History in the Present Day

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Whilst on the one hand, there is an enormous amount of flux in the state of broadcasting, felt very powerfully at the doors of BBC, it is perhaps heartening to read that the BBC has just published an archive, including (but certainly not limited to) past editions of the Radio Times going back to 1923.


Whilst in development, the project was known as BBC Genome. However, it is now named as the BBC’s Programme Index.

There are millions of programme listings on the BBC’s Programme Index. In some cases, there are links to programmes you can watch and listen to elsewhere on the BBC website, though, perhaps not surprisingly given the age of much of the material, most of the listings are text-only.
In the "Explore Channels" option, you can seek out a myriad of BBC channels, including local radio, specialist music and ethnic channels, such as BBC Radio Lancashire, BBC Music Jazz and Asian Network, respectively.





Visit BBC Programme Index.

Whilst nowadays there are many options for viewing TV weekly listings, whether printed or online, the accessibility of this archive provides substantially more and may well bring back many memories of past listening and viewing. For example, what was on BBC 1 on Saturday evening 5 April 1969 at 6:25 p.m.? According to this archive it was Dee Time with Simon Dee, which, if you're of a certain age, I'm sure that many of you will remember.



At the other extreme, from light entertainment to drama: What was on BBC 4 on Friday 11 June 2004 at 11 p.m.? I can tell you that it was a re-run of the classic 1960s mystery drama The Prisoner. You can listen to an interview that I did some years ago with Six of One, The Prisoner Appreciation Society.
The BBC has placed a caveat on this resource: "This is a historical record of the planned output and the BBC services of any given time. It should be viewed in this context and with the understanding that historical listings reflects the attitudes and standards of their time - not those of today."
The very first edition of the Radio Times.

Of course, we all know that the world has changed a great deal since 1923, or even 1973 - or even 2003. Time doesn't stand still and societal values change over time.
This is undoubtedly a fantastically rich resource and I'll let you explore it for yourselves. Maybe, just maybe, you'll come across some programmes that you'd quite forgotten about and will be glad to rediscover them. Happy exploring!




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