BBC Third Programme

The BBC Third Programme was a national radio service produced and broadcast by the BBC between 1946 and 1970. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces in Britain, playing a crucial role in disseminating the arts. It was the BBC's third national radio network, the other two being the Home Service (mainly speech-based) and the Light Programme, principally devoted to light entertainment and music. The Third Programme was replaced by BBC Radio 3 on 4 April 1970.

When it started in 1946, the Third Programme broadcast for six hours each evening, from 18.00 to 24.00, 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"). 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 7.00 and 18.30 on weekdays, 8.00 and 12.30 on Saturdays, and 8.00 and 17.00 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 Radio 3 in 1967, before all the elements of the BBC's "third network" were finally absorbed into Radio 3 with effect from Saturday 4 April 1970.

The Third's existence was controversial from the beginning, partly because of perceived "elitism" – it was sometimes criticised for broadcasting programmes of "two dons talking" – and also for the cost of its output relative to a small listener reach. Its existence was against Reithian principles, as 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 Education Secretary in the 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 Sir Laurence Olivier.

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