Bbc Radio 3 0
History
Radio 3 is the successor station to the Third Programme which was originally launched on 29 September 1946. The name changed on 30 September 1967 when the BBC launched its first pop music station, Radio 1. The three other national radio channels were then renamed Radio 2, (formerly the Light Programme), Radio 3 and Radio 4, (formerly the Home Service). Radio 3 took over the service which had been known under the umbrella title of the Third Network and which included on the same frequency the Third Programme itself, the Music Programme and various sports and adult education programmes. All the component programmes, including the Third Programme, kept their separate identities within Radio 3 until 4 April 1970, when there was further reorganisation following publication of the BBC document Broadcasting in the Seventies.
Broadcasting in the Seventies
In July 1969, the BBC published the document Broadcasting in the Seventies, later described by a senior BBC executive, Jenny Abramsky, Head of Radio and Music, as “the most controversial document ever produced by radio”. Prompted partly by the problem of rising costs, one of its main thrusts was the move towards “generic” stations, each catering for a defined audience. One early option under consideration was the reduction of the four radio networks to three, and “Day-time serious music would be the casualty”. Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 4 would broadcast during the day time, while in the evening Radios 1 and 2 would merge and Radio 3 would broadcast on the vacated frequency. Rumours were circulating that Radio 3 would be abolished altogether, with The Guardian stating that there was a strong “statistical case” against the station. However, the Director-General, Charles Curran, publicly denied this as “quite contradictory to the aim of the BBC, which is to provide a comprehensive radio service”. Curran had earlier dismissed