History
The first broadcast in Wales was on 13 February 1923 from the radio station 5WA, later to become part of the BBC Regional Programme and in 1939 the BBC Home Service. During this time, the region was served from a variety of bases around Wales. During World War II, the regional services all ceased and broadcast the Home Service from London, although some Welsh content was included. The BBC's Bangor base played host to the BBC Variety Department during the war, although this fact was never officially announced.
The first television signals in Wales came on 15 August 1952 from the newly constructed Wenvoe transmitter. The transmitter itself broadcast the national BBC Television service. The region would gain some significance when, in 1957, the BBC West region from Bristol was established including a small news bulletin for Wales.
The launch of BBC Cymru Wales on 9 February 1964 however provided a service specific for the country. The new service was heavily promoted through promotions (proclaiming that Wales gets its very own TV service in 1964!) and hand-drawn information films using the sound of Welsh choirs to explain about interference from the mountains. Two years later in 1966, BBC Cymru Wales' new headquarters at Broadcasting House in Cardiff opened and the first colour broadcast for Wales came from there in 1970.
Following the end of World War II, the BBC Home Service continued its regional opt-outs, including an opt-out service for Wales. This opt-out continued after the change from the Home service to BBC Radio 4 and paved the way for the full BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru services in 1977.
Prior to 1982, BBC Cymru Wales on television provided programmes in both English and Welsh, with the news programme Heddiw and Pobol y Cwm forming the bulk of the latter programming. However, this changed with the launch of S4C on 1 November 1982 as all Welsh programming on both the BBC and the ITV contractor HTV was transferred to the new channel. Pobol y Cwm made the move to the new channel while Heddiw was relaunched as Newyddion.
As the digital age began in the late 1990s, BBC Cymru Wales also expanded their services. The first web pages for Wales began to appear on BBC Online in 1997, including a variety of features surrounding programming, schedules, community events and other stories. The following year, BBC Wales gained additional air time through the use of a late prime-time to midnight opt-out from new digital channel BBC Choice. This lasted until opt-outs ended on the channel in 2001; subsequently BBC Wales opted out of the BBC Two prime-time schedule on digital platforms to broadcast BBC 2W. This latter service closed on 2 January 2009 – prior to the Digital switchover which would have ceased separate broadcasting on analogue and digital.
In recent years, expansion in the number of drama productions handled by BBC Cymru Wales has resulted in the construction and opening on a new studio centre in Cardiff.
Read more about this topic: BBC Cymru Wales
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