51-647: Humanist Society Scotland is a Scottish registered charity that promotes humanist views and offers humanist wedding, funeral, and baby-naming ceremonies . It is a member of the European Humanist Federation and Humanists International . In the 21st century, the HSS has grown in tandem with the rapid pace of secularisation in Scotland. Since 2016, it has been the largest provider of weddings in Scotland, performing more marriages each year than
102-409: 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
153-470: 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 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
204-575: A charity. The Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 28 June 2023, and became an Act on 9 August 2023. This Act makes changes to the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. It will: The measures in this Act are planned to be introduced on a phased basis, with the first changes taking effect on 1 April 2024. Further changes will be introduced on 1 October 2024, and
255-634: A civil marriage. In 2013 the group, along with the Edinburgh Secular Society , started a campaign against religious representation on council education committees in Scotland. In 2016 the Society took a judicial review of the decision to not allow children and young people to opt out of compulsory religious observance in Scottish schools, after a UN Committee called for a change in practice in Scotland. The Society supported both
306-687: 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 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
357-801: A distinct Scottish voice in complement to the British Humanist Association . In 2018, the Society reported having over 15,000 members. The official symbol of the Society is an adaptation of the Happy Human symbol which incorporates the Saltire . The author Christopher Brookmyre previously held the post of President between 2008 and 2015. The Society campaigns for a secular state in Scotland, and to abolish religious privilege. Its main efforts have concentrated on seeking to allow legal humanist weddings, which succeeded in 2005, and to secularise state education . In January 2001,
408-405: 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
459-464: 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
510-519: 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 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
561-486: A survey showing some positive attitudes towards the organization from the charity sector and the public. OSCR performs a range of functions which includes: OSCR also has a role to protect whistleblowers from detrimental treatment. Under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 , OSCR is a "prescribed person" and therefore allowed to accept disclosures from people who carry out paid work for
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#1732771902472612-484: 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
663-403: 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 a year, listeners had to rely on FM broadcasts or DAB for mainstream Radio 4 broadcasts – the number relying solely on long wave
714-597: Is charged with developing a regulatory framework for Scottish charities, where each charity is clear about its rights and responsibilities. This framework should also foster public confidence in charities. OSCR is directly answerable to the Scottish Parliament . OSCR is based in Dundee . In 1981 the Law Society of Scotland announced support for a register through which all charities in Scotland could record their purposes, financial details, and accounts. Under section 6 of
765-526: 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 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
816-590: 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 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
867-594: 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
918-720: 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 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
969-688: 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 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
1020-455: The Church of Scotland , Catholic Church in Scotland , or any religious group. The Humanist Society of Scotland was formed in 1989 out of an association of local humanist groups around Scotland, the Society's objective is "to represent the views of people in Scotland who wish to lead good and worthwhile lives guided by reason and compassion rather than religion or superstition", and to provide
1071-619: The Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben . The pips are only accurate on FM, and LW; there 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
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#17327719024721122-809: The Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 , the Lord Advocate was given the power to make inquiries either for general or specific purposes and to obtain various types of information from charities. Following the Scotland Act and the establishment of both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, this power was exercised by the Scottish Ministers. Initially, charity regulation
1173-539: 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, the process was expensive and not encouraged by the General Post Office as it tied up large parts of
1224-751: The National Health Service in Scotland. Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator The Scottish Charity Regulator ( OSCR ; Scottish Gaelic : Oifis Riaghladair Carthannais na h-Alba ) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government with responsibility for the regulation of charities in Scotland . OSCR is the independent regulator and registrar for more than 25,000 Scottish charities. OSCR
1275-531: 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 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
1326-446: 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
1377-657: The End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill, introduced in the Scottish Parliament by Margo MacDonald MSP and are involved in the campaign behind Liam McArthur MSP's proposed Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill launched in 2021. They were also part of the campaign for equal marriage in Scotland to allow same sex couples to be legally married as an alternative to civil partnerships as well as allowing opposite sex couples access to civil partnerships. Humanist Society Scotland have also campaigned to remove blasphemy from Scots law and to end funding for homeopathy on
1428-685: The Humanist Society, in part because of a concern that allowing legal religious weddings but not legal humanist ones might not be consistent with the right to "freedom of thought, conscience and religion", which includes non-religious belief, in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights . The first legal humanist wedding took place at Edinburgh Zoo on 18 June 2005 between Karen Watts (from Ireland) and Martin Reijns (from
1479-482: The Netherlands). Humanist weddings have since becoming increasingly popular and, in 2010, with over 70 celebrants authorised to conduct them 2,092 legal humanist weddings took place in Scotland, becoming the third most popular form of Wedding in Scotland after Registrars and the Church of Scotland . The Society organises training, mentoring and performance reviews of celebrants, and submits names of celebrants to
1530-666: The Registrar General annually for authorisation. Prior to the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 , the Society performed a similar role for celebrants to conduct same-sex commitment ceremonies and weddings, although formal authorisation by the Registrar is not required for these ceremonies since they had no effect on the legal status of individuals concerned. Since the legalisation of same-sex marriages, both sets of same-sex and opposite-sex marriages are treated
1581-478: 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
Humanist Society Scotland - Misplaced Pages Continue
1632-652: The Society conducted more weddings than the Church of Scotland or the Scottish Catholic Church , prompting media discussions about the high profile of humanism in Scotland. In 2018 official statistics obtained by BBC Radio 4 from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service showed that those who opted for a Humanist wedding were three time less likely to end in divorce than a Roman Catholic marriage and four times less likely to end in divorce than
1683-525: The Society lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament calling for the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 to be amended to allow legal humanist wedding ceremonies, alongside religious and civil ones. Although the Act was not amended, section 12 of the Act allows the Registrar General for Scotland to authorise temporary additional celebrants. In 2005, the Registrar agreed to authorise 12 celebrants from
1734-510: 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)
1785-587: The final measures will are planned to come into force in summer 2025. 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 the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House , London . Since 2019, the station controller has been Mohit Bakaya . He replaced Gwyneth Williams , who had been
1836-420: 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
1887-691: 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
1938-515: 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
1989-571: 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 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
2040-484: 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
2091-550: The same way. In 2017 the society received official status from the Scottish Parliament as the first non-religious body that could solemnise weddings. Scotland was from 2005 until 2018 the only part of the United Kingdom where humanist celebrants can solemnise marriages ( Northern Ireland became the second in 2018 following a Humanists UK legal case). In 2017, the Society announced that it had married 50,000 people in legal ceremonies since their recognition in 2005. In 2017,
Humanist Society Scotland - Misplaced Pages Continue
2142-438: 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 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
2193-748: 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 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
2244-568: 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 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
2295-458: 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 was not felt to be high enough to provide a national service or regular simultaneous broadcasts. In 1924, it
2346-465: 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 the 200 kHz frequency (1,500 metres) previously held by Radio 2 - later moved to 198 kHz as
2397-669: Was carried out by the Scottish Charities Office , a department in the Crown Office , but they were only able to investigate a charity on receipt of a complaint or when they had reasonable grounds to suspect problems. The regulatory function was transferred to OSCR in December 2003. It was formerly an executive agency but following the passing of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 it
2448-471: 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 was the predecessor of Radio 4 and broadcast between 1939 and 1967. It had regional variations and
2499-526: Was made independent of ministerial control , and answers directly to the Scottish Parliament . It is the equivalent of the Charity Commission for England and Wales and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland . In 2005, OSCR published the first definitive list of 18,000 charities operating in Scotland – this information was searchable. OSCR's full regulatory powers came into force on 24 April 2006. In July 2008, OSCR published results of
2550-484: 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 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
2601-434: 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, the most recent being when Pope Benedict XVI visited Britain in 2010 . On 30 May 2023,
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