The first broadcast to schools was organized by the privately owned British Broadcasting Company and given by the composer Sir Walford Davies, Professor of Music at Gresham College. It was transmitted from Britain's second ever radio station, 2LO in London, on 4 April 1924. Following the dissolution of the British Broadcasting Company on 31 December 1926 and the transfer of its assets to the Crown-chartered British Broadcasting Corporation, the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust funded a project on broadcasting to schools based on feedback collected from teachers in Kent. In 1928 the Central Council for School Broadcasting was established; its first two Chairmen were Herbert Fisher and Eustace Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle. For each curriculum subject covered in the broadcasts there was a Subject Committee, staffed by teachers. From 1929-57, the first Director of School Broadcasting was Mary Somerville. By the 1930s, secondary schools were included in the target audience and broadcasts were added covering foreign-language learning. Older listeners were also tuning in.
During the Second World War, School Radio gained a new importance. Any regional variations were consolidated into a single home service for children with a five-minute news broadcast that was designed to explain the confusing circumstances. By 1942, half of all British schools were listening.
Post war
The School Broadcasting Council for the United Kingdom had been set up in 1947, replacing the CCSB, and included Scotland and Wales. After the Newsom Report in 1963, more series were made about the transition from school to work. The 1960s to 1980s were regarded as a 'golden age' for British schools radio broadcasting, and by the early 1970s, around 90% of schools were using the School Radio service. The BBC produced around 80 series per year for School Radio, which amounted to around 16 hours per week. From 1983, older programmes were available on cassette from the Centre of Educational Technology in Mold, Flintshire. Originally broadcast on the BBC Home Service, they transferred to BBC Radio 4 when that network replaced the Home Service in 1967. They were broadcast on all frequencies until the start of the 1973/74 school year when they were heard only on Radio 4's FM frequencies. Programming aired on weekdays from 10.00 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 15.00. In September 1990 they were transferred to BBC Radio 5 and BBC Radio 3. They were aired on Radio 5 during the day, between 9.00 and 10.25, and were repeated overnight, along with additional programmes, between 01.00 and 03.10 on Radio 3. Following the replacement of the original Radio 5 by Radio 5 Live, the daytime schools transmissions also moved to Radio 3, airing between 14.00 and 15.00, much to the chagrin of many of that station's listeners. From Autumn 1996 all programmes were broadcast overnight on Radio 3 where they could be pre-recorded, before being switched to overnight transmission via the digital version of Radio 4, which ended in June 2018. Since 2003 all school radio programmes have been available on the internet. The advent of podcasting has opened up a whole new avenue for the school radio service.
Diversification
TV broadcasting for schools began on 13 May 1957. This was first broadcast by Associated-Rediffusion, not the BBC, though the BBC began schools television four months later. The BBC's television service had begun in 1936, and stopped for the war, to begin again in 1946. Schools television was shown on BBC1 until 1983 when it moved to BBC2. No commercial broadcasters have ever produced educational radio programmes for schools.
Anniversary
On 4 April 1984, John Dunn presented a programme entitled Faith, Hope and Clarity, about the sixty years of BBC Schools Radio, on Radio 4. In the same year, from 3 to 5 July, a three-day festival was held at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. It was hosted by Duncan Goodhew, Sue Lawley, and Rolf Harris.
Broadcasting sites
In 1939 the School Broadcasting Department moved to Bristol.
In 2011 School Radio moved from its home on Wood Lane in London up to the newly built BBC Bridge House at MediaCityUK, also home to BBC Bitesize, BBC Teach, and BBC Children's. A small School Radio team is based in Scotland, producing programmes exclusively for Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence. Broadcasts took place in the middle of the night on Radio 4 Digital from Tuesdays to Thursdays. Programmes could be recorded under the Educational Recording Agencycopyright laws, but podcasts are freely available, online and on the BBC iPlayer Radio app. On 28 June 2018 School Radio ended its run on BBC Radio, instead becoming an online streaming and podcast download exclusive service, with content uploaded throughout the year, rather than following strict broadcast schedules.
