Foundation of BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster, headquartered at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with a staff of 23,000 staff. It is responsible to provide public service broadcasting in the UK.

The original company, the British Broadcasting Company, was founded on October 18, 1922. It was founded by a group of six telecommunication companies to broadcast experimental radio services. Its staff was of four, and it was funded by a license fee at a rate set by parliament. The first broadcast came from London on November 14, and listening to it quickly became part of the daily life. John Reith, a Scottish broadcast executive, became the general manager in December of that year. In 1927, he was employed as the Director-General of the BBC, under a Royal Charter. His concept of broadcasting as a way of educating the masses marked for a long time the BBC and similar organizations around the world.

The BBC was officially established on January 1, 1927; with Reith as the Director-General and George Villiers as the chairman. It was recognized as a broadcasting monopoly operated by a board of governors and director general. The BBC became the world’s first public service broadcasting organization, with headquarters in London, where advertising on radio was banned.

John Reith had a mission to educate and improve the audience, and under his leadership the BBC developed a reputation for having serious and important programs. He also insisted that all radio announcers should wear dinner jackets while being on the air. Since the 1930’s, the BBC introduced more sports and light entertainment on the radio, for acquiring a bigger audience.

In 1936, the BBC began the world’s first regular television service. This was halted during World War II, and all of BBC’s efforts were concentrated on radio broadcasting. The BBC television service was established on November 2, 1936, but was suspended because of the outbreak of World War II, in 1939.

Today, the BBC has expanded with new channels; World Service radio is complemented by a BBC World television service, while a satellite channel UK Gold helped it exploit its valuable archives. It has been expanding in both radio and television, and has become an important factor in news and entertainment.