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ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ @ 100

Roy Jenkins looks back at a century of religious broadcasting on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ and the changing the ways in which religion has been handled.

Roy Jenkins looks back at a century of religious broadcasting on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½.

With a motto inspired by a Biblical source, the early ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ was avowedly Christian, and largely Anglican at that. Sir John Reith (a man lacking in neither religious conviction nor self-belief) placed enormous importance on the radio as a means of disseminating the Christian message. Roy Jenkins looks at Reith's legacy of religious programmes on the airwaves, and subsequently on television, as producers tackled the increasingly complex make-up of multi-cultural Britain.

From the broadcasting of services and state occasions to talks such as C.S. Lewis's hugely popular essays and Dorothy L Sayers' experimental drama The Man Born to be King, the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ was at times innovative and prepared to court occasional controversy. Some of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½'s religious programmes, such as The Daily Service - first broadcast in 1929 and still with us today - have a remarkable history almost as long as the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ itself. Others, such as Songs of Praise, have faced diminishing audiences, as well as changes of slot times - a reflection on an increasingly secularised audience perhaps.

Roy's guests include Sian Nicholas, Professor of Modern History at Aberystwyth University; Leslie Griffiths; Ian Tutton, a former member of the Central Religious Affairs Committee whose job it was to oversee religious broadcasting; and Caitriona Noonan, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at Cardiff University.

28 minutes

Last on

Tue 14 Feb 2023 05:30

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  • Sun 4 Sep 2022 09:00
  • Tue 6 Sep 2022 05:30
  • Sun 20 Nov 2022 09:00
  • Tue 22 Nov 2022 05:30
  • Sun 12 Feb 2023 09:00
  • Tue 14 Feb 2023 05:30

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