BBC One 2016

Weren't the Open University broadcasts technically considered a separate service to BBC 1/2?

Unless I'm mistaken, that actually continued for a while after Radio 3 launched, until around 1970 I think.

Radio 3 (as a branded name) didn't appear until 1970. Radios 1, 2, and 4 'branding' all launched
on Sept 30 1967.

OU progs on Radio 3 were FM only, and there were also some on Radio 4 FM too I'm sure ?

I think they were, at least until 1973ish. Until then the Postmaster General restricted the broadcasting hours for both BBC and ITV, but certain programmes were exempt, schools and OU, as well as the Trade Test films BBC 2 showed ?

Where'd that come from? It was called Third Programme, matching 2 and 4 which were the Light Programme and Home Service. Network Three, according to Wikipedia, was just the name of the early evening educational programming block.

Plus there was the 1980s Radio 1/Radio 2 FM split (one FM slot between both networks) - which when RDS arrived included a neat dynamic RDS label switch between "BBC Radio1/2" (when R1 was on-air) and "BBC Radio 2/1" (when R2 was on-air) or similar - with the first number being the on-air network?

At that point both Radio 1 and Radio 2 were on their own Medium Wave frequencies but shared a single FM slot.

It was gloriously complex in the 60 s and 70s, when R1 was more of an opt out of R2. There were R1 progs broadcast on R2, R2 progs on R1, and then further splits involving FM. Bank Holiday Mondays were a treat, R2 would hand the FM network over to R1 while they covered sport on LW only. However the sharing of the FM network was always asymmetric in R2's favour

It's more the other way round. The Third and Network Three were considered as seperate services on the same frequencies, and listed seperately in Radio Times.

Looking on Genome, usually Network Three 'closed down' at 8pm and the Third started after that. There was also sport, particularly cricket commentary, which is listed as part of Network Three but I think was also considered a seperate 'service' again.

The Third was an evening classical music service. As you will have seen on Wikipedia, The Third carried on until 1970, long after the whole network was renamed Radio 3

The Network Three thing is complicated by the looks of it. In 1965 it became an all 'music programme' with sport at times, but there was still a sequence called 'The Third Programme'. The Genome listings for Network Three continue up to the launch of Radio 3, so presumably it was a blanket term for everything on those frequencies - the music programme, sport and the Third.

As a student in the early 70's I used to regularly listen to Radio 1 weekday nights between 10-midnight for the 'Sounds of the 70's' in glorious Stereo FM on the R2 FM frequency, also of course the Top 20 at 6pm (?) on Sunday nights. I think 'Fluff' Freeman used to have a Saturday afternoon show also transmitted on the R2 FM network. I recorded some of it at the time, obviously a very limited amount, on my brand new Akai X201D stereo tape deck - very posh at the time. I still have the tapes, and indeed the tape deck, I'm hoping to transfer it all to a file format as this years indoor winter project. (I transferred all my Betamax tapes to digital last winter!).

As an aside, I received all this on a Heathkit stereo tuner amplifier, I remember perusing the circuit diagram and noticed that the FM de-emphasis components connected to the decoder chip (?) which were a simple capacitor and resistor, had the wrong time constant. They had supplied values designed for the American spec and not the UK spec. I wrote to them and pointed out their error, they wrote a nice letter back and sent me the correct components. Bit gauche on my part at the time thinking about it!

It is indeed all very complicated, something I've tried to get my head round it several times. Presumably even the Genome team couldn't get their heads round it, because although they use the name 'Network Three' right up until 1967, it doesn't actually appear in editions of the Radio Times after 1963. Instead, 'Third Network' is used as the overall title for all services on that frequency from 1963-67.


Network Three was introduced in 1957 on the Third Programme frequencies as a service of programmes covering minority interests, hobbies, education and some music. Radio Times, as already mentioned, listed the two services separately.

However at some point in 1963, the name 'Network Three' disappeared, and 'Third Network' now appeared as an umbrella title for all services carried on that frequency, which also included Sports Service on Saturday afternoons.

But to make things more confusing, 'Third Network' doesn't appear to be simply a renaming of 'Network Three' - the former refers to all services on the frequency including the Third Programme, while the latter refers to all services other than the Third Programme. Indeed, I have a Radio Times from April 1963, where the Saturday listings are headed up 'In the Third Network', while 'Network 3' is used the rest of the week. Some time after the demise of the Network Three name, from Dec 1963 the early evening minority interest programmes were grouped together as 'Study Session'.

Then as if things weren't confusing enough, in 1964 yet another service began on the frequency, the 'Music Programme', which was a daytime service of classical music, initially on Sundays only and then extended to seven days a week by the end of the year.

So it was the Third Network (rather than Network Three or the Third Programme) that was renamed Radio 3 in 1967, with the separate headings of Third Programme, Music Programme, Study Session and Sports Service remaining until April 1970.

I'm sure that's all as clear as mud.

BBC One HD appears to be currently experiencing problems with the sound being out of sync for Strictly.

Not at this end...