BBC Light Programme - Wikipedia BBC Light Programme From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   (Redirected from Light Programme) Jump to navigation Jump to search Former BBC radio station This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "BBC Light Programme" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme headquarters was at Broadcasting House in London. Country United Kingdom Headquarters Broadcasting House, London, UK Owner BBC Launch date 29 July 1945 (1945-07-29) Dissolved 29 September 1967 (1967-09-29) Language English Replaced BBC General Forces Programme Replaced by BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 1 The Light Programme was a BBC radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the longwave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 – by the BBC National Programme. The service was intended as a domestic replacement for the wartime General Forces Programme which had gained many civilian listeners in Britain as well as members of the British Armed Forces. Contents 1 History 1.1 Notable programmes 1.2 Presenters 2 References 3 External links History[edit] The longwave signal on 200 kHz/1500 metres was transmitted from Droitwich in the English Midlands (as it still is today for BBC Radio 4, although adjusted slightly to 198 kHz/1515 metres in 1988), and gave fairly good coverage of most of the United Kingdom, although a number of low-power medium wave transmitters (using 1214 kHz/247 metres) were added later to fill in local blank spots. Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, the Light Programme (along with the BBC's two other national programmes, the Home Service and the Third Programme) gradually became available on what was known at the time as VHF, as the BBC developed a network of local FM transmitters. From its first day of broadcasting in 1945 until Monday 2 September 1957, the Light Programme would be on the air from 9.00am until midnight each day, apart from Sundays when it would come on the air at 8.00am. From Monday 2 September 1957, the Light Programme's broadcasting hours would start to increase, with a new early morning start time of 7.00am, later moving to 6.30am from Monday 29 September 1958. In 1964, broadcasting hours were increased even more, with a new morning start time of 5.30am from Monday 31 August. Up until September 1964, the Light Programme would always end its broadcasting day at midnight; however this changed on Sunday 27 September 1964, when a new closedown time of 2:00 was introduced.[1][2][3][4] The Light Programme closed down for the last time at 2.03am on Friday 29 September 1967. At 5.30am, it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 on its longwave frequency and VHF and by BBC Radio 1 on its medium wave frequencies at 7:00am. The long-running soap opera The Archers was first heard nationally on the Light Programme on 1 January 1951,[5] although a week-long pilot version had been broadcast on the Midlands Home Service in 1950. Notable programmes[edit] The Al Read Show Appointment with Fear The Archers (1951–1967) The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket to Ride (1965) Beyond Our Ken Billy Cotton Band Show Breakfast Special The Clitheroe Kid Dick Barton – Special Agent Does The Team Think? Easy Beat (1960–1967) Educating Archie Family Favourites Friday Night Is Music Night (1953–1967) From Us to You (1964) The Goon Show (repeats from the BBC Home Service) Hancock's Half Hour Have a Go! Housewives' Choice Ignorance is Bliss I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again It's That Man Again (repeats from the BBC Home Service) Journey into Space (1953–1958) Junior Choice (1954-1967) Life with the Lyons Listen with Mother (1950–1964) Meet the Huggetts Movie-Go-Round Mrs Dale's Diary Much Binding in the Marsh Music While You Work The Navy Lark Orbiter X Pick of the Pops (1955–1967) The Public Ear Pop Go the Beatles (1963) Radio Newsreel Ray's a Laugh Richard Attenborough's Record Rendezvous Riders of the Range Round the Horne Roundabout Saturday Club (1957–1967) Shadow of Sumuru The Showband Show Side by Side Sing Something Simple The Sunday Hour (1945–1967) The Slide Sports Report Take It From Here Teenager's Turn — Here We Go Top Gear (1964–1975; a music show unrelated to the car franchise) Variety Bandbox Waterlogged Spa Welsh Rarebit Woman's Hour (1946–1967) Workers' Playtime (BBC Home Service until September 1957) Presenters[edit] Barry Alldis Marjorie Anderson Richard Attenborough[6] Tim Brinton Michael Brooke Desmond Carrington Sam Costa Bill Crozier Alan Dell Robert Dougall David Dunhill John Dunn Ray Moore Jimmy Young Tom Charmers Don Durbridge Franklin Engelmann Peter Fettes Alan Freeman Tony Blackburn David Hamilton Annie Nightingale Tim Gudgin Peter Haigh Colin Hamilton Paul Hollingdale David Jacobs Brian Matthew Jean Metcalfe Roger Moffat Pete Murray Phillip Slessor Douglas Smith Ken Sykora David Symonds John Webster Roy Williams Bruce Wyndham References[edit] ^ "Light Programme - 26 September 1964 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. ^ "Light Programme - 2 September 1957 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. ^ "Light Programme - 29 September 1958 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. ^ "Light Programme - 29 July 1945 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. ^ Reynolds, Gillian (24 August 1996). "William Smethurst: the man who turned The Archers into a cult". The Telegraph. ^ https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/656f9afff7134c55a271f709472f2248 External links[edit] Radio Rewind – The 1500m Light Programme v t e BBC Radio BBC UK stations Nationwide Radio 1 Radio 2 Radio 3 Radio 4 Radio 5 Live Digital-only 1Xtra 4 Extra 5 Live Sports Extra 6 Music Asian Network National DAB multiplex Nations Scotland Shetland Orkney nan Gàidheal Wales Cymru Cymru 2 Ulster / Foyle English regions BBC Local Radio International stations World Service Albanian (Dissolved) Arabic Bangla Nepali Brasil Hausa Mundo Persian Russian Ukrainian (Dissolved) Urdu Defunct stations and services 2LO London 5IT Birmingham 2ZY Manchester 5NO Newcastle 5WA Cardiff 5SC Glasgow 2BD Aberdeen 6BM Bournemouth 2FL Sheffield 5PY Plymouth 5GB Daventry 2BE Belfast Relays 2EH Edinburgh 6LV Liverpool 2LS Leeds and Bradford 6KH Hull 5NG Nottingham 2DE Dundee 6ST Stoke 5SX Swansea Services Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme Forces Programme General Forces Programme Home Service Light Programme National Programme Radio 4 News FM Radio 5 Radio 7 (rebranded) Regional Programme Third Programme Related topics Awards Logos BBC Music BBC Sounds BBC Radio Explorer Programmes Radio Orchestra School Radio Wartime Broadcasting Service Category Commons BBC Portal Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Light_Programme&oldid=1000279335" Categories: BBC Light Programme Defunct BBC national radio stations Radio stations established in 1945 Radio stations disestablished in 1967 1945 establishments in the United Kingdom 1967 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles needing additional references from December 2013 All articles needing additional references Use dmy dates from May 2012 Use British English from May 2012 Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Français Norsk nynorsk Polski Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 14 January 2021, at 13:16 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement