BBC World Service - History

History

The BBC World Service began as the BBC Empire Service in 1932 as a shortwave service aimed principally at English speakers in the outposts of the British Empire. This position was stated by King George V in his first Christmas Message by saying that the "men and women, so cut off by the snow, the desert, or the sea, that only voices out of the air can reach them." First hopes for the Empire Service were low. The Director General, Sir John Reith (later Lord 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 was read out five times as it was broadcast live to different parts of the world.

On 3 January 1938, the first foreign language service, Arabic, was launched. German programmes commenced on 29 March 1938 and by the end of 1942 broadcasts were being made in all major European languages. As a result, the Empire Service was renamed the BBC Overseas Service in November 1939, and a dedicated BBC European Service was added in 1941. These broadcasting services, financed not from the domestic licence fee but from government grant-in-aid (from the Foreign Office budget), were known administratively as the External Services of the BBC.

The External Services gained a special position in international broadcasting during the Second World War, as an alternative source of news for a wide range of audiences, especially those in enemy and occupied territories who often had to listen secretly. George Orwell broadcast many news bulletins on the Eastern Service during World War II. The German Service played an important part in the propaganda war against Nazi Germany.

By the end of the 1940s the number of languages broadcast had expanded and reception had improved following the opening of a relay in modern day Malaysia and of the Limassol relay, Cyprus, in 1957. On 1 May 1965 the service took its current name of BBC World Service and the service itself expanded its reach with the opening of the Ascension Island relay in 1966, serving African audiences with greater signal and reception, and the later relay on the Island of Masirah.

In August 1985, the service went off the air for the first time when workers striked in protest at the British government's decision to ban a documentary featuring an interview with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin. The External Services were renamed under the BBC World Service brand in 1988.

In recent years, the number and type of services offered by the BBC has decreased due to financial pressures. Due to the launch of internet based services, the need for a radio station is less frequent in countries where the population has easy access to the internet news sites of the BBC. The German broadcasts were stopped in March 1999 after research showed that the majority of German listeners tuned in to the English version of the service. Broadcasts in Dutch, Finnish, French for Europe, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Malay were stopped for similar reasons.

On 25 October 2005 it was announced that the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai language radio services would end by March 2006 in order to finance the launch of an Arabic and Persian language TV news channel in 2007. Additionally, Romanian broadcasts ceased on 1 August 2008.

More service closures came in January 2011 when the closing of five language services was announced as a result of the financial situation the corporation was facing following the eventual financial transfer of responsibility for the World Service from the Foreign Office to the BBC licence fee. The Albanian, Macedonian, Portuguese for Africa, Serbian, and English for the Caribbean services were closed; the Russian, Ukranian, Mandarin Chinese, Turkish, Vietnamese, Azeri and Spanish for Cuba services ceased broadcasting a radio service and the Hindi, Indonesian, Kyrgyz, Nepali, Swahili, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi services ceased transmission on the short wave band. The British government announced that the three Balkan countries had luxuriant access to international information and continuation of broadcast in the local tongues had become unnecessary. 650 jobs went as part of the cuts and the service is facing a 16 percent budget cut.

In March 2011 The Guardian published an article concerning an agreement between the World Service and the US State department, in which the latter would provide the BBC with a "low six figure" sum so that new technology could be developed that would stop jamming and to educate people on how to avoid state censorship should they want to. However, the agreement has caused accusations that these measures would encourage a pro-American bias within the service and would help American win the 'Information War'.