Text 2 Radio bbc: You Can Hear Them All Over the World

The development of broadcasting in the United Kingdom was dominated by the BBC and its first director general, Lord Reith. Starting in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, a private commercial company, its original motive was to stimulate the sale of radios. It became established as an autonomous public body, the British Broadcasting Corporation, by Royal Charter 1927, with a self-declared mission to “inform, educate and entertain”. Its chairman and a board of governors are nominated by the government.

The BBC began a television service in 1936, the first such operation in the world. By 1939, however, when television was taken off the air for reasons of national defence, the viewing figures were still insignificant. TV transmissions began again in 1946 and figures for ownership rose steadily. The rise accelerated with the televising of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 and again when a second channel (BBC 2) began colour transmissions in 1964.

The BBC now transmits five national radio programmes, with some regional variations provided by BBC Scotland and BBC Northern Ireland. Radio One provides popular music. Radio Two is also music based, aiming at an older audience and including general information programmes. Radio Three concentrates on serious music and culture. Radio Four is a speech programme and is the BBC’s principal news and current affairs output. Its morning news magazine, the Today Programme, regularly has an audience of 6 million listeners. Radio Five, which began transmission for the first time in August 1990, will concentrate on education, sport and the young listener. In addition, the BBC operates 32 local radio stations.

The BBC is in essence financed by a license fee, the level of which is set by the government. It does not carry paid advertising on either radio or television. While the penetration of television sets was growing steadily up to the end of 1970’s, this gave the BBC a buoyant source revenue. However, once the point was reached where effectively all households had a television set, the level of the license fee became a political issue. The BBC’s relations with the present governments have not been easy. For the time being the license fee is being increased each year by a percentage that is somewhat less than the going rate of inflation and the BBC has been told to investigate other ways of increasing its revenue, such as the sale of subscription-based services or sponsorship. The BBC also runs an overseas service, which transmits in English and 40 other languages around the world. The service, though managerially an integrated part of the BBC’s operations, is financed separately by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

From “Journalism Training in Europe”

Preparing the Text

A. Studying the language

1. Transcribe the following words and practice their pronunciation:

autonomous; royal; entertain; governor; revenue; regional; variations; buoyant; percentage; managerially; separately; advertise; advertisement.

2. Give the Russian equivalents for the following phrases:

to be dominated; to stimulate the sale; an autonomous public body; a self-declared mission; a board of governors; to be nominated; to take off the air; the viewing figures; variation; in essence; to grow steadily up; subscription-based services; an overseas service; managerially.

B. Points for comments and discussion

1. Answer the following questions about the text:

1). When did the BBC start?

2). What was its original motive?

3). What did Royal Charter write about the mission of the BBC?

4). Who nominates its chairman and a board of governors?

5). Who was the first director general of the BBC?

6). When did the BC began its television service?

7). Why was television taken off the air by 1939?

8). Why were the viewing figures insignificant at that time?

9). When did TV transmissions begin again?

10). How many national radio programmes does the BBC transmit?

11). What are the programmes?

12).What does Radio Five concentrate on?

13). How many local radio stations does the BBC operate?

14). How is the BBC financed?

15). What is the attitude of the BBC to paid advertising on radio and TV?

16). Why do you think the license fee became a political issue?

17). Why has the BBC been told to investigate other ways of increasing the revenue?

18). What kind of subscription-based services of TV can you name?

19). What programmes are financed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office? Why?

20). In how many languages does the BBC transmit around the world?

2. Prepare a talk about the history of BBC.

3. Describe your favourite Russian radio station.