Broadcasting Office (Great Nortend)

His Majesty's Broadcasting Office

Broadcasting House
Crown office overview
Formed	1934
Preceding agencies	Nortish Wireless Society War Office Wireless Department
Jurisdiction	Great Nortend
Headquarters	Broadcasting House, Lendert-with-Cadell, Great Nortend
Crown office executive	Sir Henry Kinseys, Director-General of Broadcasting
Parent department	Board of Information

His Majesty's Broadcasting Office is the public government broadcaster in Great Nortend based at Broadcasting House in Lendert-with-Cadell. It broadcasts on two radio channels, and also produces newsreels for broadcast to cinemas around the country.

History

The Broadcasting Office has its formal origins in an amalgamation of the Wireless Department of the Board of Information and the Nortish Wireless Company. The Wireless Department was run jointly with the War Office during the Great Astyrian War. The privately owned Nortan Wireless Company had its origins in 1934, when the Post Office agreed to bestow upon a single company the right to broadcast radio. In 1934, after the war, the the Nortan Wireless Company was taken over by the Crown and combined with the Wireless Department to form its own Crown office.

Organisation

The Broadcasting Office is controlled by the Director-General of Broadcasting, currently Sir Henry Kinseys, who sits on the Board of Information. As a Crown office within the home portfolio, it is also subject to control from the King's Clerk and the Cabinet.

Programming

The main radio channel is Channel One, which began operating under the Wireless Department in 1922 as part of war efforts. Channel One is a national channel which mostly broadcasts “serious programming”. It broadcasts news bulletins, as well as “serious” discussion programmes such as “The Disputation” debate programm, the “Three P. M. Interview”, and current affairs. It also broadcasts Public Questions from the Houses of Commons and other selected debates. A significant portion of its broadcast is dedicated to cultural programming, such as concerts, plays, poetry readings and documentaries.

The second channel is Channel Two, which began operation in 1934 with the establishment of the Broadcasting Office. It broadcasts popular music and light programmes, such as radio comedies and dramas. The morning and afternoon “Music for the Day” programmes are long-running featuring various bands and orchestras and light popular music, interspersed with radio comedies and serials. During the evening, radio dramas and are broadcast, interspersed with short news bulletins cross-broadcasted from Channel One, light panel programmes and music.

Both channels play the National Anthem at the end of the broadcasting day at 22·00 p. m., after Compline. The broadcasting day begins at 6·00 a. m. with Mattins.