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{{short description|Former British national radio station (1946–1967)}}
{{nomore footnotes|date=August 2011}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox radio network
| name = BBC Third Programme
| logoimage = BBC Broadcasting House = 532073098.jpg
| logo_size image_size = 220
| image_alt = A photograph of Broadcasting House showing the art deco styling of the main facade was made from Portland stone.▼
| logo_alt = ▼
| caption = The Third Programme headquarters was at [[Broadcasting House]] in [[London]] .▼
| logo caption =
| collapsiblecountry = [[United = Kingdom]]
| image headquarters = BBC [[Broadcasting House]], [[London]], 532073098.jpg[[England]]
| radio_stations = 647 [[kHz]], 1547 kHz
| image_size = 220
▲| logo_alt owner = [[BBC]]
▲| image_alt = A photograph of Broadcasting House showing the art deco styling of the main facade was made from Portland stone
| launch_date = {{Start date and age|1946|09|29|df=y}}▼
▲| caption = The Third Programme headquarters was at [[Broadcasting House]] in [[London]]
| dissolved = {{End date and age|1967|09|29|df=y}} ▼
| country = [[United Kingdom]]
| headquarters language = [[BroadcastingEnglish House]], [[London]], [[Englandlanguage|English]]
| radio_stations replaced_by = 647 [[kHzBBC Radio 3]]; 1547 kHz
| owner = [[BBC]]
▲| launch_date = {{Start date|1946|09|29|df=y}}
▲| dissolved = {{End date|1967|09|29|df=y}}
| language = [[English language|English]]
| replaced_by = [[BBC Radio 3]]
}}
 
The '''BBC Third Programme''' was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by [[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]]. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in [[Great Britain|Britain]], playing aan crucialimportant role in disseminating the arts, broadcasting music (mainly [[classical music|classical]]), plays, documentary features and talks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hewison |first=Robert |year=1995 |title=Culture and Consensus: England, Art and Politics Since 1940 |page=55 |publisher=[[Methuen Publishing]] |location=London |isbn=0-413-69060-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHDbCQAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2020}} It was the [[BBC]]'s third national radio network, the other two being the [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] (mainly speech-based) and the [[BBC Light Programme|Light Programme]], principally devoted to [[light entertainment]] and [[light music|music]].
 
==History==
{{Further|Timeline of BBC Radio 3}}
When it started in 1946, the Third Programme broadcast for six hours each evening from 6.00pm00 pm to midnight, although its output was cut to just 24 hours a week from October 1957, with the early part of weekday evenings being given over to educational programming (known as "Network Three"). The frequencies were also used during daytime hours to broadcast complete ball-by-ball commentary on [[Test cricket|test match cricket]], under the title ''[[Test Match Special]]"''.
 
The Third's existence was controversial from the beginning, partly because of perceived "elitism" – it was sometimes criticised for broadcasting programmes of "two [[Academia|dons]] talking" – and also for the cost of its output relative to a small listener [[reach (advertising)|reach]]. Its existence was against the Corporationcorporation's founding principles, as [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|Reith]] himself had during his time at the BBC been against segmenting audiences by splitting programming genres across different networks. From the start, though, it had prominent supporters: the [[Secretary of State for Education and Skills|Education Secretary]] in the [[Clement Attlee|Attlee]] government, [[Ellen Wilkinson]], spoke rather optimistically of creating a "third programme nation". When it faced those 1957 cuts, the Third Programme Defence Society was formed and its leaders included [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Albert Camus]], and [[Laurence Olivier|Sir Laurence Olivier]].
 
This situation continued until the launch on 22 March 1965 of the BBC Music Programme, which began regular daily broadcasts of [[classical music]] (with some interruptions for live sports coverage) on the Network Three / Third Programme frequencies between 7.00am00 am and 6.30pm30 pm on weekdays, 8.00am00 am and 12.30pm30 pm on Saturdays, and 8.00am00 am and 5.00pm00 pm on Sundays. The Third Programme continued as a distinct evening service, and this continued to be the case for a short while after the inception of [[BBC Radio 3|Radio 3]] on 30 September 1967, before all the elements of the BBC's "third network" were finally absorbed into Radio 3 with rebranding effect from Saturday 4 April 1970.
 
==Output and programming==
The network was broadly cultural, a [[F.R. Leavis|Leavisite]] experiment dedicated to the discerning or "high-brow" listener from an educated, minority audience. Its founders' aims were seen as promoting "something fundamental to our civilisation" and as contributing to "the refinement of society".<ref>{{cite book |last=Carpenter |first=Humphrey |date=1996 |title=The Envy of the World: Fifty Years of the Third Programme and Radio Three |publisher=[[Weidenfeld and Nicolson]] |location=London |isbn=0-7538-0250-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYLHQgAACAAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2020}} Its musical output provided a wide range of serious [[classical music]] and live concerts, as well as contemporary composers and [[jazz]]; popular classical music such as [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]] primarily remained on the [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] until 1964. Voice formed a much higher proportion of its output than the later Radio 3, with specially commissioned plays, poetry readings, talks and documentaries. Nationally known intellectuals such as [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[Isaiah Berlin]] on philosophy or [[Fred Hoyle]] on cosmology were regular contributors.
 
The network became a principal patron of the arts, within commissioned many music works for broadcast by the BBC Music Department, playing aan crucialimportant role in the development of the career of composers such as [[Benjamin Britten]]. Particularly notable were its drama productions, including the radio plays of [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Henry Reed (poet)|Henry Reed]] (the [[Hilda Tablet]] plays), [[Harold Pinter]], [[Wyndham Lewis]], [[Joe Orton]] and [[Dylan Thomas]], whose ''[[Under Milk Wood]]'' was written specially for the programme. [[Philip O'Connor]] discovered [[Quentin Crisp]] in his radio interviews in 1963. The series ''[[Inventions for Radio]]'' aired in 1964 and 1965, with [[sound collage]]s by [[Delia Derbyshire]] of the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=David |url=https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/156080096/Inventing_for_Radio_Revised_Shorter_Dutch_Cut.pdf |title=The Origins of Certain Lives: The Development, Reception and Influence of the 'Inventions for Radio' by Barry Bermange and Delia Derbyshire |journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television |date=4 December 2019 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=823–846 |doi=10.1080/01439685.2019.1697034}}</ref> [[Martin Esslin]], BBC Director of Drama (Radio), was associated with the network's productions of [[Europe|European]]an drama, and [[Douglas Cleverdon]] with its productions of poetry and radio plays.
 
The Third Programme's contribution to contemporary poetry and criticism was outstandingsignificant, under producers and presenters such as [[John Wain]], [[Ludovic Kennedy]], [[George MacBeth]] and [[Patrick Dickinson]]; here. itIt promoted young writers such as [[Philip Larkin]] and [[Kingsley Amis]], as well as the "difficult" work of [[David Jones (poet)|David Jones]] and [[Laura Riding]]. The Third Programme was for many years as the single largest source of [[copyright]] payments to poets.
 
The decision to close down the Third Programme was opposed by many within the BBC, some of them senior figures. Within the music division, a 'BBC rebellion' gathered force, with its most vocal members including [[Hans Keller]] and [[Robert Simpson (composer)|Robert Simpson]]. Ultimately however, the attempt to prevent the culture-conscious Third being replaced by what Keller called "a daytime music station" proved unsuccessful.{{factcitation needed|date=February 2020}}
 
===Controllers===
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* [https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=pdf/mss0332.pdf BBC Third Programme Scripts catalogue] The collection of [[Douglas Cleverdon]], a leading talks and drama producer for the Third, at the University of Delaware Library.
* {{BBC Online|id=radio3/classical/thirdprogramme/|title=The Third Programme {{endash}} 60 Years On}}
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[[Category:BBC history]]
[[Category:BBC Radio 3]]
[[Category:Defunct BBC national radio stations]]
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