5. Radio

The BBC has 5 national radio channels,

Radio1 began broadcasting in 1967, devoted almost entirely to pop music, its birth was a signal that popular youth culture could no longer be ignored. It still has over 10 million listeners.

Radio2 broadcasts mainly light music and entertainment (chat shows).

Radio3 is devoted to classical twenties century music, talks on ancient and modern plays and some educational programmes.

Radio4 specializes chiefly in providing the main news reports, talks and discussions, drama, music, etc.

Radio5 is largely devoted to sports coverage and news.

The BBC has some 27 local radio stations and 37 commercial independent stations distributed throughout Britain. Radio and television programmes for the week are published in the BBC periodicals – Radio Times and The Listener.

6. Television

The most powerful sound broadcasting in Britain is BBC. It has 4 television channels: BBC1, BBC2, The ITV (Independent Television) and Channel4.

There are 15 different television programme companies, serving different parts of the country. These companies get most of their money from advertising.

There is no advertising on the BBC. But Independent Television (ITV), which started in 1954, gets its money from advertisements.

There was pressure on ITV from the start to make its output popular. In its early years ITV captured nearly three-quarters of the BBC´s audience. BBC1 and ITV show a wide variety of programmes. The ITV is in constant competition with BBC1 (that mostly shows light plays and series, humour and sport) to attract the largest audience (this is known as the ratings war). Of particular importance in the ratings war is the performance of the channel’s various soap operas. They depict ordinary lives in ordinary circumstances and they are popular, because their viewers can see themselves and other people they know in the characters.

In the early 1990s, the BBC spent a lot of money filming a new soap called Eldorado, set in a small Spanish village which was home to a large number of expatriate British people. Although the BBC used its most successful soap producers and directors, it was a complete failure. Viewers found the story and the Spanish accent too difficult to follow and could not identify with the situation in which the characters found themselves.

It became obvious in the early 1960s that operas and light entertainment left less room for programmes, which supported the original educational aims of television.