A history of BBC Transcription records

The BBC has been outputting records to be listened to abroad since the BBC Recorded Programmes Library was set up in 1936. These were issued to subscribed Radio Stations who had a licence to play the record for up to three years after the date of release. The label of the disc has an expiry date, after this time the station should either destroy the disc or return it back to the BBC. Some of these have escaped destruction and a few of them are presented on my site.

BBC transcription discs can contain any subject from:
- Top of the Pops recordings (earlier examples are good in that they can contain a different recording to the commercially released version),
- Live recordings (like the Henry Wood Promenades, now called BBC Proms),
- Comedy (like Dad's Army),
- Stories and plays (like Sixty Minutes Theatre),
- Documentories (like Magazine units),
- Quiz shows (like Just A Minute).

Apparently, the BBC stopped issuing 78s in 1947.

The oldest BBC Transcription disc I own is the record shown in this section. Based on the catalogue number, this is approximately the 6000th release (some records had two sides and some like this one didn't.) I don't know when this record was originally printed but I assume it during the years of the Second World War in the early 1940s. The subject of this particular disc is war sounds which backs the theory up. I have some other sound effects 78s as well using the same code.

The BBC had created the catalogue number format by having the disc size first 12 for 12 inch, the format or speed next - PH meaning a 78 format, then a unique number which increased by one number of each side of the disc. Although as you will see later the catalogue number changed format, this unique code was always placed in the runoff section of the record. Many labels on the disc also still showed this code. The length of a typical 78 disc was around 6 minutes per side.

Next in my collection from the BBC recorded programs permanent library of non-sound effects records but still a 78 is some music recorded by the BBC Choral Society. They were founded as the Nation Chroal Society in 1928, renamed as BBC Choral in 1932 and became the BBC Choral Society three years later in 1935.

The disc seems to come from 1952 including hymns from BBC Hymn Book, swiftly followed by the next disc in the series with a couple more tracks from the same source.

The catalogue code for these continue the same format as the war time disc earlier, but the label has changed and both discs have been recorded on both sides. As a reminder, each side has its own code.

Still recorded on 78s, at some point the format of the catalogue number changes to a number, letter, and three numbers (though the label and runoff codes still show the same 12 RH prefix as well.) These codes continued to be used when these discs were re-released as 10 inches. When they were released again as 7 inches, the code changed to EC (mono) and ECS (sterio)

The contents of these discs can have many different subjects, including (in the case) aircraft noises, footsteps, clock chimes etc. These were used as sound effects for radio and later TV shows. Where the programme went out live, the sound effects were also played live. Some of these sound effects were released commercially to the public over several years starting as albums and tapes, then rereleased again as CD's later. They were only issued for non-professional users.

Apparently the BBC were still producing 78s in the 1960s-70s as they were very high quality discs to test their signals. They still used 78s then as they are mathematically superior speed for high-precision technical calibration.

Instead of music, this disc emits a specialized "Warble Tone"—a constant audio pitch that rapidly fluctuates up and down by a few Hertz.

Engineers played DOM 24 inside radio control rooms to measure acoustic reflections, room resonance, and microphone layouts. A completely steady tone creates "standing waves" in a room (making it hard to measure true volume), but a warble tone breaks up those reflections, letting engineers accurately calibrate studio playback equipment.

The BBC later released these as 10 and 7 inch discs later on.

Over time, the BBC moved to issuing rather large 16 inch records, I have a few of these and they are very heavy to carry and look enourmous compared to an album for example.

These carried a bit more space on them than the 78s above but not a lot (up to 10 minutes per side.) The big issue is that towards the centre of the disc, the noise seems to slow down. You often had the first side recorded outside to in (like records today) but the other side would be recorded inside to out so that when the next side is cued to play, the speed continues in a consistant way.

They continued to be issued until the mid-1950s.

The Dark Tower is a 1946 BBC Home Service radio play written, in verse, and produced by Louis MacNeice, with music composed for it by Benjamin Britten. Dramatist and author Robin Brooks, writing in The Guardian in 2017, called it "a landmark in radio drama".

MacNeice wrote the play in the autumn of 1945. At the time, he was still badly shaken by the wartime death of a schoolfriend, Graham Shepard, and had what might be termed survivor guilt. Britten had previously written the music for MacNeice's The Agamemnon of Aeschylus (1936), and Out of the Picture (1937). MacNeice asked Britten to write music for The Dark Tower "with the greatest economy".

The introduction of 10 inch records allowed for much more time (upto 15 minutes) and as they were considerably smaller they weighed much less to. The discs were also vinyl rather than shellac, so more sturdy too.

This size was replaced by the 12 inch shortly after their introduction.

Here we have another couple of records which have recorded the BBC Choral Society again, side one containing tracks written by Hubert Parry.

By far the largest amount of discs the BBC have issued are in this size, the standard album that commerical releases also used. These could contain upto half an hour of recordings, though BBC transcription discs normally only go up to 27 minutes which allowed stations with advertisements to make this up to 30 minutes.

There are several different types of transcription disc catalogues, you will find all of them contained on this site:
- BBC recorded programs permanent library (LP followed by five numbers), these were the original catalogue style which have continued on all formats.
- Standard catalogue (six figure number, different on each side), after the CN catalogue was started then these tended to be more for Top of the Pops records.
- CN catalogue (CN following by up to four numbers)
- BBC Radioplay music (SRP/TSRP prefixed catalogue, with four numbers - the first two are the year of issue + a unique number)
- BBC Radioplay music (TAIR/AIR prefixed catalogue, with five numbers - the first two are the year of issue + a unique number)
- BBC Radioplay music best of (RPLA prefixed catalogue, with a number afterwards)
- BBC Radioplay music (Gigs and Sessions - SNS prefixed catalogue, with three numbers)

Most of these used the back cover to provide details of the disc and sometimes suggested introductions. The Standard catalogue and CN catalogue usually contained paper information instead of providing that on the cover. This is because they usually contained much more information.

The 12 inch was replaced by CDs from 1988.

The example disc here is one of those albums which gives radio staions examples of the contents they are going to receive using the new format. Some are stories like Journey into Space, others are music related like the BBC Grandstand theme or BBC Jazz Club by Humphrey Lyttelton / Alan Clare / Tony Kinsey.

There are a few BBC Transcription discs which are single sized, these can contain up to ten minutes of recordings.

Most of these contain trailers for the larger 12 inch disc, like the example shown here.

There doesn't seem to be many examples of this size and would have been phased out with the 12 inch size from 1988.

The initial move to CDs started was in 1988 for the Radioplay releases and 1989 for the BBC Transcription releases. The demo disc I have says all new releases from 1991 would be disc based only.

These discs can contain a lot more content than any of the previous incarnations - up to 80 minutes. The advantage of these discs is they are far more sturdy and even scratches on the disc are unlikely to affect play.

The BBC still issues discs in this format.

The disc shown in this section contains music and discussions from James Bond and Doctor Who and is hosted by Tony Slattery.