BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office.
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20 Facts About World Service
2.
World Service is funded by the United Kingdom's television licence fee, limited advertising and the profits of BBC Studios.
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3.
The World Service was funded for decades by grant-in-aid through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office until 1 April 2014.
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4.
BBC World Service English maintains eight regional feeds with several programme variations, covering, respectively, East and South Africa; West and Central Africa; Europe and Middle East; the Americas and Caribbean; East Asia; South Asia; Australasia; and the United Kingdom.
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5.
Director of the BBC World Service is Liliane Landor; the controller of the BBC World Service in English is Jon Zilkha.
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6.
BBC World Service began on 19 December 1932 as the BBC Empire Service, broadcasting on shortwave and aimed principally at English speakers across the British Empire.
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7.
World Service had been based in London, but often travelled to Kyrgyzstan and used BBC resources to agitate against President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, appearing on a Kyrgyz radio station under a pseudonym with a disguised voice.
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8.
At its launch, the World Service was located along with most radio output in Broadcasting House.
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9.
However, the building was vacated in 2012 as a result of the Broadcasting House redevelopment and the end of the building's lease that year; the first service to move was the Burmese World Service on 11 March 2012 and the final broadcast from Bush House was a news bulletin broadcast at 11.
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10.
BBC World Service encompasses an English 24-hour global radio network and separate services in 27 other languages.
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11.
Traditionally, the World Service relied on shortwave broadcasts, because of their ability to overcome barriers of censorship, distance, and spectrum scarcity.
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12.
BBC World Service is available by subscription to Sirius XM's satellite radio service in the United States.
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13.
The World Service is available up to eighteen hours a day in English across most parts of Asia, and in Arabic for the Middle East.
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15.
World Service employed a medium wave transmitter at Orford Ness to provide English-language coverage to Europe, including on the frequency 648 kHz .
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16.
On Monday, 18 February 2008, the BBC World Service stopped analogue shortwave transmissions to Europe.
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17.
World Service is available as part of the subscription Digital Air package in Australia.
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18.
BBC World Service is broadcast on DAB, Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky platforms.
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19.
World Service uses several tunes and sounds to represent the station.
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20.
The phrase has become a trademark of the BBC World Service, and has been influential in popular culture, such as music.
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