A timeline of notable events relating to the BBC World Service, the world's largest international broadcaster, which began broadcasting in 1932.
1930s 1932 19 December – The Empire Service (precursor of the World Service) launches, broadcasting on shortwave from Daventry's Borough Hill. 25 December – King George V becomes the first monarch to deliver a Christmas Day message by radio, on the Empire Service.
1938 3 January – The BBC begins broadcasting its first foreign-language radio service, in Arabic. 14 March – Portuguese for Brasil and Spanish for Latin America begin. 4 June – Portuguese for Europe programmes begins. 27 September – German, French and Italian programmes begin. November – The Empire Service is renamed the BBC Overseas Service.
1939 14 May – Afrikaans language programming begins. 4 June – Portuguese for Africa programming begins. 5 September – Hungarian language programming begins. 7 September – Following the outbreak of World War II, the BBC launches its BBC Polish Section. 30 September – Greek language programming begins. 20 November – Turkish language programming begins. 31 December – Czech language programming begins.
1940s 1940 7 February – Bulgarian language programming begins. 12 February – Swedish language programming begins. 18 March – Finnish language programming begins. 9 April – Danish and Norwegian programming begins. 11 April – Dutch language programming begins. 5 May – Cantonese Chinese programming begins. 11 May – Programming in Hindi begins. 12 May – Swedish language programming begins. 28 July – Dutch programme Radio Oranje launches. 10 August – Maltese programming begins. 2 September – Burmese programming begins. 15 September – Romanian programming begins. 16 September – Greek for Cyprus programming begins. 28 September – Belgian French & Belgian Dutch programming begins. 12 November – Albanian programming begins with the launch of the BBC Albanian service. 1 December – Icelandic programming begins. 28 December – Persian programming begins.
1941 The BBC European Service moves to Bush House in Central London. 22 April – Slovene programming begins. 27 April – Thai programming begins. 2 May – Malay programming begins. 3 May – Tamil programming begins. 5 May – Cantonese Chinese programming begins. 19 May – Mandarin Chinese programming begins 11 October – Bengali programming begins with the launch of BBC Bangla. 31 December – Slovak programming begins.
1942 1 March – Gujarati and Marathi programming begins. 10 March – Sinhala programming begins. 1 October – Hokkien Chinese programming begins. 7 October – Programming in Russian begins. 2 November – French for Canada programming begins.
1943 29 March – German for Austria programming begins. 26 May – Programming in Russian ends. 29 May – Luxembourgish programming begins. 4 July – Programming in Japanese begins.
1944 27 February – BBC General Forces Programme replaces the BBC Forces Programme (also broadcast on shortwave). 26 June – Icelandic programming ends. 28 August – Dutch for Indonesia and French for South-East Asia programming begins. 3 September – Gujarati programming ends.
1945 1 January – Welsh for Patagonia, Argentina programming begins. 2 April – Dutch for Indonesia programming ends.
1946 25 May – Dutch for Indonesia programming resumes. 26 May – Programming in Russian resumes. 31 December – Welsh for Patagonia, Argentina programming ends.
1948 7 February – Programmes in Hokkien Chinese end.
1949 3 April – Urdu programming begins. 30 October – Hebrew and Indonesian programming begins.
1950s 1951 13 May – Dutch for Indonesia programming ends. 3 June – Greek for Cyprus programming ends.
1952 6 February – Vietnamese programming begins. 30 March – Programming in Belgian French & Belgian Dutch ends. 30 May – Programming in Luxembourgish ends.
1955 3 April – French for South-East Asia programming ends.
1957 13 March – Hausa language programming begins with the launch of BBC Hausa. 27 July – Swahili language programming begins. 18 July – The BBC Somali Service launches as a twice-weekly 15-minute programme. 10 August – Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Portuguese for Europe programming end. 8 September – Afrikaans programming ends 15 September – German for Austria programming ends.
1958 September – The BBC Somali Service begins daily broadcasts. 25 December – Marathi programming ends.
1959 The World Service launches its first sports programme. Called Saturday Special, it runs for one hour in the Summer of 1959.
1960s 1960 5 March – Thai programming ends. 20 June – French for Africa programming begins.
1961 4 March – Swedish programming ends.
1962 3 June – Programming in Thai resumes.
1965 1 May – The General Overseas Service is renamed the BBC World Service.
1966 The World Service's reach in Africa is expanded with the opening of the Ascension Island relay. 4 July – Outlook is broadcast for the first time.
1967 20 January – The BBC Albanian service ends.
1968 28 October – Hebrew programming ends.
1969 7 June – BBC Nepali launches as a weekly programme.
1970s 1970 BBC Nepali expands to a five days a week service.
1976 30 March – Sinhala programming ends. 25 December – English for the Caribbean programming begins.
1979 Sportsworld launches. 7 July – Science in Action launches.
1980s 1980 8 May – Programming in French for Canada ends.
1981 15 August – Pashto programming begins. 31 December – Programming in Italian and Maltese ends.
1982 28 September – Transmissions end from Crowborough following the switching-on of, and final transfer of transmitting operations on 648 kHz MW to, Orfordness. Orfordness was seen as being a better location due to it being on the Suffolk coast, whereas Crowborough was inland.Crowborough - a History This transmitter change means that the World Service becomes available to UK listeners for the first time, albeit only for people in south east England.
1985 August – For the first time in its history the World service is taken off air due to strike action in protest at the British government's decision to ban a documentary featuring an interview with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin.
1987 The BBC World Service launches BBC 648 from the Orfordness transmitting station. The service provides a tailor-made service for northern Europe featuring some French and German programming interwoven with the main output in English. Kim Andrew Elliott, 13 February 2011.
1988 For many years, the World Service had been available for part of BBC Radio 4's overnight downtime on that station's long wave frequency. However, by the start of 1988, the World Service is now heard throughout the full overnight period when Radio 4 is not on air. Consequently, for the first time, the World Service is available on long wave across the UK between 12:45am and 5:55am. Newshour launches.
1989 1 April – The BBC launches BBC TV Europe, a subscription-based pan-European television station.Transponder News TeleSat News, 21 July 1996
1990s 1990 11 March – Programming in Sinhala resumes.
1991 16 January – Upon the outbreak of the Gulf War, the BBC begins a BBC Radio 4 News FM which is broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio 4 FM frequencies and around the world on the World Service. 2 March – At 18:00 GMT, BBC Radio 4 News FM closes and programming on the World Service returns to its usual output. 31 March – Japanese programming ends after 48 years and Malay language programming ends after 50 years. 15 April – The BBC World Service Television news service is launched. Unlike World Service radio which is funded by direct grant from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, WSTV is commercially funded and carries advertising, which means that it cannot be broadcast in the UK. 29 September – Programmes in Croatian and Serbian begin. 14 October – World Service TV launches its Asian service. The first broadcasts of Europe Today take place.
1992 1 June – BBC Ukrainian launches. Бі-Бі-Сі – зрозуміти світ, BBC Ukrainian June – The World Service launches a programming covering the Wimbledon Championships called Sportsworld at Wimbledon. The BBC World Service is broadcast regularly on FM in the UK for the first time when it begins to be carried overnight on BBC Local Radio.
1993 20 February – The BBC Albanian service is relaunched after being off air for 26 years. November – The World Service's monthly listings magazine London Calling is replaced with a 100-page colour magazine and is renamed BBC Worldwide. It is later renamed to BBC On Air.
1994 8 September – Kinyarwanda programming begins. 30 November – Azerbaijani and Uzbek programming begins.
1995 26 January – BBC World Service Television is renamed BBC World and is launched as an international free-to-air news channel at 19:00 GMT. 31 March – French programming ends. 1 April – Kazakh and Kyrgyz programming begins. 27 September – The BBC begins regular Digital Audio Broadcasting, initially just from the Crystal Palace transmitting station. Consequently, the World Service becomes available to listeners across the UK on a 24/7 basis for the first time.
1996 6 January – Macedonian programming begins. 9 June – A Sunday edition of Sportsworld launches.
1997 March – The first edition of Everywoman is broadcast. 4 November – Debut of the BBC World Service soap Westway. 31 December – The Finnish service ends after 57 years.
1998 Following the recent commencement of the World Service being heard overnight on BBC Radio 4's FM frequencies, the overnight transmission on BBC Local Radio ends. It is replaced with a simulcast of BBC Radio 5 Live.
1999 BBC 648, which provided French and German language content for northern Europe from the Orfordness transmitting station, ends with the closure of the BBC's German service. BBC's German Service goes off air, BBC News, 27 March 1999. – the French for Europe service had closed in 1995. 75 years BBC World Service – A History. Consequently, all programming from this transmitter is in English only. The World Today is broadcast for the first time.
2000s 2001 Technology programme Go Digital launches. 1 July – The World Service ends short wave radio transmission directed to North America and Australasia. It says that "changing listening habits" are the reason for this decision. A shortwave listener coalition formed to oppose the change.
2002 August – The first edition of World Book Club is broadcast.World Service profile
2004 December – The final edition of the World Service's magazine BBC On Air is published.
2005 5 October – It is announced that broadcasts in a number of European languages will end by March 2006, to finance the launch in 2007 of TV news services in Arabic and Persian. 10 October – The BBC's Latin American service is renamed BBC Mundo. October – The BBC World Service soap opera Westway comes to an end after eight years on air. 16 December – Kazakh programming ends. 23 December – Polish programming ends after 66 years and Slovene programming ends after 64 years. 30 December – Bulgarian programming ends after 65 years. 31 December – Hungarian and Greek programming end, both after 66 years and Slovak programmes ends after 64 years.
2006 13 January – Thai programming ends for a second time. 31 January – Croatian programming ends. 28 February – Czech programming ends. April – The final edition of Everywoman is broadcast.Michael Church: The needless destruction of a cultural treasure The Independent, 14 October 2005 Archived episodes of the programme have since been made available on the BBC website. October – The first edition of World Have Your Say is broadcast.
2008 18 February – The World Service ends analogue short wave broadcasting in Europe.BBC World Service. "Shortwave changes for Europe February 2008" 6 April – Discussion programme The Forum debuts.