Editing BBC Light Programme (section)

==History==
The long wave signal on 200&nbsp;kHz / 1500 metres was transmitted from [[Droitwich transmitting station|Droitwich]] in the [[Midlands|English Midlands]]<ref name=frequencyfinder/>  (as it still is today for [[BBC Radio 4]], although adjusted slightly to 198&nbsp;kHz / 1515 metres from 1 February 1988)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/oct/09/bbc-radio4-long-wave-goodbye|title=Radio 4's long wave goodbye|last=Sabbagh|first=Dan|date=2011-10-09|work=The Guardian|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/Droitwich/droitwich_calling.htm|title=Droitwich Calling|last=Phillips|first=John F.|date=December 2006|publisher=BBCeng.info|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref> and gave fairly good coverage of most of the [[United Kingdom]], although a number of low-power [[medium wave]] transmitters (using 1215&nbsp;kHz / 247 metres) were added later to fill in local blank spots.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://radiotoday.co.uk/2023/01/absolute-radio-to-switch-off-all-am-transmitters-across-the-uk/|title=Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK|last=Martin|first=Roy|date=2023-01-04|publisher=RadioToday|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref><ref name=engineeringdev>{{cite report|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/BBC/BBC-Books/BBC-Engineering-Development-1962.pdf|title=BBC Sound Broadcasting: Its Engineering Development|date=August 1962|publisher=BBC|access-date=2024-02-28|pages=28, 30–31, 35, 94}}</ref> Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, the Light Programme (along with the BBC's two other national stations – the [[BBC Home Service]] and the [[BBC Third Programme]]) gradually became available on what was known at the time as [[Very high frequency|VHF]], as the BBC developed a network of local [[Frequency modulation|FM]] transmitters.<ref name=engineeringdev/>

From its first day of broadcasting in 1945 until Monday 2 September 1957, the Light Programme would be on the air from 9:00 am until midnight each day, apart from Sundays when it would come on the air at 8:00 am until 11:00 pm.<ref name=asabriggs>{{cite book|title=Sound and Vision|series=The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom|volume=IV|last=Briggs|first=Asa|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/BBC/BBC-Books/History-of-Broadcasting-UK-IV-Sound-&-Vision-Biggs.pdf|date=1979|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=55–56, 61, 113, 543–545, 849|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref>

There was, however, a period of a year when the Light Programme was forced to end its broadcasting day one hour earlier at 11:00 pm. This commenced in mid-February 1947 as an effect from the appalling [[Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom|winter of 1946–1947 which saw a fuel shortage in the country]] with the government enforcing electricity saving measures, one of which was losing one hour of broadcasting per day from the Light Programme.<ref name=johncain/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/genome/entries/d2f886b8-0eb5-4b6c-9582-4b3f4e36e6c0|title=The Sunday Post: The 1947 Fuel Crisis and the BBC|last=Martin|first=Andrew|date=2017-03-05|publisher=BBC|access-date=2024-02-29}}</ref> Even after the fuel shortage had ended by spring 1947, the 11:00 pm closedown each night continued as [[BBC Radio]] found itself in financial problems and needed to save money. The midnight closedown of the Light Programme resumed one year later from Sunday 11 April 1948.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/0317d317dd674879be093156115c93a7?page=9|newspaper=Radio Times|title=SUNDAY Light Programme|issue=1278|date=1948-04-09|via=BBC Genome|access-date=2024-02-28|page=9}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/8279340668084f7d870abf112f7a6497?page=11|title=MONDAY Light Programme|newspaper=Radio Times|issue=1221|date=1947-03-07|page=11|via=BBC Genome|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref> The long-running soap opera ''[[The Archers]]'' was first heard nationally on the Light Programme on New Year's Day 1951,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4703411/William-Smethurst-the-man-who-turned-The-Archers-into-a-cult.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140131140416/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4703411/William-Smethurst-the-man-who-turned-The-Archers-into-a-cult.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 January 2014|title=William Smethurst: the man who turned The Archers into a cult|first=Gillian|last=Reynolds|date=24 August 1996|work=The Telegraph|location=UK}}</ref> although a week-long pilot version had been broadcast on the [[BBC West Midlands|Midlands Home Service]] in 1950.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thearchers/entries/f06c5ad0-1238-45e4-81d6-c07b43b2a08c|title=The Archers pilot episode - 65th anniversary|last=Smith|first=Andrew|date=2015-05-29|publisher=BBC|access-date=2024-02-29}}</ref>

From Monday 2 September 1957, {{citation needed|date=February 2024}} the Light Programme's broadcasting hours would start to increase, with a new early morning start time of 7:00 am until midnight, later moving to 6:30 am<ref name=newlookinradio>{{cite web|url=https://transdiffusion.org/2017/03/13/the-new-look-in-radio/|title=The new look in radio|last1=Gillard|first1=Frank|last2=Manduell|first2=John|last3=Graham|first3=Russ J.|date=2017-03-13|publisher=Transdiffusion|access-date=2024-02-28}}</ref> from Monday 29 September 1958.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In 1964, broadcasting hours were increased even more, with a new morning start time of 5:30 am from Monday 31 August. Up until September 1964, the Light Programme would always end its broadcasting day at midnight; however this changed on Sunday 27 September 1964, when a new closedown time of 2:02 am was introduced.<ref name=bbcradio1964/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/light/1964-09-26|title=Light Programme – 26 September 1964|publisher=BBC Genome|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref name=schedule195709>{{cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/light/1957-09-02|title=Light Programme – 2 September 1957 |publisher=BBC Genome|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/light/1958-09-29|title=Light Programme – 29 September 1958|publisher=BBC Genome|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/light/1945-07-29|title=Light Programme – 29 July 1945|publisher= BBC Genome|website=genome.ch.bbc.co.uk}}</ref><ref name=newlookinradio/>

The Light Programme closed down for the last time at 2:03 am on Saturday 30 September 1967.<ref name=schedule196709>{{cite web|title=BBC Light Programme schedule for 29 September 1967|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/service_light_programme/1967-09-29|website=BBC Genome|access-date=20 January 2023}}</ref><ref name=frequencyfinder>{{cite web|url=http://frequencyfinder.org.uk/History_Transmission.pdf|title=History of Radio Transmission in the UK|publisher=Frequency Finder UK|access-date=2024-02-28|pages=3, 9}}</ref> At 5:30 am, it was replaced by [[BBC Radio 2]] and at 7:00 am by [[BBC Radio 1]] on medium wave.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/history_of_radio_1_details.htm|title=Why create Radio 1?|publisher=Radio Rewind|access-date=2024-02-29}}</ref><ref name=frequencyfinder/>