Radio Times is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manager of the British Broadcasting Company, it was the world's first broadcast listings magazine. In September 2023 it became the first broadcast listings magazine to reach and then pass its centenary.
It was published entirely in-house by BBC Magazines from 8 January 1937 until 16 August 2011, when the division was merged into Immediate Media Company. On 12 January 2017, Immediate Media was bought by the German media group Hubert Burda.
The magazine is published on Tuesdays and carries listings for the week from Saturday to Friday. Originally, listings ran from Sunday to Saturday: the changeover meant 8 October 1960 was listed twice, in successive issues. Since Christmas 1969, a 14-day double-duration issue has been published each December containing schedules for two weeks of programmes. Originally this covered Christmas Day and New Year's Day, but on some occasions those have each appeared in separate editions due to the two-week period ending just before the New Year.
History and profile
The Radio Times was first issued on 28 September 1923 for the price of 2d, carrying details of programmes for six BBC wireless stations (2LO, 5IT, 2ZY, 5NO, 5WA and 5SC); newspapers at the time boycotted radio listings fearing that increased listenership might decrease their sales.The BBC Story, 1920s It included a message to "listeners" by the BBC's chairman, Lord Gainford. Initially, The Radio Times was a combined enterprise between the British Broadcasting Company and publishers George Newnes Ltd; the latter typeset, printed and distributed the magazine. In 1925, the BBC assumed full editorial control, but printing and distribution could not begin in-house until 1937. The Radio Times established a reputation for using leading writers and illustrators, and the covers from the special editions are now collectable design classics. By 26 September 1926, the narrow columns of BBC's wireless programme schedules were broken up by the insertion of a photograph or two, relevant to or depicting subjects of the broadcasts. On 1 May 1927, The Radio Times produced an experimental Braille edition under the auspices of the National Institute for the Blind, and its success led to a regular weekly version publication costing one penny. From 15 January 1933, a weekly crossword puzzle made its first-ever appearance.
From 5 January 1934, the three-column programme pages were expanded to include a fourth column, with the BBC's television programmes given a new section layout on 8 January, and The Radio Times announced a regular series of "experimental television transmissions by the Baird process" for half an hour every night at 11pm. The launch of the first regular 405-line television service by the BBC was reflected with television listings in The Radio Timess London edition of 23 October 1936. Thus, Radio Times became the first-ever television listings magazine in the world. Initially, only two pages in each edition were devoted to television, which ran from Monday to Saturday and remained off-air on Sundays until 3 April 1938.
After 14 years, from issue 693 (cover date 8 January 1937), the definite article "The" was no longer used on the masthead or within the magazine, and the publication became simply known as Radio Times; a lavish photogravure supplement was also published in the same issue. Prior to the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the BBC radio listings provided a National Programme for the whole of the United Kingdom, and the Regional Programme appeared in seven different versions (London, Midlands, North, West, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland) each with a combination of various transmitters respectively before the two stations merged into a single service, and included three pages of television listings. When Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 and television broadcasting ceased, radio listings continued with a reduced service. From 23 June 1944, the Allied Expeditionary Forces edition carried details of all the programmes for the Home Service and General Forces Programme. The same year, paper rationing meant editions contained only 20 pages of tiny print on thin paper. Radio Times expanded with regional editions introduced from 29 July 1945, and television resumed again on 7 June 1946. On 4 March 1948, the weekend listing schedules for three BBC radio networks were doubled together with daytime and evening sections in an additional four pages a week; weekday billings also using the same layout added 12 extra pages of more articles and detailed programmes bringing the total number of pages up to 40 (or 44 for the television edition) on 1 July 1949.
From 18 January 1953, the television listing schedules, which had been in the back of the magazine, were placed alongside daily radio schedules. On 17 February 1957 (shortly after the abolition of the "Toddlers' Truce", during which transmissions terminated between 6pm and 7pm), television listings were moved to a separate section at the front with radio listings moved to the back; a day's listings were sometimes spread over up to three double-page spreads mixed with advertisements, but this format was phased out when independent publishers were allowed to publish television schedules. The new layout was structured as: Station name Successor
From 8 October 1960, BBC television and radio schedules were re-integrated; the programmes included a new "pick of the week" with a single third page for previews, before each day's listings; these came before the two pages of television and the four pages of radio. A new bolder masthead was designed by Abram Games (who created graphical designs such as the "Festival Star" on the cover of the 1951 Festival of Britain and the 1953 "Bat's Wings" ident) containing the words "BBC TV and Sound" on the left side, and was introduced with this revamp; it became one of the shortest-used designs in the magazine's history. On 4 August 1962, when Radio Times was again revamped, the masthead was replaced with one incorporating the title in the Clarendon typeface; while the main change was the reduction of BBC radio schedules for three stations to a double-page spread brought down in size, the magazine now generally had between 60 and 68 pages, as compared to the relaunched format from two years earlier, which contained only 52 pages. From 30 September 1967, Radio Times introduced the all-new colour pages of the magazine's feature sections, including "star stories", Percy Thrower's gardening, Zena Skinner's cookery, Bill Hartley's motoring and Jeffery Boswall's birdwatching, as well as "Round and About" with up-to-the-minute stories in both television and radio from around the world. At the same time, the four new BBC radio stations (replacing the Home Service, the Light Programme and the Third Programme) were launched within the schedule listing pages. The layouts of programme page headings were restyled as well as the three radio pages, rearranged with schedule billings for Radio 1 and Radio 2 on the first, Radio 3 on the second and Radio 4 on the third. In future weeks, it would boast another revised masthead using the same typeface: simply a bold symbol "BBC TV" to the right of the title, with the price, date and regional edition being overprinted in letterpress at the top of the front page, and the letters section and the crossword placed inside the back page.
On 6 September 1969, Radio Times was given another radical makeover under a new editor, Geoffrey Cannon, with David Driver as art editor and Peter Gillman as features editor. Among other changes the date format was switched from "month-day-year" to "day-month-year" and the magazine ceased carrying cigarette advertisements after 46 years. The new format inside had the first three pages devoted to an abbreviated listing of all the week's BBC television and radio programmes in a simple condensed form; major changes were noticeable on the feature pages as colour was spread out to accompany them rather than solely on the centre page. The look of the magazine initially became far more restrained, with less white space between columns and headings. More significantly, the lifestyle section (which covered motoring, gardening and cookery) and the crossword were completely dropped, and the highlights section was scrapped. The front cover was surrounded by a black border and italicised its masthead (now in the Caslon typeface with swash capitals; this logo remained until April 2001), in an attempt to emphasise the "R" for radio and "T" for television. From 5 July 1975, the magazine was given a refreshed layout which consisted of horizontal black bars from top to bottom with the familiar darker-shaded look; by this time, the BBC's television schedules included a "colour" annotation that was dropped eight years later; programmes in black and white were never indicated, with the exception of feature films originally made for the cinema. Another major change occurred on 18 November 1978, in response to wavelength changes which took place on 23 November, that enabled Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to receive their own separate domestic services in addition to Radio 4 (also known as the national "Radio 4 UK" service, which remained until 29 September 1984); the arrival of these services on the pages forced all BBC radio stations into a six-column grid. On 30 August 1980, Radio Times developed a new double-page spread of Robert Ottaway's highlights for the week ahead, often used for both BBC radio and television programmes. The regular inside back page section for younger listeners and viewers featured content from Newsround presenter John Craven and a selection of new puzzles created by the television producer Clive Doig, such as the trackword (which consisted of nine squares in one word), as well as backstage stories and a comic strip of Peter Lord's Morph at the bottom of the page.
Between March and December 1983, Radio Times had severe industrial disputes when the British Printing & Communications Corporation and the union SOGAT 82 joined forces, and production was affected due to printing problems: 23 March: The BBC regretted that the printers for next week's edition were in short supply, but copies would be available in the South West, the West of England, North East, and many parts of South and the North of England. 7 April: The BBC expected copies of the magazine to be available in Scotland, Northern Ireland and North of England from 16 April, following the print workers in East Kilbride and near Bristol returning to work. 4 June: The general election special issue with the combined England edition, as well as the three constituent nations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) throughout the country was used for one week only. 16 July: The magazine was finally returned to the fully-regionalised form with complete details of all BBC television channels and radio stations for national, regional and local. 10 December: The magazine was printed and published as the single national edition once again, due to a print workers' strike from the previous week.