Timeline of the BBC

This is a timeline of the history of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

• 1922
  • 18 October - The British Broadcasting Company is formed.
  • 14 November - First BBC broadcasts from London (station 2LO).
  • 15 November - First broadcasts from Birmingham (station 5IT) and Manchester (station 2ZY).
  • 24 December - First broadcast from Newcastle upon Tyne (station 5NO).
• 1923
  • 8 January - First outside broadcast.
  • 18 January - The UK Postmaster General grants the BBC a licence to broadcast.
  • 13 February - First broadcast from Cardiff (station 5WA).
  • 6 March - First broadcast from Glasgow (station 5SC).
  • 28 September - First publication of the Radio Times listings magazine (price 2d).
  • 10 October - First broadcast from Aberdeen (station 2BD).
  • 17 October - First broadcast from Bournemouth (station 6BM).
  • 16 November - First broadcast from Sheffield (station 2FL).
• 1924
  • 28 March - First broadcast from Plymouth (station 5PY).
  • April 23 - First broadcast by King George V, opening the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium.
  • 14 September - First broadcast from Belfast (station 2BE).
• 1925
  • First BBC shortwave transmissions are broadcast from Daventry's Borough Hill.
• 1926
  • 4 May - The General strike begins. The BBC broadcasts five news bulletins a day as no newspapers are published.
  • 25 July - The previously experimental long-wave station 5XX moves from Chelmsford to Daventry and becomes the first station to achieve near national coverage. The Daventry station will later become the main transmitter of the National Programme.
• 1927
  • 1 January - The British Broadcasting Company becomes the British Broadcasting Corporation, when it is granted a Royal Charter. Sir John Reith becomes the first Director-General.
  • 21 August - The first high-powered regional station (5GB), forerunner of the Midland Regional Programme, opens at Daventry.
• 1929
  • August 20 - First transmissions of John Logie Baird's experimental 30-line television system.
• 1930
  • July 14 - Transmission of the first experimental television play, The Man With the Flower in His Mouth.
• 1932
  • May 1 - Broadcasting House, the BBC's headquarters and home to its main radio studios, is opened.
  • August 22 - First experimental television broadcast from Broadcasting House.
  • December 19 - The Empire Service (precursor of the World Service) launches.
  • December 25 - King George V becomes the first monarch to deliver a Christmas Day message by radio, on the Empire Service.
• 1936
  • November 2 - The BBC opens the world's first regular high-definition television service, from Alexandra Palace.
• 1937
  • May 12 - First use of TV outside broadcast van, for the coronation procession of King George VI.
  • June 21 - The BBC broadcasts television coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the first time.
• 1938
  • January 3 - The BBC begins broadcasting its first foreign-language radio service, in Arabic.
  • April 30 - The BBC broadcasts television coverage of the FA Cup for the first time.
  • September 27 - Start of the European Service on radio, broadcasting in French, German and Italian. Portuguese and Spanish are added before the start of the Second World War.
• 1939
  • September 1 - The BBC Television Service is suspended, at the conclusion of a Mickey Mouse cartoon (Mickey's Gala Premiere), due to the imminent outbreak of the Second World War, amid fears that the VHF transmissions would act as perfect guidance beams for enemy bombers attempting to locate central London - also, the technicians and engineers of the service will be needed for war efforts such as the RADAR programme. On radio, the Home Service replaces the National and Regional Programmes.
• 1940
  • January 7 - Start of the Forces Programme on radio, precursor of the post-war Light Programme.
• 1945
  • July 29 - Regional radio programming resumes, and the Light Programme starts.
• 1946
  • June 7 - BBC Television broadcasts (405 lines) resume after the war. The first programme shown is the Mickey Mouse cartoon that closed programming in 1939.
  • September 29 - The Third Programme starts broadcasting on radio.
• 1947
  • November 9 - First use of telerecording: the Service of Remembrance from the Cenotaph is televised live, and a telerecording shown that evening.
• 1948
  • July 29 - The London Olympic Games is televised.
  • December 26 - The first Reith Lecture is broadcast on radio.
• 1950
  • May 21 - Lime Grove television studios open.
  • August 27 - First live television from the European continent, using BBC outside broadcast equipment.
• 1953
  • June 2 - The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey is televised by the BBC and watched live by an estimated audience of 20 million people in Britain.
• 1955
  • May 2 - The BBC begins broadcasting on VHF (FM), using the Wrotham transmitter.
  • October 10 - Alexandra Palace begins test transmissions of a 405-line colour television service.
• 1957
  • December 25 - First TV broadcast of the Queen's Christmas Day message.
• 1958
  • May 5 - First experimental transmissions of a 625-line television service.
  • October 16 - First broadcast of Britain's longest running children's television show Blue Peter.
• 1960
  • June 29 - BBC Television Centre opens in Shepherd's Bush.
• 1962
  • August 28 - Experimental stereo radio broadcasts begin.
• 1964
  • April 20 - BBC2 starts broadcasting (on 625 lines); the existing BBC TV channel is renamed BBC1.
• 1965
  • May 1 - The General Overseas Service is renamed the BBC World Service.
• 1967
  • June 25 - The first worldwide live satellite programme, Our World, is televised.
  • July 1 - Regular colour TV transmissions (625 lines) begin on BBC2, starting with the Wimbledon tennis championships.
  • September 30 - BBC Radio 1 is launched, as a response to the threat from pirate radio station broadcasts of popular music. At the same time the Light, Third and Home services are renamed Radios 2, 3 and 4.
  • November 8 - BBC Local Radio starts. The first station is BBC Radio Leicester.
• 1969
  • November 15 - BBC1 starts broadcasting in colour (simultaneous with rival ITV).
• 1971
  • January 3 - Open University programmes start on both radio and television.
• 1972
  • October 23 - The BBC announces that development work has begun on the CEEFAX teletext service.
• 1973
  • March - Experimental CEEFAX teletext transmissions begin.
  • BBC adds stereo capability to Radios 2 & 4, with new technology called Pulse Code Modulation.
• 1974
  • July 5 - A quadrasonic (4-channel) radio programme goes out at midnight, using Radio 4 to carry the two front channels and Radio 3 to carry the two rear channels.
  • September 23 - Regular CEEFAX teletext service begins.
• 1978
  • April 3 - Regular radio broadcasts from Parliament begin.
  • November 23 - The BBC's radio stations switch medium wave frequencies: Radio 1 moves from 247m (1214 kHz) to 275 and 285m (1089 and 1053 kHz), Radio 2 moves from 1500m (200 kHz long wave) to 330 and 433m (909 and 693 kHz), Radio 3 moves from 464m (647 kHz) to Radio 1's old frequency, and Radio 4 moves to Radio 2's old frequency.
• 1979
  • January 27 - Radio 2 is the first BBC radio station to broadcast 24 hours a day. Its final closedown is at 2am tonight, and from the next day onwards, "You, the night and the music" airs between 2-5am.
  • September 2 - Subtitling of television programmes on CEEFAX begins.
• 1983
  • January 17 - BBC Breakfast Time - the UK's first breakfast television service - is launched, ahead of the ITV franchise TV-am, which follows on 1 February.
• 1985
  • January 23 - Television coverage of proceedings in the House of Lords begins.
• 1986
  • April 1 - All commercial activities of the BBC are now handled by BBC Enterprises Ltd.
  • October 27 - BBC1 starts a full daytime television service. Before today, excluding special events coverage, BBC1 showed pages from CEEFAX or closed down at times during weekday mornings and afternoons.
• 1988
  • September 1 - BBC External Services is renamed the World Service, and Radio 1 starts regular broadcasts on VHF in , , the Midlands, and south Wales, Avon and Somerset, between 97-99 MHz. (Crystal Palace has been broadcasting R1 on 104.8 MHz since October 1987, and would later switch to 98.8 MHz at 11am on December 19, 1989. )
  • September 20 - The Radio Data System (RDS) launches, allowing car radios to automatically retune, display station identifiers and switch to local travel news.
• 1989
  • November 21 - Television coverage of proceedings in the House of Commons begins.
• 1990
  • August 27 - Radio 5 begins broadcasting.
  • September 5 - New BBC building at White City opens.
• 1991
  • April 15 - The World Service Television News service is launched. Unlike its World Service radio counterpart, WSTV is commercially funded and carries advertising, which means that it cannot be broadcast in the UK.
  • July 31 - The BBC's Lime Grove Studios close.
  • August 31 - BBC television starts officially broadcasting in stereo using the NICAM system. (Some transmtters had been broadcasting in stereo since 1988, but these were classified as tests.)
  • October 14 - World Service TV launches its Asian service.
• 1992
  • November 1 - The satellite TV channel UK Gold, run by the BBC with Thames Television, starts broadcasting.
• 1994
  • March 28 - Radio 5 is renamed Radio 5 Live and becomes a dedicated news and sport network.
  • July 1 - Radio 1 stops broadcasting on AM at 9am.
• 1995
  • January - World Service Television is renamed BBC World.
• 1996
  • June 7 - The BBC is restructured by the Director-General, John Birt. In the new structure BBC Broadcast will commission programmes, and BBC Production will make them.
  • December 25 - The Christmas Day episode of Only Fools and Horses is watched by 24 million viewers, the largest TV audience in two decades.
• 1997
  • The BBC broadcasts the much praised "Perfect Day" corporate advertisement, featuring 27 artists singing lines of Lou Reed's original. The song later becomes a fund-raising single for Children in Need.
  • February 28 - The BBC sells its transmitters and transmission services to Castle Transmission Services for £244 million, to help fund its plans for the digital age.
  • October 3 - Last ever closedowns on BBC1 & BBC2. From tomorrow, these stations broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • October 4 - Current corporate identity adopted. At a repored cost of £5m the new logo was introduced due to the increase in digital services, as it is designed to be more visible at small size it is better suited for use in websites and on screen "DOGs."
  • November 9 - BBC News 24, the Corporation's UK television news service, is launched at 17:30.
  • BBC News Online, a web-based news service, begins to expand and become more popular.
• 1998
  • August - The BBC's domestic TV channels become available on Sky Digital's satellite service. An unintended consequence of this is that people in the rest of Europe can now watch BBC1 and 2, using viewing cards from the UK, as the signal is encrypted for rights reasons. This even applies within the UK: people in England can now watch BBC channels from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and vice versa.
  • September 23 - The BBC launches BBC Choice, its first new TV channel since 1964, available only on digital TV services. The BBC Parliament TV channel also starts broadcasting on digital services.
  • November 15 - Public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK.
• 1999
  • May 10 - BBC network news relaunched with new music, titles and a red and ivory set. This design was used for the October 25 relaunch of News 24 - enhancing cross-channel promotion of the service.
  • May 20 - The BBC's digital teletext service starts.
  • June 1 - BBC Knowledge starts broadcasting on digital services.
• 2000
  • 15 September - Final edition of Breakfast News on BBC1, the last conventional news broadcast in the morning.
  • October 2 - The first edition of Breakfast is broadcast, the new morning show on BBC ONE and News 24 from 0600-0930 a.m. (0900 on BBC News 24), from Sunday to Friday.
  • October 13 Final edition of the Nine O Clock News on BBC1.
• 2001
  • March 3 - Bomb explodes outside Television Centre. The blast was later attributed to dissident Irish Republican terrorists and it is suggested the BBC Panorama programme which named individuals as participants in the Omagh bomb was the motive.
  • October 1 - BBC LDN is launched, and Kent and Sussex get their own news programme, South East Today. Oxfordshire, once part of the South East, becomes part of South Today.
• 2002
  • February 11 - CBBC Channel and CBeebies begin broadcasting on the major digital television platforms: Freeview (digital terrestrial), digital cable and Sky Digital (digital satellite).
  • March 2 - BBC FOUR is launched at 17:00 in a simulcast with BBC TWO. It replaces BBC Knowledge.
• 2003
  • February 9 - BBC THREE is launched at 17:00 in a simulcast with BBC TWO. It replaces BBC Choice.
  • December 8 - BBC News 24 relaunched again with a new set and titles, as well as a new Breaking News sting. Networked news on BBC ONE and TWO stays the same.
• 2004
  • February 16 - Network news titles relaunched in the style of BBC News 24, introduced two months earlier.
  • 5 July - 50th Anniversary of television news broadcasts.
• 2006
  • December 31 - The BBC's current Royal Charter and Agreement expires.