[scottishtv]

You can sometimes here police sirens, protests, birdsong, etc on the live feed.

If you listen carefully with headphones, you get a siren here around 00:17 just before the chimes. (Please be careful and don't damage your hearing!) youtu.be 

There's no background noise quite like the start of the Midnight News on 1st January... 🥳

(I didn't listen live but my inner geek did remember to go back and listen again one day in January!).

[AndrewP]

www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC Radio 4 - A Celebration for Ascension Day
A service for Ascension Day celebrating 100 years of religious broadcasting at t…
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

The BBC marked 100 glorious years of religious broadcasting on the BBC today.
Didn't manage to listen live as I was at church myself for the day of obligation.

I won't comment on the editorial direction the BBC's Christian religious programming is going towards but I hope nonetheless what little there is left soldiers on for many years to come.

[JMT1985]

Songs of Praise is an interesting programme, as it has been pushed back to a very early slot, at lunchtime in recent years. Well away out of the main prime time schedule.

I do feel in years to come, Songs of Praise, Christmas and Easter ceremonies will be the only religious TV programming we will see on BBC - and of course we are a less religious society. I am not religious at all, but I do feel BBC should be providing a decent service to those people who have a belief system.

[RhysJR]

Songs of Praise is an interesting programme, as it has been pushed back to a very early slot, at lunchtime in recent years. Well away out of the main prime time schedule.

I do feel in years to come, Songs of Praise, Christmas and Easter ceremonies will be the only religious TV programming we will see on BBC - and of course we are a less religious society. I am not religious at all, but I do feel BBC should be providing a decent service to those people who have a belief system.

I think it has found its slot now. It is almost religously (no pun itended) at 13:15, whilst a decade or so ago, when it was early evening, the scheduling was any time between 16:00 and 18:00. So, I wold think it would be far better for everyone that it is at the same time every week, even if it is not as prominent timewise any more.

A sidenote on Songs of Praise: Pam Rhodes must be one of the current longest running presenters of the same programme at the BBC? Apparently she started in April 1987!
www.pamrhodes.co.uk 

About Pam Rhodes
This is the personal web site for Pam Rhodes
  Source: www.pamrhodes.co.uk

I think the BBC's religous provisions is at a perfectly reasonable level at present. As you said, the religous makeup of society has changed (more non religious people, more people from other faiths). Looking at the schedules, Radios 4, Scotland, Ulster and Wales offer church services on Sunday morning, whilst there's also more 'fluffier' religious based programming like Good Morning Sunday (Radio 2) and Sunday Morning Live. Whether that is the best for the audience is something else though; I doubt many of those services except for Songs of Praise cater for those in non-traditional churches like gospel churches. Credit to Songs of Praise for having a wider range of religious genres in recent years.

[Steve in Pudsey]

As well as being a less religious society there is also a big plurality of religions. If the BBC provides for people with "a belief system" it becomes a question of how many beliefs and religions can it accommodate?

If it's CofE does that oblige BBC Scotland to opt out and do a Church of Scotland version? (I'm thinking of Tony Currie's comments about how far his infamous filling on STV was networked when a late night Christmas service fell off air, and his remark that it was a CofS service so regions in England wouldn't have taken it)

If Christian licence payers are provided with this service, shouldn't there also be something for the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu etc communities?

Increasingly places off worship are able to stream their own activities, plus the plethora of religious channels available mean that the need for mainstream channels to provide this coverage is perhaps diminished.

That's not to say that I object to services being shown around religious holidays. I know people who wouldn't call themselves religious who will attend a carol service or midnight Mass at Christmas. But the same should apply for Eid, Diwali, Hanuka etc.

[Brekkie]

Songs of Praise is an interesting programme, as it has been pushed back to a very early slot, at lunchtime in recent years. Well away out of the main prime time schedule.

I do feel in years to come, Songs of Praise, Christmas and Easter ceremonies will be the only religious TV programming we will see on BBC - and of course we are a less religious society. I am not religious at all, but I do feel BBC should be providing a decent service to those people who have a belief system.

Scheduling Songs of Praise at 1.15pm was the best move for it - before that it was all over the place airing at anytime from 11.30am to 4.30pm either on BBC1 or BBC2. It moves far less often now, usually to the same slot on BBC2.

Religious programming has moved on from just covering prayers, hymns and services. It's more about exploring the subject matter through shows like Pilgrimage and having people on screen explore their faith or lack of faith.

[AndyB2008]

Scheduling Songs of Praise at 1.15pm was the best move for it - before that it was all over the place airing at anytime from 11.30am to 4.30pm either on BBC1 or BBC2. It moves far less often now, usually to the same slot on BBC2.

Religious programming has moved on from just covering prayers, hymns and services. It's more about exploring the subject matter through shows like Pilgrimage and having people on screen explore their faith or lack of faith.

And despite the early slot, it seems to be popular.

At one point, Songs of Praise outrated the first series of Australian drama The Newsreader in overnights (especially since Songs of Praise got less critical lauding and promo), which explains why the BBC didn't air the 2nd series on Sunday nights, as if they were embarrassed.

[AndyB2008]

Scheduling Songs of Praise at 1.15pm was the best move for it - before that it was all over the place airing at anytime from 11.30am to 4.30pm either on BBC1 or BBC2. It moves far less often now, usually to the same slot on BBC2.

Religious programming has moved on from just covering prayers, hymns and services. It's more about exploring the subject matter through shows like Pilgrimage and having people on screen explore their faith or lack of faith.

And despite the early slot, it seems to be popular.

At one point, Songs of Praise outrated the first series of Australian drama The Newsreader in overnights (especially since Songs of Praise got less critical lauding and promo), which explains why the BBC didn't air the 2nd series on Sunday nights, as if they were embarrassed why more viewers would watch Songs of Praise than a primetime drama. (Probably because the real life dramas of newsreaders or the dramas of TalkTV are more entertaining, no big name stars like Chris Eccleston or Gillian Anderson in it to appeal to UK audiences and it's a serious drama rather than a sitcom/parody).

[AndrewP]

This morning is Emma Barnett's first edition of Today, co-presenting with Amol.
It's reminded me of a trail I forgot to share that was running last week, where she spent about a minute talking about how bewildered she was as a listener to be on Today, and making some light jokes how she's more of a night person. If I manage to find it, I'll post a recording of it later.

Have any other new Today presenters in the past had promos of that nature before?
Normally when presenters do trails, they talk about why their programme is important, how it's different, why you should listen etc
It seemed to me with this trail like they were trying to put Emma herself as a reason to tune in, rather than the actual programme content.

I hope it's not a sign of any direction the Today programme wishes to go toward.

[Stooky Bill]

I think it has found its slot now. It is almost religously (no pun itended) at 13:15, whilst a decade or so ago, when it was early evening, the scheduling was any time between 16:00 and 18:00. So, I wold think it would be far better for everyone that it is at the same time every week, even if it is not as prominent timewise any more.

A sidenote on Songs of Praise: Pam Rhodes must be one of the current longest running presenters of the same programme at the BBC? Apparently she started in April 1987!
www.pamrhodes.co.uk 


I think the BBC's religous provisions is at a perfectly reasonable level at present. As you said, the religous makeup of society has changed (more non religious people, more people from other faiths). Looking at the schedules, Radios 4, Scotland, Ulster and Wales offer church services on Sunday morning, whilst there's also more 'fluffier' religious based programming like Good Morning Sunday (Radio 2) and Sunday Morning Live. Whether that is the best for the audience is something else though; I doubt many of those services except for Songs of Praise cater for those in non-traditional churches like gospel churches. Credit to Songs of Praise for having a wider range of religious genres in recent years.

Many of their local radio stations have religiously based Sunday breakfast shows, and it was something local radio did a lot more of during covid to provide for those who would normally be in church but couldn't be.

Years ago there was a programme on BBC1 on Sunday mornings which filled that brief and the announcer would introduce it by saying that you should have a candle and something else ready for the programme