BBC Arabic

**BBC Arabic** is British international public radio station owned by British Broadcasting Corporation. The station broadcasts in Arabic language.

## History

In 1936, the BBC helped the **British Colonial Office** set up the **Palestine Broadcasting Service** in Jerusalem, a medium wave radio broadcast. This was created as a way to broadcast British views to the Arab world. This was partly in response to the Italian Literary Arabic language radio broadcasts that were transmitted by medium wave from **Bari**, and also in short wave from Rome, beginning in 1934. After the **Second Italo-Abyssinian War**, these broadcasts became strongly anti-British.

In the years leading up to the 1938 establishment of the **BBC Literary Arabic** language service, there were plans by the **British Foreign Office** to set up radio broadcasts based in **Cyprus**. **Cyprus** at the time was a **Crown Colony** in the **British Empire**, and seen as more stable than Palestine, a British Mandate. Also during this time, the BBC was insistent that its established news standards not be compromised in the name of broadcasting Arabic-language British propaganda.

In 1938, 16 years after the British Broadcasting Corporation was founded, the BBC began broadcasting in **Literary Arabic**. **BBC Arabic** is considered one of the oldest and longest running foreign-language news services.

The **BBC Arabic** service started in 1938 as 65 minute broadcasts. In 1940 the broadcasts had grown to 1 hour and 25 minutes, and close to two hours by 1942. By the end of **World War II**, the Literary Arabic language programme was three hours.

The first broadcasts in 1938 featured one news bulletin. Later, by 1940, a second news bulletin followed the morning reading of the **Quran**. In 1942 a third news bulletin was broadcast at "midday" at 10:45 GMT, 12:45 local time in the Levant. While the news bulletins were essentially translations of the BBC's English-language **Empire Service**, **BBC London** was in direct contact with the Foreign Office's diplomatic posts abroad as a source if local news. In 1943 the **Literary Arabic Service** established a Cairo Office, enabling direct news gathering in the **Middle East**.

## Programmings

* ***Hadeeth as-Saa'a*** (***Hourly Updates***)
* ***Tahqeeq*** (***Investigation***)
* ***BBC Xtra*** (Daily program)

## Logos

Third logo (1958-1963)Fourth logo (1963-1971)Fifth logo (1971-1988)Sixth logo (1988-1997)Seventh logo (1997-2009)Current logo (2009-present)
## External links

* Official website

* National stations
* Regional stations
* Local stations

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