the Voice of America's broadcasts in Special English . In the case of major broadcasters such as the BBC World Service or Radio Australia , there is also an educational outreach. An additional reason for international broadcasting is to maintain contact with a country's citizens travelling abroad or expatriates who have emigrated and share news from home as well as cultural programming. This role of external shortwave broadcasting has declined as advances in communications have allowed expatriates to read news from home and listen and watch to domestic broadcasts in their own language via

1810-493: A formal and informal basis. In addition, many receivers used in Europe and Russia can receive the longwave broadcast band (150 to 280 kHz), which provides reliable long-distance communications over continental distances. Shortwave receivers are capable of receiving shortwave transmissions (2,000 to 30,000 kHz or 2 to 30 MHz). Depending on time of day, season of year, solar weather and Earth's geomagnetic field,

1991-762: A former Liberal cabinet minister, who arrived in Prague on 3 August with instructions to persuade Beneš to agree to a plan acceptable to the Sudeten Germans. On 20 July, Bonnet told the Czechoslovak ambassador in Paris that while France would declare its support in public to help the Czechoslovak negotiations, it was not prepared to go to war over Sudetenland. In August, the German press was full of stories alleging Czechoslovak atrocities against Sudeten Germans, with

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2172-542: A four-power conference of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy in Munich on 29 September to settle the Sudeten problem prior to the deadline of 2:00 pm. Mussolini agreed. Hitler's only request was to make sure that Mussolini be involved in the negotiations at the conference. Nevile Henderson , Alexander Cadogan , and Chamberlain's personal secretary Lord Dunglass passed the news of the conference to Chamberlain while he

2353-667: A key role in the German annexation of Austria and the Munich Crisis of 1938. In 1936, the International Radio Union recognized Vatican Radio as a "special case" and authorized its broadcasting without any geographical limits. On December 25, 1937, a Telefunken 25-kW transmitter and two directional antennas were added. Vatican Radio broadcast over 10 frequencies. During the Spanish Civil War ,

2534-557: A limited extent, began during World War I , when German and British stations broadcast press communiqués using Morse code . With the severing of Germany's undersea cables, the wireless telegraph station in Nauen was the country's sole means of long-distance communication. The US Navy Radio Service radio station in New Brunswick, Canada, transmitted the ' Fourteen Points ' by wireless to Nauen in 1917. In turn, Nauen station broadcast

2715-438: A major natural obstacle to a possible German attack. Strengthened by significant border fortifications , the Sudetenland was of absolute strategic importance to Czechoslovakia. On 30 September, Czechoslovakia submitted to the combination of military pressure by Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and diplomatic pressure by Britain and France, and agreed to surrender territory to Germany following the Munich terms. The Munich Agreement

2896-589: A mixture of the United Kingdom's television licence fee , limited advertising profits of BBC Studios , and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funding. From 2014, the service was guaranteed £289 million (allocated over a five-year period ending in 2020) from the UK government. In 2016, the government announced that the licence fee funding for the World Service would be £254 million/year for

3077-622: A nation's foreign policy interests and agenda by disseminating its views on international affairs or on the events in particular parts of the world. During the Cold War the American Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty and Indian Radio AIR were founded to broadcast news from "behind the Iron Curtain " that was otherwise being censored and promote dissent and occasionally, to disseminate disinformation . Currently,

3258-457: A new London-based China unit was in development, described by the government as "focused on exposing the challenges and realities currently facing China and its fight for global influence". The Service broadcasts from Broadcasting House in London, which is also headquarters of the corporation. It is located in the newer parts of the building, which contains radio and television studios for use by

3439-409: A new order for Operation Green on 30 May and that it was accompanied by a covering letter from Wilhelm Keitel that stated that the plan must be implemented by 1 October at the very latest. In the meantime, the British government demanded that Beneš request a mediator . Not wishing to sever his government's ties with Western Europe , Beneš reluctantly accepted. The British appointed Lord Runciman ,

3620-490: A partial mobilization in response to a possible German invasion. On 20 May, Hitler presented his generals with a draft plan of attack on Czechoslovakia that was codenamed Operation Green . He insisted that he would not "smash Czechoslovakia" militarily without "provocation", "a particularly favourable opportunity" or "adequate political justification." On 28 May, Hitler called a meeting of his service chiefs, ordered an acceleration of U-boat construction and brought forward

3801-547: A population of 227,399 people. Administratively the annexed area was divided between Frysztat County and Cieszyn County . The historian Dariusz Baliszewski wrote that during the annexation there was no co-operation between Polish and German troops, but there were cases of co-operation between Polish and Czech troops defending territory against Germans, for example in Bohumín . The Polish ultimatum finally led Beneš to decide, by his own account, to abandon any idea of resisting

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3982-452: A promise of "border's rectification", but the letter was delivered only on 26 September. The answer of Mościcki delivered on 27 September was evasive, but it was accompanied with the demand of Polish government to hand over two Trans-Olza counties immediately, as a prelude to ultimate settlement of the border dispute. Beneš's answer wasn't conclusive: he agreed to hand over the disputed territory to Poland but argued that it could not be done on

4163-479: A radio reception guide; and The Merchant Navy Programme , a show for seafarers presented by Malcolm Billings; The Morning Show , Good Morning Africa and PM , all presented by Pete Myers in the 1960s and 1970s. Since the late 1990s, the station has focused more on news, with bulletins added every half-hour following the outbreak of the Iraq War . News is at the core of the scheduling . A five-minute bulletin

4344-576: A reactionary element in the Conservative Party . Daladier believed that Hitler's ultimate goals were a threat. He told the British in a late April 1938 meeting that Hitler's real long-term aim was to secure "a domination of the Continent in comparison with which the ambitions of Napoleon were feeble." He went on to say: "Today it is the turn of Czechoslovakia. Tomorrow it will be the turn of Poland and Romania . When Germany has obtained

4525-415: A result of the settlement. The Sudeten Germans celebrated what they saw as their liberation. The imminent war, it seemed, had been avoided. The Nobel laureate , Thomas Mann , took to pen and pulpit in defense of his surrogate homeland proclaiming his pride at being a Czechoslovak citizen and praising the republic's achievements. He attacked a "Europe ready for slavery" writing that "The Czechoslovak people

4706-468: A secret Army meeting was held. Beck read his lengthy report to the assembled officers. They all agreed something had to be done to prevent certain disaster. Beck hoped they would all resign together but no one resigned except Beck. His replacement, General Franz Halder , sympathized with Beck and they both conspired with several top generals, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris (Chief of German Intelligence) and Graf von Helldorf (Berlin's Police Chief) to arrest Hitler

4887-475: A signal might reach around the world. In previous decades shortwave (and sometimes high-powered mediumwave) transmission was regarded as the main (and often the only ) way in which broadcasters could reach an international audience. In recent years the proliferation of technologies such as satellite broadcasting, the Internet, and rebroadcasts of programming on AM and FM within target nations has meant that this

5068-464: A single country, because domestic entertainment programs and information gathered by domestic news staff can be cheaply repackaged for non-domestic audiences. Governments typically have different motivations for funding international broadcasting. One clear reason is for ideological, or propaganda reasons. Many government-owned stations portray their nation in a positive, non-threatening way. This could be to encourage business investment in or tourism to

5249-568: A solution to avert a war. Chamberlain decided to do this after conferring with his advisors Lord Halifax , Sir John Simon , and Sir Samuel Hoare . The meeting was announced at a special press briefing at 10 Downing Street , and led to a swell of optimism in British public opinion. Chamberlain arrived by a chartered British Airways Lockheed Electra in Germany on 15 September and then arrived at Hitler's residence in Berchtesgaden for

5430-735: A speech at a Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg on the Sudeten crisis condemning the actions of the government of Czechoslovakia. Hitler denounced Czechoslovakia as being a fraudulent state that was in violation of international law's emphasis of national self-determination , claiming it was a Czech hegemony although the Germans , the Slovaks , the Hungarians , the Ukrainians and the Poles of

5611-636: A stronger signal and better reception, and with the later relay on the Island of Masirah in Oman. In August 1985, the service went off-air for the first time when workers went on strike in protest at the British government 's decision to ban a documentary featuring an interview with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin . Subsequently, financial pressures decreased the number and the types of services offered by

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5792-552: A wider audience through other methods (particularly the internet and satellite television) and are cutting back on (or even entirely dropping) shortwave. An international broadcaster has several options for reaching a foreign audience: An international broadcaster such as the BBC, Radio France International or Germany's Deutsche Welle, may use all the above methods. Several international broadcasters, such as Swiss Radio International , have abandoned shortwave broadcasting altogether, relying on Internet transmissions only. Others, such as

5973-425: Is a bigger trend towards TV (e.g. BBC World News, NHK World, CCTV-9) and news websites. Some services, such as Swiss Radio International, left shortwave altogether and exist in Internet form, Swissinfo . Radio Canada International ceased shortwave broadcasting in 2012 becoming a purely online service producing podcasts and maintaining a website in several languages. Radio Netherlands ceased broadcasting in 2012 and

6154-824: Is available up to eighteen hours a day in English across most parts of Asia, and in Arabic for the Middle East. With the addition of relays in Afghanistan and Iraq these services are accessible in most of the Middle and Near East in the evening. In Singapore, the BBC World Service in English is essentially treated as a domestic broadcaster, easily available 24/7 through long-term agreement with MediaCorp Radio . For many years Radio Television Hong Kong broadcast BBC World Service 24/7 but as of 12 February 2021, Hong Kong has banned

6335-622: Is broadcast at weekends. Other weekend sport shows include The Sports Hour and Stumped , a cricket programme co-produced with All India Radio and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . On Sundays the international, interdisciplinary discussion programme The Forum is broadcast. Outlook is a human interest programme which was first broadcast in July 1966 and presented for more than thirty years by John Tidmarsh . Trending describes itself as "explaining

6516-602: Is considered to be a data format, with email and RSS merely being refinements of the technology it can be said that international broadcasting has a deep relationship with modern-day datacasting. Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was an agreement reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany , the United Kingdom , the French Republic , and Fascist Italy . The agreement provided for

6697-496: Is generally transmitted at 01 past the hour, with a two-minute summary at 30 past the hour. Sometimes these are separate from other programming, or alternatively made integral to the programme (such as with The Newsroom , Newshour or Newsday ). In October 2024, it was announced that the bulletins would be broadcast on domestic BBC radio stations during the night. During such time slots as weeknights 11pm-12am GMT and that of Sportsworld , no news summaries are broadcast. As part of

6878-515: Is government-financed is propaganda – it's a fact, it's not negative'. Reports put the development in the context of criticism of the Russian government for curbing media freedom ahead of the 2008 Russian presidential election . Reporters Without Borders condemned the move as censorship. In 2011, BBC Kyrgyz service newsreader and producer Arslan Koichiev  [ ky ] resigned from his BBC post after revelations and claims of involvement in

7059-479: Is no longer necessarily the case. Transmitter output power has increased since 1920. Higher transmitter powers do guarantee better reception in the target area. Higher transmitter power in most cases counteracts the lesser effects of jamming . International stations generally use special directional antennas to aim the signal toward the intended audience and increase the effective power in that direction. Use of such antennas for international broadcasting began in

7240-576: Is not at all unusual, as the first commonly agreed international broadcast was a Morse Code telegram transmitted from US President Wilson to the German Kaiser (mid-1918) via a high powered longwave transmitter on the US East Coast (this important event in international broadcasting history was described in depth in the IEEE "The History of International Broadcasting" first volume). As Morse Code

7421-465: Is ready to take up a fight for liberty and transcends its own fate" and "It is too late for the British government to save the peace. They have lost too many opportunities." President Beneš of Czechoslovakia was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1939. Though the British and French were pleased, a British diplomat in Berlin claimed he had been informed by a member of Hitler's entourage that soon after

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7602-1078: Is still fairly small when compared to global radio listener numbers. The rural populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (as well as East Asia) have radio listener bases that are far larger than the largest international TV broadcaster could hope for, yet they could be considered underserved since the end of the Cold War (when these regions had more radio broadcasts targeted at them). Many international television broadcasters (as well as domestic television broadcasters) have set up accounts on streaming video sites like YouTube to allow their news and information broadcasts to be globally distributed. The viewer numbers for these sites may seem huge. Cable, TVRO and terrestrial television broadcasters probably have 100 to 1,000 times larger audiences for their international broadcasting content. International broadcasters known to maintain their own streaming video sites: Many international broadcasters (television or radio) can reach "unreachable" audiences via email and RSS feeds. This

7783-494: Is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing." On 28 September at 10:00 am, four hours before the deadline and with no agreement to Hitler's demand by Czechoslovakia, the British ambassador to Italy, Lord Perth , called Italy's Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano to request an urgent meeting. Perth informed Ciano that Chamberlain had instructed him to request that Mussolini enter

7964-590: The Anschluss of Austria to Germany, Henlein met with Hitler in Berlin on 28 March 1938, and was instructed to make demands unacceptable to the democratic Czechoslovak government, led by President Edvard Beneš . On 24 April, the SdP issued a series of demands known as the Karlsbader Programm . Henlein demanded autonomy for Germans in Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government responded by saying that it

8145-468: The Americas and Caribbean ; East Asia ; South Asia ; Australasia ; and the United Kingdom . There are also two separate online-only streams, a general one and the other being more news-oriented, known as News Internet . The service broadcasts 24 hours a day. The World Service states that its aim is to be "the world's best-known and most-respected voice in international broadcasting", while retaining

8326-550: The Black September incidents of September 1970. These facilities were privatised in 1997 as Merlin Communications, and later acquired and operated as part of a wider network for multiple broadcasters by VT Communications (now part of Babcock International Group ). It is also common for BBC programmes to air on Voice of America or ORF transmitters, while their programming is relayed by a station located inside

8507-628: The Cape Verde Islands . High speed shortwave telegraphy circuits were then installed from London to Australia, India, South Africa and Canada as the main element of the Imperial Wireless Chain from 1926. The Dutch began conducting experiments in the shortwave frequencies in 1925 from Eindhoven . The radio station PCJJ began the first international broadcasting on March 11, 1927, with programmes in Dutch for colonies in

8688-481: The Czech Republic ) towards the agreement. With Sudetenland gone to Germany, Czecho-Slovakia (as the state was now renamed) lost its defensible border with Germany and the Czechoslovak border fortifications. Without them its independence became more nominal than real. Czechoslovakia also lost 70 per cent of its iron/steel industry, 70 per cent of its electrical power and 3.5 million citizens to Germany as

8869-539: The Dutch West Indies and Dutch East Indies and in German, Spanish and English for the rest of the world. The popular Happy Station show was inaugurated in 1928 and became the world's longest-running shortwave programme, continuing until 1995, transferring to Radio Netherlands after World War II. In 1927, Marconi also turned his attention toward long distance broadcasting on shortwave. His first such broadcasts took place to commemorate Armistice Day in

9050-611: The German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland , where more than three million people, mainly ethnic Germans , lived. The pact is also known in some areas as the Munich Betrayal ( Czech : Mnichovská zrada ; Slovak : Mníchovská zrada ), because of a previous 1924 alliance agreement and a 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic. Germany had started

9231-404: The German general staff , noted that Hitler's change of heart in favour of quick action was because Czechoslovak defences were still being improvised, which would no longer be the case two to three years later, and British rearmament would not come into effect until 1941 or 1942. General Alfred Jodl noted in his diary that the partial Czechoslovak mobilization of 21 May had led Hitler to issue

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9412-459: The Kyrgyzstan revolution of April 2010 . He had been based in London, but often travelled to Kyrgyzstan and used BBC resources to agitate against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev , appearing on a Kyrgyz radio station under a pseudonym with a disguised voice. One of the leaders of the revolution, Aliyasbek Alymkulov, named the producer as his mentor and claimed that they had discussed preparations for

9593-591: The Sudeten German Party (SdP), which was "militant, populist, and openly hostile" to the Czechoslovak government. It soon captured two-thirds of the vote in districts with a heavy German population. Historians differ as to whether the SdP was a Nazi front organisation from its beginning, or if it evolved into one. By 1935, the SdP was the second-largest political party in Czechoslovakia as German votes concentrated on this party, and Czech and Slovak votes were spread among several parties. Shortly after

9774-561: The VOA 's philosophy, as presented to it by its then director Henry Loomis , not to broadcast to fully-developed allied countries in their respective languages should be adopted by the BBC. The reluctance of the BBC to drop those services was predicted also. On 1 May 1965, the service took its current name of BBC World Service . It expanded its reach with the opening of the Ascension Island relay in 1966, serving African audiences with

9955-471: The occupation of the Sudetenland by 10 October, and an international commission would decide the future of other disputed areas. Czechoslovakia was informed by Britain and France that it could either resist Nazi Germany alone or submit to the prescribed annexations. The Czechoslovak government, realizing the hopelessness of fighting the Nazis alone, reluctantly capitulated (30 September) and agreed to abide by

10136-494: The Allies' demands. Later that evening, Hitler grew worried that he had gone too far in pressuring Chamberlain, and telephoned Chamberlain's hotel suite, saying that he would accept annexing only the Sudetenland, with no designs on other territories, provided that Czechoslovakia begin the evacuation of ethnic Czechs from the German majority territories by 26 September at 8:00am. After being pressed by Chamberlain, Hitler agreed to have

10317-724: The Arab world; Israel's service, Kol Yisrael , served both to present the Israeli point of view to the world and to serve the Jewish diaspora , particularly behind the Iron Curtain . Radio RSA , as part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, was established in 1966 to promote the image of South Africa internationally and reduce criticism of apartheid. It continued in 1992, when the post-apartheid government renamed it Channel Africa . Ironically,

10498-707: The Atlantic Relay Station and the Caribbean Relay Company, a station in Antigua run jointly with Deutsche Welle . In addition, an exchange agreement with Radio Canada International gave access to their station in New Brunswick . However, "changing listening habits" led the World Service to end shortwave radio transmission directed to North America and Australasia on 1 July 2001. A shortwave listener coalition formed to oppose

10679-545: The BBC World Service in English is Jon Zilkha. The BBC World Service began on 19 December 1932 as the BBC Empire Service , broadcasting on shortwave and aimed principally at English speakers across the British Empire . In his first Christmas Message (1932), King George V characterised the service as intended for "men and women, so cut off by the snow, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of

10860-429: The BBC World Service, have abandoned shortwave transmissions to North America, relying on local relays, the Internet, and satellite transmissions. Most radio receivers in the world receive the mediumwave band (530 kHz to 1710 kHz), which at night is capable of reliable reception from 150 to 2,500 km distance from a transmitter. Mediumwave is used heavily all over the world for international broadcasting on

11041-600: The BBC in the past. Mandarin was heavily jammed by the People's Republic of China until shortwave transmissions for that service ceased but China continues to jam transmissions in Uzbek and has since started to jam transmissions in English throughout Asia. The BBC World Service is broadcast in Berlin on 94.8 MHz. FM relays are also available in Ceske Budjovice, Karlovy Vary, Plzen, Usti nad Labem, Zlin and Prague in

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11222-454: The BBC's World Service radio from its airwaves, following swiftly on the heels of China's decision to bar its World News television channels, seemingly in retaliation for Ofcom revoking the UK broadcasting licence of China Global Television Network. In the Philippines , DZRJ 810 AM and its FM sister station RJFM 100.3 broadcasts the BBC World Service in English from 06:00 to 20:00 PHT from Mondays to Saturdays. Although this region has seen

11403-536: The BBC's policy for breaking news, the Service is the first to receive a full report for foreign news. BBC World Service is available by subscription to Sirius XM's satellite radio service in the United States. Its Canadian affiliate, Sirius XM Canada , does the same in Canada. More than 300 public radio stations across the US carry World Service news broadcasts—mostly during the overnight and early-morning hours—over AM and FM radio, distributed by American Public Media (APM). Some public radio stations also carry

11584-561: The BBC. Audiences in countries with wide access to Internet services have less need for terrestrial radio. Broadcasts in German ended in March 1999, after research showed that the majority of German listeners tuned into the English-language service. Broadcasts in Dutch , Finnish , French, Hebrew , Italian, Japanese and Malay stopped for similar reasons. On 25 October 2005, the BBC announced that broadcasts in Bulgarian , Croatian , Czech , Greek , Hungarian, Kazakh , Polish, Slovak , Slovene and Thai would end by March 2006, to finance

11765-464: The British BBC launched international services in German , French and Italian. In 1942, the United States initiated its international broadcasting service, the Voice of America . In the Pacific theater, General Douglas MacArthur used shortwave radio to keep in touch with the citizens of the Japanese-occupied Philippine Islands. Several announcers who became well known in their countries included British Union of Fascists member William Joyce , who

11946-413: The British Foreign Secretary in a document named the BBC World Service Licence. The Chair of the BBC Board and the Foreign Secretary (or representatives) meet at least annually to review performance against these objectives, priorities and targets. The World Service was funded for decades by grant-in-aid through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 1 April 2014. Since then it has been funded by

12127-422: The Church of St. Martin in the Fields , weekly drama, English-language lessons, and comedy including Just A Minute . Other notable previous programmes include Letter from America by Alistair Cooke , which was broadcast for over fifty years; Off the Shelf with its daily reading from a novel, biography or history book; A Jolly Good Show , a music request programme presented by Dave Lee Travis ; Waveguide ,

12308-405: The Cold War. Western broadcasts (especially the US's RFE ) incited an expectation of support that had already been decided against by President Eisenhower. The BBC, unlike other broadcasters, did not lose credibility in the crisis. It showed sensitivity and acted as its own censor when diplomacy may have been jeopardised otherwise. In stark contrast stood the BBC's reporting on the Suez Crisis of

12489-468: The Czech Republic, Pristina, Riga, Tallinn, Tirana and Vilnius. The station is also available in Reykjavík, Iceland on 94.5 MHz FM. A BBC World Service channel is available on DAB+ in Brussels and Flanders and Amsterdam, the Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam. Following a national reorganisation of DAB multiplexes in October 2017, the station is available on DAB+ across the whole of Denmark . International broadcasting International broadcasting, in

12670-422: The Czechoslovak government had killed 300 Sudeten Germans. Hitler also expressed concern to Chamberlain about what he perceived as British "threats." Chamberlain responded that he had not issued "threats" and in frustration asked Hitler "Why did I come over here to waste my time?" Hitler responded that if Chamberlain was willing to accept the self-determination of the Sudeten Germans, he would be willing to discuss

12851-460: The Czechoslovak government. It demanded the immediate evacuation of Czechoslovak troops and police and gave Prague time until noon the following day. At 11:45 a.m. on 1 October the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry called the Polish ambassador in Prague and told him that Poland could have what it wanted but then requested a 24-hour delay. On 2 October, the Polish Army , commanded by General Władysław Bortnowski , annexed an area of 801.5 km with

13032-564: The Director of BBC News and Current Affairs. From 2016, 1,100 additional staff were recruited as part of an expansion of the World Service, about a 70% increase, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office providing £254 million/year for five years, partly a reversal of the government decision that the television licence fee would fund the service from 2014. This was the biggest service expansion since World War II . In 2022,

13213-598: The English service, 18 of the language services broadcast a radio service using the short wave , AM or FM bands. These are also available to listen live or can be listened to later (usually for seven days) over the Internet and, in the case of seven language services, can be downloaded as podcasts . News is also available from the BBC News 'app', which is available from both iTunes and the Google Play Store . In recent years, video content has also been used by

13394-639: The Foreign & Commonwealth Office would end in April 2014, when funding would mainly be from the television licence fee. From 2010, the service started transforming from a mainly radio-based operation to multi-media. In January 2011, the closure of the Albanian, Macedonian, and Serbian, as well as English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa, services was announced. The British government announced that

13575-572: The Fourth Plan, granting nearly all the demands of the agreement. The Sudeten Germans were under instruction from Hitler to avoid a compromise, and the SdP held demonstrations that provoked a police action in Ostrava on 7 September, in which two of their parliamentary deputies were arrested. The Sudeten Germans used the incident and false allegations of other atrocities as an excuse to break off further negotiations. On 12 September, Hitler made

13756-504: The Hindi, Indonesian, Kyrgyz, Nepali, Swahili, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi services ceased shortwave transmissions. As part of the 16% budget cut, 650 jobs were eliminated. In 2012, London staff moved from Bush House to Broadcasting House , so co-located with other BBC News departments. About 35% of its 1,518 full-time equivalent staff in 2014 were based overseas at 115 locations. From 2014 the service became part of World Service Group under

13937-608: The Munich Agreement, Hitler's determination to invade Czechoslovakia on 1 October 1938 had provoked a major crisis in the German command structure. The Chief of the General Staff, General Ludwig Beck, protested in a lengthy series of memos that it would start a world war that Germany would lose, and urged Hitler to put off the projected conflict. Hitler called Beck's arguments against war " kindische Kräfteberechnungen " ("childish force calculations"). On 4 August 1938,

14118-477: The Munich agreement read "Hitler gets less than his Sudeten demands" and reported that a "joyful crowd" hailed Daladier on his return to France and that Chamberlain was "wildly cheered" on his return to Britain. In France, the only political party to oppose the Munich Agreement was the Communist Party . The British population had expected an imminent war, and the "statesman-like gesture" of Chamberlain

14299-516: The Munich settlement. They were not invited to the conference and felt they had been betrayed by the British and French governments. Many Czechs and Slovaks refer to the Munich Agreement as the Munich Diktat ( Czech : Mnichovský diktát ; Slovak : Mníchovský diktát ). The phrase " Munich Betrayal " ( Mnichovská zrada ; Mníchovská zrada ) is also used because the military alliance Czechoslovakia had with France proved useless. This

14480-644: The Nationalist forces received a powerful Telefunken transmitter as a gift of Nazi Germany to aid their propaganda efforts, and until 1943 Radio Nacional de España collaborated with the Axis powers to retransmit in Spanish news from the official radio stations of Germany and Italy. During the Second World War , Russian, German, British, and Italian international broadcasting services expanded. In 1938

14661-599: The Overseas services joining them in 1958. Bush House subsequently became the home of the BBC World Service and the building itself has gained a global reputation with the audience of the service. However, the building was vacated in 2012 as a result of the Broadcasting House redevelopment and the end of the building's lease that year; the first service to move was the Burmese Service on 11 March 2012 and

14842-563: The Polish ambassador to France, told French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet that if France moved against Germany to defend Czechoslovakia, "We shall not move." Łukasiewicz also told Bonnet that Poland would oppose any attempt by Soviet forces to defend Czechoslovakia from Germany. Édouard Daladier told Jakob Suritz , the Soviet ambassador to France, "Not only can we not count on Polish support but we have no faith that Poland will not strike us in

15023-492: The Service relied on shortwave broadcasts, because of their ability to overcome barriers of censorship, distance, and spectrum scarcity. The BBC has maintained a worldwide network of shortwave relay stations since the 1940s, mainly in former British colonies. These cross-border broadcasts have also been used in special circumstances for emergency messages to British subjects abroad, such as the advice to evacuate Jordan during

15204-406: The Sudetenland being ceded to Germany. The discussions ended with a firm British-French plan in place. Britain and France demanded that Czechoslovakia cede to Germany all territories in which the German population represented over 50% of the Sudetenland's total population. In exchange for that concession, Britain and France would guarantee the independence of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia rejected

15385-621: The Sudetenland with no reductions would force Hitler to accept the agreement. Upon being told of this, Hitler responded "Does this mean that the Allies have agreed with Prague's approval to the transfer of the Sudetenland to Germany?", Chamberlain responded "Precisely", to which Hitler responded by shaking his head, saying that the Allied offer was insufficient. He told Chamberlain that he wanted Czechoslovakia to be completely dissolved and its territories redistributed to Germany, Poland, and Hungary, and told Chamberlain to take it or leave it. Chamberlain

15566-427: The UK. However, since the 1980s, satellite distribution has made it possible for local stations to relay BBC programmes. BBC World Service is not regulated by Ofcom as the BBC generally is. Instead, the BBC is responsible for editorial independence and setting strategic direction. It defines the remit, scope, annual budget and main commitments of the World Service, and agrees "objectives, targets and priorities" with

15747-569: The US in the 2000s. This is a popular method to reach listeners in cars that would otherwise not be accessible during that part of the day. However, in terms of the global international broadcasting audience the DAB listener base is very small—one can assume that it is less than 2% of the listener base globally. International broadcasting via 24 hour TV news channels has its origins in North America in

15928-563: The US operates similar services aimed at Cuba ( Radio y Televisión Martí ) and the People's Republic of China , Vietnam , Laos and North Korea ( Radio Free Asia ). The BBC World Service , the Voice of America , All India Radio and other western broadcasters have emphasized news broadcasts, particularly to countries that are experiencing repression or civil unrest and whose populations are unable to obtain news from non-government sources. In

16109-702: The US, Central and South America, and the Far East began in 1926. A second station, Zeesen , was added in 1931. In January 1932, the German Reichspost assumed control of the Nauen station and added to its shortwave and longwave capacity. Once Adolf Hitler assumed power in 1933, shortwave, under the Auslandsrundfunk (Foreign Radio Section), was regarded as a vital element of Nazi propaganda . German shortwave hours were increased from two hours

16290-400: The United Kingdom, Jan Masaryk , was elated upon hearing of the support for Czechoslovakia from British and French opponents of Hitler's plans, saying "The nation of Saint Wenceslas will never be a nation of slaves." On 25 September, Czechoslovakia agreed to the conditions previously agreed upon by Britain, France, and Germany. The next day, however, Hitler added new demands, insisting that

16471-518: The Web to be played back later, as " podcasts ". International broadcasting using the traditional audio-only method will not cease any time soon due to its cost efficiencies. However, international broadcasting via television is considered more strategically important at least since the early 2000s. The BBC World Service was the first broadcaster to consider setting up a satellite television news and information channel as far back as 1976, but ceded being

16652-511: The Western powers decided on war with Germany. However, these proposals and statements did not elicit any reaction from British and French governments that were bent on averting war by appeasing Germany." Hitler's adjutant, Fritz Wiedemann , recalled after the war that he was "very shocked" by Hitler's new plans to attack Britain and France three to four years after "deal[ing] with the situation" in Czechoslovakia. General Ludwig Beck , chief of

16833-581: The World Service in its entirety via HD Radio . The BBC and Public Radio International (PRI) co-produce the programme The World with WGBH Radio Boston , and the BBC was previously involved with The Takeaway morning news programme based at WNYC in New York City . BBC World Service programming also airs as part of CBC Radio One 's CBC Radio Overnight schedule in Canada. BBC shortwave broadcasts to this region were traditionally enhanced by

17014-470: The World Service reached an average of 450 million people a week (via TV, radio and online). In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo , in its biggest expansion since the 1940s. BBC World Service English maintains eight regional feeds with several programme variations, covering, respectively, East and Southern Africa ; West and Central Africa ; Europe and Middle East ;

17195-778: The World Service's largest audiences have been in Asia, the Middle East, Near East and South Asia. Transmission facilities in the UK and Cyprus were supplemented by the former BBC Eastern Relay Station in Oman and the Far Eastern Relay Station in Singapore, formerly in Malaysia. The East Asian Relay Station moved to Thailand in 1997 when Hong Kong was handed over to Chinese sovereignty. The relay station in Thailand

17376-532: The World Service. This table lists the various language services operated by the BBC World Service with start and closure dates, where known/applicable. The World Service in English mainly broadcasts news and analysis. The mainstays of the current schedule are Newsday , Newshour and The Newsroom . Daily science programmes include: Health Check , and Science in Action . Sportsworld , which often includes live commentary of Premier League football matches

17557-485: The World Service: 16 language services show video reports on the website, and the Arabic and Persian services have their own television channels. TV is also used to broadcast the radio service, with local cable and satellite operators providing the English network (and occasionally some local language services) free to air. The English service is also available on digital radio in the UK and Europe. Traditionally,

17738-644: The addition of a dedicated BBC European Service from 1941. Funding for these services—known administratively as the External Services of the BBC —came not from the domestic licence fee but from government grant-in-aid (from the Foreign Office budget). The External Services broadcast propaganda during the Second World War , on the German-language service Londoner Rundfunk  [ de ] especially against Nazi rule, believed in

17919-846: The agreement. The settlement gave Germany the Sudetenland starting 10 October, and de facto control over the rest of Czechoslovakia as long as Hitler promised to go no further. On 30 September after some rest, Chamberlain went to Hitler's apartment in the Prinzregentenstraße and asked him to sign a statement calling the Anglo-German Naval Agreement "symbolic of the desire of our two countries never to go to war with one another again." After Hitler's interpreter translated it for him, he happily agreed. On 30 September, upon his return to Britain, Chamberlain delivered his controversial " peace for our time " speech to crowds in London. The Czechoslovaks were dismayed with

18100-533: The air can reach them". First hopes for the Empire Service were low. The Director-General , Sir John Reith , said in the opening programme: Don't expect too much in the early days; for some time we shall transmit comparatively simple programmes, to give the best chance of intelligible reception and provide evidence as to the type of material most suitable for the service in each zone. The programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good. This address

18281-516: The back." However, the Polish government indicated multiple times (in March 1936 and May, June and August 1938) that it was prepared to fight Germany if the French decided to help Czechoslovakia: "Beck's proposal to Bonnet, his statements to Ambassador Drexel Biddle, and the statement noted by Vansittart, show that the Polish foreign minister was, indeed, prepared to carry out a radical change of policy if

18462-461: The border to Czechoslovakia and attack Czechoslovak units. The few who crossed, however, were repulsed by Czechoslovak forces and retreated to Poland. The Polish ambassador in Germany learned about the results of Munich Conference on 30 September from Ribbentrop , who assured him that Berlin conditioned the guarantees for the remainder of Czechoslovakia on the fulfilment of Polish and Hungarian territorial demands. Polish foreign minister Józef Beck

18643-476: The border with Czechoslovakia, without attacking. The Soviet Union announced its willingness to come to Czechoslovakia's assistance, provided that the Red Army would be able to cross Polish and Romanian territory. Both countries refused to allow the Soviet army to use their territories. An emergency meeting of the main European powers–not including Czechoslovakia, although their representatives were present in

18824-600: The case of emergencies, a nation may broadcast special programs overseas to inform listeners what is occurring. During Iraqi missile strikes on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, Kol Israel relayed its domestic service on its shortwave service. Besides ideological reasons, many stations are run by religious broadcasters and are used to provide religious education, religious music, or worship service programs. For example, Vatican Radio , established in 1931, broadcasts such programs. Another station, such as HCJB or Trans World Radio will carry brokered programming from evangelists. In

19005-547: The case of the Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , both governmental and religious programming is provided. Stations also broadcast to international audiences for cultural reasons. Often a station has an official mandate to keep expatriates in touch with their home country. Many broadcasters often relay their national domestic service on shortwave for that reason. Other reasons include teaching

19186-656: The change. The BBC broadcasts to Central America and South America in several languages. It is possible to receive the Western African shortwave radio broadcasts from eastern North America, but the BBC does not guarantee reception in this area. It has ended its specialist programming to the Falkland Islands but continues to provide a stream of World Service programming to the Falkland Islands Radio Service . For several decades,

19367-568: The claims of ethnic Germans in Poland and Hungary also be satisfied. On 26 September, Chamberlain sent Sir Horace Wilson to carry a personal letter to Hitler declaring that the Allies wanted a peaceful resolution to the Sudeten crisis. Later that evening, Hitler made his response in a speech at the Berlin Sportpalast ; he claimed that the Sudetenland was "the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe" and gave Czechoslovakia

19548-636: The clear implication being that Mussolini supported Germany in the crisis. On 20 September, German opponents within the military met to discuss the final plans of a plot they had developed to overthrow the Nazi regime. The meeting was led by General Hans Oster , the deputy head of the Abwehr (Germany's counter-espionage agency). Other members included Captain Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz  [ de ] , and other military officers leading

19729-503: The construction of his new battleships, Bismarck and Tirpitz , to spring 1940. He demanded that the increase in the firepower of the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau be accelerated. While recognizing that this would still be insufficient for a full-scale naval war with Britain, Hitler hoped it would be a sufficient deterrent. Ten days later, Hitler signed a secret directive for war against Czechoslovakia to begin no later than 1 October. On 22 May, Juliusz Łukasiewicz ,

19910-454: The contemporary Czech Constitutional court . In the following days, Czechoslovak forces suffered over 100 personnel killed in action, hundreds wounded and over 2,000 abducted to Germany. On 18 September, Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini made a speech in Trieste , Italy, where he declared "If there are two camps, for and against Prague, let it be known that Italy has chosen its side", with

20091-501: The country actually wanted to be in a union with the Czechs. Hitler accused Beneš of seeking to gradually exterminate the Sudeten Germans and claimed that since Czechoslovakia's creation, over 600,000 Germans had been intentionally forced out of their homes under the threat of starvation if they did not leave. He alleged that Beneš's government was persecuting Germans along with Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks and accused Beneš of threatening

20272-411: The days following Munich, Chamberlain received more than 20,000 letters and telegrams of thanks, and gifts including 6000 assorted bulbs from grateful Dutch admirers and a cross from Pope Pius XI . Poland was building up a secret Polish organization in the area of Trans-Olza from 1935. In summer 1938, Poland tried to organize guerrilla groups in the area. On 21 September, Poland officially requested

20453-411: The early 1980s. CNN technically was the first 24-hour international news channel as it was made available in Canada soon after launch. The BBC World Service considered setting up a global TV news channel as far back as 1975, but abandoned the idea for internal reasons. Notwithstanding a large number of international 24-hour television news and information broadcasters, the television percentage of viewers

20634-659: The early days of the war at least to have weak support. Its French service Radio Londres also sent coded messages to the French Resistance . George Orwell broadcast many news bulletins on the Eastern Service during the Second World War. The Belgian government in exile broadcast from Radio Belgique . The 1956 Hungarian uprising held enormous implications for international radio broadcasting as it related to western foreign policy during

20815-445: The eve of the German invasion, because it would disrupt Czechoslovak preparations for war. Poles recognised the answer as playing for time. Polish diplomatic actions were accompanied by placing army along the Czechoslovak border on 23–24 September and by giving an order to the so-called "battle units" of Trans-Olza Poles and the "Trans-Olza Legion", a paramilitary organisation that was made up of volunteers from all over Poland, to cross

20996-436: The final broadcast from Bush House was a news bulletin broadcast at 11.00 GMT on 12 July 2012. The BBC World Service encompasses an English 24-hour global radio network and separate services in 27 other languages. News and information is available in these languages on the BBC website , with many having RSS feeds and specific versions for use on mobile devices, and some also offer email notification of stories. In addition to

21177-613: The first foreign-language service was launched—in Arabic. Programmes in German, Italian and French began broadcasting on 27 September 1938 projecting the British quest for peace in the days prior to the conference on the Munich Agreement . By the end of 1942, the BBC had started broadcasts in all major European languages. The Empire Service was renamed the BBC Overseas Service in November 1939, supplemented by

21358-465: The first to CNN (that had primary access to Canada soon after launch). The defunct BBC World Service Antigua Relay Station was built in 1976, but its setup costs were not known to have been part of the BBCWS decision processes at the time. In the early 1990s, many international (as well as domestic) 24-hour news and information channels launched as part of the post- Cold War prosperity bubble. There

21539-437: The five years from 2017. From 2016 to 2022, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office contributed over £470 million to the World Service via its World 2020 Programme, about 80% of which is categorised as Overseas Development Assistance, amounting to about a quarter of the World Service budget. In November 2022, the government confirmed the continuing involvement of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in funding

21720-468: The government of Czechoslovakia of being a client regime of France , claiming that the French Minister of Aviation Pierre Cot had said, "We need this state as a base from which to drop bombs with greater ease to destroy Germany's economy and its industry." On 13 September, after internal violence and disruption in Czechoslovakia ensued, Chamberlain asked Hitler for a personal meeting to find

21901-459: The independence of Czechoslovakia and the Treaty of Trianon defined the borders of the new state, which was divided in to the regions of Bohemia and Moravia in the west and Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus' in the east, including more than three million Germans, 22.95% of the total population of the country. They lived mostly in border regions of the historical Czech Lands for which they coined

22082-485: The integrity of Czechoslovakia by occupying the remainder of the country and creating the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . The conquered nation's significant military arsenal played an important role in Germany's invasions of Poland and France in 1939 and 1940. Much of Europe celebrated the Munich Agreement, as they considered it a way to prevent a major war on the continent. Adolf Hitler announced that it

22263-513: The intention of forcing the West into putting pressure on the Czechoslovaks to make concessions. Hitler hoped that the Czechoslovaks would refuse and that the West would then feel morally justified in leaving the Czechoslovaks to their fate. In August, Germany sent 750,000 soldiers along the border of Czechoslovakia, officially as part of army maneuvres. On 4 or 5 September, Beneš submitted

22444-524: The internet and satellite. A number of international services such as the original BBC Empire Service , Radio Netherlands , France's Poste Colonial (now Radio France International ) and others were founded in part with the goal of helping draw overseas empires closer to the mother country and provide closer cultural and communication connections between the home country and its colonies, a role that became largely obsolete due to decolonization . Because of this many broadcasters are discovering they can reach

22625-741: The isolationist Albania under Enver Hoxha , virtually a hermit kingdom , became one of the most prolific international broadcasters during the latter decades of the Cold War, with Radio Tirana one of the top five broadcasters in terms of hours of programming produced. Estimated total programme hours per week of some external broadcasters At the end of the Cold War , many international broadcasters cut back on hours and foreign languages broadcast, or reemphasized other language services. For example, in 1984, Radio Canada International broadcast in English, French, German, Spanish, Czech/Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. In 2005, RCI broadcast in English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish. There

22806-413: The issue. After the meeting, Daladier flew to London on 16 September to meet with British officials to discuss a course of action. The situation in Czechoslovakia became tenser that day, with the Czechoslovak government issuing an arrest warrant for Henlein, who had arrived in Germany a day earlier to take part in the negotiations. The French proposals ranged from waging war against Germany to supporting

22987-512: The launch in 2007 of television news services in Arabic and Persian . Additionally, Romanian broadcasts ceased on 1 August 2008. In 2007, the last FM broadcast of BBC News Russian was discontinued at the order of the Russian government. Finam owned Bolshoye Radio, the last of three services to drop the BBC Russia broadcasts. A spokesman for the organization claimed that 'any media which

23168-453: The launch of the only two foreign language television channels, several other services have had their radio services closed as a result of budget cuts and redirection of resources. Japan and Korea have little tradition of World Service listening, although during the Second World War and in the 1970s to 1980s, shortwave listening was popular in Japan. In those two countries, the BBC World Service

23349-528: The limited war against the Czechs which he had been aiming for all summer. In early October, Chamberlain's press secretary asked for a public declaration of German friendship with Britain to strengthen Chamberlain's domestic position; Hitler instead delivered speeches denouncing Chamberlain's "governessy interference." In August 1939, shortly before the invasion of Poland, Hitler told his generals: "Our enemies are men below average, not men of action, not masters. They are little worms. I saw them at Munich." Before

23530-409: The long-established shortwave frequency of 9.74 MHz was changed to 9.9 MHz. The largest audiences are in English, Hindi , Urdu , Nepali , Bengali , Sinhala , Tamil , Marathi and other major languages of South Asia, where BBC broadcasters are household names. The Persian service is the de facto national broadcaster of Afghanistan , along with its Iranian audience. The World Service

23711-404: The matter. Hitler also convinced Chamberlain that he did not truly wish to destroy Czechoslovakia, but that he believed that upon a German annexation of the Sudetenland the country's minorities would each secede and cause the country to collapse. Chamberlain and Hitler held discussions for three hours, and the meeting adjourned. Chamberlain flew back to Britain and met with his cabinet to discuss

23892-536: The meeting with Chamberlain, Hitler had furiously said: "Gentlemen, this has been my first international conference and I can assure you that it will be my last." On another occasion, he had been heard saying of Chamberlain: "If ever that silly old man comes interfering here again with his umbrella, I'll kick him downstairs and jump on his stomach in front of the photographers." In one of his public speeches after Munich, Hitler declared: "Thank God we have no umbrella politicians in this country." Hitler felt cheated of

24073-503: The meeting. The flight was one of the first times a head of state or diplomatic official flew to a diplomatic meeting in an airplane , as the tense situation left little time to take a train or boat . Henlein flew to Germany on the same day. That day, Hitler and Chamberlain held discussions in which Hitler insisted that the Sudeten Germans must be allowed to exercise the right of national self-determination and be able to join Sudetenland with Germany. Hitler repeatedly falsely claimed that

24254-487: The mid-1930s and became prominent by the 1950s. By using antennas which focus most of their energy in one direction, a modern station may achieve the equivalent, in that direction, of tens of millions of watts of radio power. Some international broadcasters have become available via digital audio broadcasting (DAB) in Europe in the 1990s, and in a similar limited way in the Americas via in-band FM ( IBOC ) DAB systems in

24435-437: The moment he gave the invasion order. This plan would only work if Britain issued a strong warning and a letter to the effect that they would fight to preserve Czechoslovakia. This would help to convince the German people that certain defeat awaited Germany. Agents were therefore sent to England to tell Chamberlain that an attack on Czechoslovakia was planned, and of their intention to overthrow Hitler if this occurred. The proposal

24616-409: The nation. Another reason is to combat a negative image produced by other nations or internal dissidents, or insurgents. Radio RSA , the broadcasting arm of the apartheid South African government, is an example of this. A third reason is to promote the ideology of the broadcaster. For example, a program on Radio Moscow from the 1960s to the 1980s was What is Communism? A second reason is to advance

24797-590: The nationalities with being branded traitors if they were not loyal to the country. He stated that he, as the head of state of Germany, would support the right of the self-determination of fellow Germans in the Sudetenland. He condemned Beneš for his government's recent execution of several German protesters. He accused Beneš of being belligerent and threatening behaviour towards Germany which, if war broke out, would result in Beneš forcing Sudeten Germans to fight against their will against Germans from Germany. Hitler accused

24978-504: The negotiations and urge Hitler to delay the ultimatum. At 11:00 am, Ciano met Mussolini and informed him of Chamberlain's proposition; Mussolini agreed with it and responded by telephoning Italy's ambassador to Germany and told him "Go to the Fuhrer at once, and tell him that whatever happens, I will be at his side, but that I request a twenty-four-hour delay before hostilities begin. In the meantime, I will study what can be done to solve

25159-405: The new name Sudetenland , which bordered on Germany and the newly created country of Austria . The Sudeten Germans were not consulted on whether they wished to be citizens of Czechoslovakia. Although the constitution guaranteed equality for all citizens, there was a tendency among political leaders to transform the country "into an instrument of Czech and Slovak nationalism ." Some progress

25340-514: The news of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 10, 1918. Guglielmo Marconi pioneered the use of short wave radio for long-distance transmissions in the early 1920s. Using a system of parabolic reflector antennae, Marconi's assistant, Charles Samuel Franklin , rigged up a large antenna at Poldhu Wireless Station , Cornwall , running on 25 kW of power. In June and July 1923, wireless transmissions were completed during nights on 97 meters from Poldhu to Marconi's yacht Elettra in

25521-828: The official service of the Soviet Union (renamed the Voice of Russia , following the collapse of the Soviet Union). Clarence W. Jones started transmitting on Christmas Day, 1931 from Christian missionary radio station HCJB in Quito , Ecuador . Broadcasting in South Asia was launched in 1925 in Ceylon – Radio Ceylon , now the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation is the oldest in the region. Shortwave broadcasting from Nauen in Germany to

25702-467: The oil and wheat it needs, she will turn on the West. Certainly we must multiply our efforts to avoid war. But that will not be obtained unless Great Britain and France stick together, intervening in Prague for new concessions but declaring at the same time that they will safeguard the independence of Czechoslovakia. If, on the contrary, the Western Powers capitulate again they will only precipitate

25883-469: The overseas language services. The building also contains an integrated newsroom used by the international World Service, the international television channel BBC World News , the domestic television and radio BBC News bulletins, the BBC News Channel and BBC Online . At its launch, the Service was located along with most radio output in Broadcasting House. However, following the explosion of

26064-630: The planned coup d'etat met at the meeting. On 22 September, Chamberlain, about to board his plane to go to Germany for further talks at Bad Godesberg , told the press who met him there that "My objective is peace in Europe, I trust this trip is the way to that peace." Chamberlain arrived in Cologne , where he received a lavish grand welcome with a German band playing " God Save the King " and Germans giving Chamberlain flowers and gifts. Chamberlain had calculated that fully accepting German annexation of all of

26245-548: The previous appeasement of Hitler had shown, France and Britain were intent on avoiding war. The French government did not wish to face Germany alone and took its lead from British Conservative government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain . He considered the Sudeten German grievances justified and believed Hitler's intentions to be limited. Both Britain and France, therefore, advised Czechoslovakia to accede to Germany's demands. Beneš resisted and, on 19 May, initiated

26426-472: The problem." Hitler received Mussolini's message while in discussions with the French ambassador. Hitler responded "My good friend, Benito Mussolini, has asked me to delay for twenty-four hours the marching orders of the German army, and I agreed." Of course, this was no concession, as the invasion date was set for 1 October 1938. Upon speaking with Chamberlain, Lord Perth gave Chamberlain's thanks to Mussolini as well as Chamberlain's request that Mussolini attend

26607-403: The proposed solution. On 17 September 1938 Hitler ordered the establishment of Sudetendeutsches Freikorps , a paramilitary organization that took over the structure of Ordnersgruppe, an organization of ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia that had been dissolved by the Czechoslovak authorities the previous day due to its implication in a large number of terrorist activities. The organization

26788-556: The reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, and Deutsche Welle took over its transmitters and frequencies. The Cold War led to increased international broadcasting (and jamming ), as Communist and non-Communist states attempted to influence each other's domestic population. Some of the most prominent Western broadcasters were the Voice of America , the BBC World Service , and the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty . The Soviet Union's most prominent service

26969-483: The revolution. According to London newspaper the Evening Standard , "Mr Alymkulov claimed that Koichiev arranged secret meetings "through the BBC" and organised the march at the presidential palace on 7 April 2010" In October 2010, the UK government announced that it was reducing the service’s revenue funding by 16% and its capital funding by 52% by 2017. This necessitated over 650 staff leaving. Funding from

27150-409: The same year. Although the British government tried to censor the BBC, it continued its even-handed reporting to both home as well as all foreign audiences. The row had the government seriously consider taking over the service when then prime minister Anthony Eden wanted to ensure that only the government line—that the British and French only invaded Eqypt to keep peace and because its president Nasser

27331-630: The same year. He continued running a regular international broadcast that was picked up around the world, with programming from the 2LO station, then run by the BBC . The success of this operation caught the BBC's attention who rented out a shortwave transmitting station in Chelmsford , with the callsign G5SW, to Marconi. The BBC Empire Service was finally inaugurated on December 19, 1932, with transmissions aimed towards Australia and New Zealand. Other notable early international broadcasters included Vatican Radio (February 12, 1931), Radio Moscow ,

27512-593: The stories the world is sharing..." Regular music programmes were reintroduced with the autumn schedule in 2015. Many programmes, particularly speech-based ones, are also available as podcasts. Business Daily is a weekday live international business news programme, which broadcasts from 8:32:30am to 8:59:00am UK time from Broadcasting House in London. Previous broadcasts included popular music programmes presented by John Peel and classical music programmes presented by Edward Greenfield . There have also been religious programmes, of mostly Anglican celebration and often from

27693-536: The supervision of German and Czechoslovak forces. The memorandum also stated that if Czechoslovakia did not agree to the German demands by 2 pm on 28 September, Germany would take the Sudetenland by force. On the same day, Chamberlain returned to Britain and announced that Hitler demanded the annexation of the Sudetenland without delay. The announcement enraged those in Britain and France who wanted to confront Hitler once and for all, even if it meant war, and its supporters gained strength. The Czechoslovak Ambassador to

27874-486: The three Balkan countries had wide access to international information, and so broadcasts in the local languages had become unnecessary. This decision reflected the financial situation the Corporation faced following transfer of responsibility for the Service from the Foreign Office, so that it would in future have been funded from within licence-fee income. The Russian, Ukrainian, Mandarin Chinese, Turkish, Vietnamese and Spanish for Cuba services ceased radio broadcasting, and

28055-409: The town, or the Soviet Union , an ally to both France and Czechoslovakia–took place in Munich, Germany, on 29–30 September 1938. An agreement was quickly reached on Hitler's terms, and signed by the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, and Italy. The Czechoslovak mountainous borderland marked a natural border between the Czech state and the Germanic states since the early Middle Ages; it also presented

28236-468: The ultimatum set for 1 October (the same date that Operation Green was set to begin). Hitler then said to Chamberlain that this was one concession that he was willing to make to the Prime Minister as a "gift" out of respect for the fact that Chamberlain had been willing to back down somewhat on his earlier position. Hitler went on to say that upon annexing the Sudetenland, Germany would hold no further territorial claims upon Czechoslovakia and would enter into

28417-416: The war they wish to avoid." Perhaps discouraged by the arguments of French military leaders and civilian officials regarding their unprepared military and weak financial situation, and still traumatized by France's bloodbath in World War I, which he had personally witnessed, Daladier ultimately let Chamberlain have his way. On his return to Paris, Daladier, who had expected a hostile crowd, was acclaimed. In

28598-529: The war, the radio service operated in four languages. The British launched Radio SEAC from Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during World War II. The station broadcast radio programs to the allied armed forces across the region from their headquarters in Ceylon. Following the war and German partition, each Germany developed its own international broadcasting station: Deutsche Welle , using studios in Cologne , West Germany, and Radio Berlin International (RBI) in East Germany. RBI's broadcasts ceased shortly before

28779-569: Was Radio Moscow and China used Radio Peking (then Radio Beijing , now China Radio International ). In addition to the U.S.-Soviet cold war, the Chinese-Russian border dispute led to an increase of the numbers of transmitters aimed at the two nations, and the development of new techniques such as playing tapes backwards for reel-to-reel recorders. West Germany resumed regular shortwave broadcasts using Deutsche Welle on May 3, 1953. Its Julich transmitter site began operation in 1956, with eleven 100-kW Telefunken transmitters. The Wertachtal site

28960-418: Was addressing Parliament, and Chamberlain suddenly announced the conference and his acceptance to attend at the end of the speech to cheers. When United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned the conference had been scheduled, he telegraphed Chamberlain, "Good man." Discussions began at the Führerbau immediately after Chamberlain and Daladier arrived, giving them little time to consult. The meeting

29141-428: Was also reflected by the fact that especially the French government had expressed the view that Czechoslovakia would be considered as being responsible for any resulting European war should the Czechoslovak Republic defend herself with force against German incursions. The slogan " About us, without us! " ( O nás bez nás! ; O nás bez nás! ) summarizes the feelings of the people of Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia and

29322-422: Was another burst of global news channels launching in the late 2000s as part the developing world trying to catch up with the developed world in this area. Broadcasters in one country have several reasons to reach out to an audience in other countries. Commercial broadcasters may simply see a business opportunity to sell advertising or subscriptions to a broader audience. This is more efficient than broadcasting to

29503-483: Was at first greeted with acclaim. He was greeted as a hero by the royal family and invited on the balcony at Buckingham Palace before he had presented the agreement to the British Parliament . The generally positive reaction quickly soured, despite royal patronage. However, there was opposition from the start. Clement Attlee and the Labour Party opposed the agreement, in alliance with two Conservative MPs, Duff Cooper and Vyvyan Adams , who had been seen up to then as

29684-450: Was authorized in 1972 and began with four 500-kW transmitters. By 1989, there were 15 transmitters, four of which relayed the Voice of America. Meanwhile, in East Germany, the Nauen site began transmitting Radio DDR, later Radio Berlin International, on October 15, 1959. In addition to these states, international broadcast services grew in Europe and the Middle East . Under the presidency of Gamal Nasser , Egyptian transmitters covered

29865-407: Was breaking international law—would reach the home (and international) audience. By the end of the 1940s, the number of broadcast languages had expanded and reception had improved, following the opening of a relay in Malaya and of the Limassol relay in Cyprus in 1957. Also in 1957, a number of foreign language services were discontinued, or reduced. In 1962, the Foreign Office argued that

30046-457: Was closed during January 2017, and in Singapore during July 2023; currently, a relay station in Masirah , Oman serves the Asian region. Together, these facilities have given the BBC World Service an easily accessible signal in regions where shortwave listening has traditionally been popular. The English shortwave frequencies of 6.195 (49m band), 9.74 (31m band), 15.31/15.36 (19m band) and 17.76/17.79 (16m band) were widely known. On 25 March 2018,

30227-440: Was disappointed with such a turn of events. In his own words the conference was "an attempt by the directorate of great powers to impose binding decisions on other states (and Poland cannot agree on that, as it would then be reduced to a political object that others conduct at their will)." As a result, at 11:45 p.m. on 30 September, 11 hours after the Czechoslovak government accepted the Munich terms, Poland gave an ultimatum to

30408-432: Was generally applauded. Prime Minister Daladier of France did not believe, as one scholar put it, that a European War was justified "to maintain three million Germans under Czech sovereignty." Gallup Polls in Britain, France, and the United States indicated that the majority of people supported the agreement. President Beneš of Czechoslovakia was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1939. The New York Times headline on

30589-405: Was held in English , French , and German . A deal was reached on 29 September, and at about 1:30 a.m. on 30 September 1938, Adolf Hitler , Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and Édouard Daladier signed the Munich Agreement. The agreement was officially introduced by Mussolini although in fact the Italian plan was nearly identical to the Godesberg proposal: the German army was to complete

30770-411: Was his last territorial claim in Northern Europe. Today, the Munich Agreement is widely regarded as a failed act of appeasement , and the term has become "a byword for the futility of appeasing expansionist totalitarian states." The First Czechoslovak Republic was created in 1918 after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I . The Treaty of Saint-Germain recognized

30951-436: Was made to integrate the Germans and other minorities, but they continued to be underrepresented in the government and the army. Moreover, the Great Depression beginning in 1929 impacted the highly industrialized and export-oriented Sudeten Germans more than it did the Czech and Slovak populations. By 1936, 60 percent of the unemployed people in Czechoslovakia were Germans. In 1933, Sudeten German leader Konrad Henlein founded

31132-645: Was one of the two " Lord Haw-Haw "s; Frenchmen Paul Ferdonnet and André Olbrecht , called "the traitors of [Radio] Stuttgart"; and Americans Frederick William Kaltenbach , "Lord Hee-Haw", and Mildred Gillars , one of the two announcers called " Axis Sally ". Listeners to German programs often tuned in for curiosity's sake—at one time, German radio had half a million listeners in the U.S.--but most of them soon lost interest. Japan had " Tokyo Rose ", who broadcast Japanese propaganda in English, along with American music to help ensure listeners. During World War II, Vatican Radio's news broadcasts were banned in Germany. During

31313-408: Was only available via shortwave and the Internet. As of September 2007, a satellite transmission (subscription required) became available by Skylife (Channel 791) in South Korea. In November 2016, the BBC World Service announced it plans to start broadcasts in Korean. BBC Korean , a radio and web service, started on 25 September 2017. The Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq and Myanmar /Burma have all jammed

31494-495: Was prepared to fight. The Soviet Union announced its willingness to come to Czechoslovakia's assistance, provided that the Red Army would be able to cross Polish and Romanian territory. Both countries refused to allow the Soviet army to use their territories. In the early hours of 24 September, Hitler issued the Godesberg Memorandum , which demanded that Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland to Germany no later than 28 September, with plebiscites to be held in unspecified areas under

31675-490: Was read out five times as the BBC broadcast it live to different parts of the world. Recording from original BBC archive disks YouTube The BBC would continue to claim independence from the Government during the war, but as Asa Briggs noted, a complete picture of the wartime BBC would have to include 'persistent references' to the various connected agencies of the government. Chiefly, the Political Warfare Executive , responsible for all broadcasts to Europe. On 3 January 1938,

31856-413: Was rejected by the British Cabinet and no such letter was issued. Accordingly, the proposed removal of Hitler did not go ahead. On this basis it has been argued that the Munich Agreement kept Hitler in power—Halder remained bitter about Chamberlain's refusal for decades after the war—although whether the attempted removal would have been any more successful than the 1944 plot is doubtful. The agreement

32037-603: Was shaken by this statement. Hitler went on to tell Chamberlain that since their last meeting on the 15th, Czechoslovakia's actions, which Hitler claimed included killings of Germans, had made the situation unbearable for Germany. Later in the meeting, a deception was undertaken to influence and put pressure on Chamberlain: one of Hitler's aides entered the room to inform Hitler of more Germans being killed in Czechoslovakia, to which Hitler screamed in response "I will avenge every one of them. The Czechs must be destroyed." The meeting ended with Hitler refusing to make any concessions to

32218-401: Was sheltered, trained and equipped by German authorities and conducted cross-border terrorist operations into Czechoslovak territory. Relying on the Convention for the Definition of Aggression , Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš and the government-in-exile later regarded 17 September 1938 as the beginning of the undeclared German-Czechoslovak war. This understanding has been assumed also by

32399-464: Was soon followed by the First Vienna Award on 2 November 1938, separating largely Hungarian inhabited territories in southern Slovakia and southern Subcarpathian Rus' from Czechoslovakia. On 30 November 1938, Czechoslovakia ceded to Poland small patches of land in the Spiš and Orava regions. In March 1939, the First Slovak Republic , a German puppet state , proclaimed its independence. Shortly afterwards, Hitler reneged on his promises to respect

32580-490: Was transformed into RNW Media , an NGO that trains youth in developing countries to use digital media for social change. Radio Moscow's successor, Voice of Russia , was disbanded in 2014 and replaced by Sputnik , a multimedia news platform, which does not broadcast on shortwave. Other shortwave broadcasters have ceased operations entirely since the 1990s. In addition, new standards, such as Digital Radio Mondiale , are being introduced, as well as sending programs over

32761-521: Was willing to provide more minority rights to the German minority but was initially reluctant to grant autonomy. The SdP gained 88% of the ethnic German votes in May 1938. With tension high between the Germans and the Czechoslovak government, Beneš, on 15 September 1938, secretly offered to give 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) of Czechoslovakia to Germany, in exchange for a German agreement to admit 1.5 to 2.0 million Sudeten Germans expelled by Czechoslovakia. Hitler did not reply. As

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