The Radio Industry - Bbc Trust

Public service broadcasting was first put into the public eye in the 1920’s. John Reith, the founding father of the BBC, developed the idea of public service broadcasting with the concepts to inform, educate and entertain. These points are still what mould the programming of the BBC and other public servicer broadcasters today. Unlike other forms of radio, the BBC is regulated by its own body, the BBC Trust. The BBC Trust was put in place through the royal charter in 2007. The Trust is independent from the BBC and operates with the best interests of the licence fee payer. The licence fee is what funds the BBC, Everybody who owns a television has to pay the fee which covers them for the year. So even if you don’t listen or watch the BBC you still have to pay the licence fee, which has been the subject to a lot of criticisms in the past. Due to the fact that the BBC is funded by the licence fee, they have to have a high standard and provide a public service.

During a speech that was given in January 2002, at the broadcast conference, Richard Hooper defines public service broadcasting as;

• addressing audiences (over 55 yr olds for example) that advertisers are not interested in

• creating programming that will only ever have small audiences

• innovating with programme forms and talent which may fail

• producing a quality of output that the market cannot afford to invest in but which raises the bar for commercial competitors

• Offering the Reithian, what audiences need not just what audiences want.

Analysing these points you can see that the BBC does have some of these guidelines on board. The first point that is made, addressing audiences (over 55 yr olds for example) that advertisers are not interested in. This is due to the BBC