# BBC Regional Programme

The BBC Regional Programme was a radio service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – replacing a number of earlier BBC local stations between 1922 and 1924 – until 1 September 1939 when it was subsumed into the BBC Home Service, two days before the outbreak of World War II.
Both the BBC National Programme and the Regional Programme provided a mixed mainstream radio service. Whilst the two services provided different programming, allowing listeners a choice they were not streamed to appeal to different audiences, rather they were intended to offer a choice of programming to a single audience. While using the same transmitters, the National Programme broadcast significantly more speech and classical music than its successor, the BBC Light Programme. Similarly, the Regional Programme broadcast much more light and dance music than its successor, the Home Service.

## History
### Development

When the British Broadcasting Company first began transmissions on 14 November 1922 from station 2LO in the Strand, which it had inherited from the Marconi Company (one of six commercial companies which created), but technology did not yet exist either for national coverage or joint programming between transmitters. Whilst it was possible to combine large numbers of trunk telephone lines to link transmitters for individual programmes, the process was expensive and not encouraged by the General Post Office as it tied up large parts of the telephone network. The stations that followed the establishment of 2LO in London were therefore autonomously programmed using local talent and facilities.
By May 1923, simultaneous broadcasting was technically possible at least between main transmitters and relay stations, the quality was not felt to be high enough to provide a national service or regular simultaneous broadcasts. In 1924, it was felt that technical standards had improved enough for London to start to provide the majority of the output, cutting the local stations back to providing items of local interest.

#### Main stations

Each of these main stations was broadcast at approximately 1 kilowatt (kW):
| Airdate | Station ID | City | Initial frequency |
| 14 November 1922 | 2LO | London | 822 kHz |
| 15 November 1922 | 5IT | Birmingham | 626 kHz |
| 15 November 1922 | 2ZY | Manchester | 794 kHz |
| 24 December 1922 | 5NO | Newcastle upon Tyne | 743 kHz |
| 13 February 1923 | 5WA | Cardiff | 850 kHz |
| 6 March 1923 | 5SC | Glasgow | 711 kHz |
| 10 October 1923 | 2BD | Aberdeen | 606 kHz |
| 17 October 1923 | 6BM | Bournemouth | 777 kHz |
| 14 September 1924 | 2BE | Belfast | 689 kHz |

#### Relay stations

Each of these relay stations were broadcast at approximately 120 watts (W):
| Airdate | Station ID | City | Relay of | Frequency |
| 16 November 1923 | 6FL | Sheffield | 2ZY | 980 kHz |
| 28 March 1924 | 5PY | Plymouth | 6BM | 887 kHz |
| 1 May 1924 | 2EH | Edinburgh | 5SC | 914 kHz |
| 11 June 1924 | 6LV | Liverpool | 2ZY | 906 kHz |
| 8 July 1924 | 2LS | Leeds and Bradford | 2ZY | 935 kHz |
| 15 August 1924 | 6KH | Kingston upon Hull | 2ZY | 896 kHz |
| 16 September 1924 | 5NG | Nottingham | 2ZY | 920 kHz |
| 21 October 1924 | 6ST | Stoke-on-Trent | 2ZY | 996 kHz |
| 12 November 1924 | 2DE | Dundee | 2BD | 952 kHz |
| 12 December 1924 | 5SX | Swansea | 5WA | 622 kHz |

### Regional scheme

On 21 August 1927, the BBC opened a high-power medium wave transmitter 5GB at its Daventry site to replace the existing local stations in the English Midlands, that allowed the experimental longwave transmitter 5XX to provide a service – which eventually came to be called the BBC National Programme from London and available to the majority of the population.
By combining the resources of the local stations into one regional station in each area with a basic sustaining service from London, the BBC hoped to increase programme quality whilst also centralising the management of the radio service known as the "regional scheme".
The local transmitters were gradually either converted to a regional service relay or closed entirely and replaced by high-power regional broadcasts. Some local studios were retained to provide for programming from specific areas within each region. Most transmitters also carried the National Programme on a local frequency to supplement the longwave broadcasts from 5XX; initially these were on three separate frequencies and programming included some local variations. As the regional network expanded these transmissions were fully synchronised with those from Brookmans Park and several other frequencies initially:
| Airdate | Transmitter | Service | Initial frequency | Frequency (1939) |
| 21 August 1927 | Daventry | Midland Regional Programme (5GB station until 8 March 1930) | 767 kHz | N/A |
| 21 October 1929 | Brookmans Park | London Regional Programme (basic network sustaining service) (2LO station until 8 March 1930) | 842 kHz | 877 kHz |
| 17 May 1931 | Moorside Edge | Northern Regional Programme | 626 kHz | 668 kHz |
| 13 September 1931 | Westerglen | Scottish Regional Programme | 797 kHz | 767 kHz |
| 28 May 1933 | Washford | Western Regional Programme | 968 kHz | 1050 kHz |
| 17 February 1935 | Droitwich | Midland Regional Programme | 1013 kHz | 1013 kHz |
| 20 March 1936 | Lisnagarvey | Northern Ireland Regional Programme | 977 kHz | 977 kHz |
| 12 October 1936 | Burghead | Scottish Regional Programme | 767 kHz | 767 kHz |
| 1 February 1937 | Penmon | Welsh Regional Programme (Wales and West until 3 July) | 804 kHz | 804 kHz |
| 4 July 1937 | Washford | Welsh Regional Programme | 804 kHz | 804 kHz |
| 19 October 1937 | Stagshaw | Stagshaw Programme (North Regional with some relays from Scottish Regional at times) | 1122 kHz | 1122 kHz |
| 14 June 1939 | Clevedon | West Regional Programme | 1474 kHz | 1474 kHz |
| 14 June 1939 | Start Point | West Regional Programme | 1050 kHz | 1050 kHz |
A relay station for Brookmans Park on 1402 kHz was due to open at Acle near Norwich in 1940, but construction was postponed by the outbreak of World War II. The station was never completed and was replaced by one at Postwick.

### Closure

Upon the outbreak of World War II, the BBC closed both existing National and Regional radio programmes to replace them with a single channel known as the BBC Home Service. The transmitter network was synchronised on 668 kHz and 767 kHz in order to use the other frequencies for propaganda broadcasts in foreign languages. Each transmitter group would be turned off during air raids to prevent their signals being used as navigational beacons. Listeners were required to retune to a low-powered single-frequency network on 1474 kHz which did not offer any meaningful directional information to aircraft.
On 29 July 1945, within 12 weeks of Victory in Europe Day, the BBC reactivated the Regional Programme but kept the name "Home Service" (until 30 September 1967 as the station became BBC Radio 4). The National Programme was also reopened under a new name as the BBC Light Programme.