network see bbc world news . world service redirects here . for the albums see world service spear of destiny album and world service delirious album . bbc world service type radio network broadcasting news speech discussions country united kingdom availability worldwide slogan the world s radio station the bbc s international radio station headquarters broadcasting house london broadcast area worldwide owner bbc key people fran unsworth director launch date 19 december 1932 1932 12 19 former names bbc empire service bbc overseas service external services of the bbc webcast internet schedule live streaming web player stream hls stream 48 kbps aac hls stream 96 kbps aac http stream 48 kbps mp3 english news live streaming http stream 48 kbps mp3 africa live streaming http stream 48 kbps mp3 official website bbc.com worldserviceradio the bbc world service is the world s largest international broadcaster 1 broadcasting radio and television news speech and discussions in 29 languages 2 to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms internet streaming podcasting satellite fm and mw relays . it was announced in november 2015 that the bbc world service will start broadcasting in nigerian pidgin and yoruba in nigeria when this service starts it will bring the total number of broadcast languages to 31 . 3 the world service reached 210 million people a week tv radio and online on average in 2015 . 4 the english language service broadcasts 24 hours a day . the world service is funded by the united kingdom s television licence fee limited advertising 5 and the profits of bbc worldwide ltd. 6 the world service was funded for decades by grant in aid through the foreign and commonwealth office of the british government 7 until 1 april 2014 . 8 the director of the bbc world service group is francesca unsworth . 9 the controller of bbc world service english is mary hockaday . contents 1 history 2 operation 3 languages 3.1 current 3.2 previous 4 radio programming in english 5 previous radio programming in english 5.1 news 6 availability 6.1 africa 6.2 north america 6.3 south america 6.4 asia 6.4.1 jamming 6.5 europe 6.6 pacific 6.7 uk 7 presentation 8 magazine publishing 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit the bbc world service began as the bbc empire service in 1932 as a shortwave service 10 aimed principally at english speakers in the outposts of the british empire . in his first christmas message king george v stated that the service was intended for men and women so cut off by the snow the desert or the sea that only voices out of the air can reach them . 11 first hopes for the empire service were low . the director general sir john reith later lord reith said in the opening programme don t expect too much in the early days ; for some time we shall transmit comparatively simple programmes to give the best chance of intelligible reception and provide evidence as to the type of material most suitable for the service in each zone . the programmes will neither be very interesting nor very good . 11 12 this address was read out five times as it was broadcast live to different parts of the world . on 3 january 1938 the first foreign language service arabic was launched . german programmes commenced on 29 march 1938 and by the end of 1942 broadcasts were being made in all major european languages . as a result the empire service was renamed the bbc overseas service in november 1939 and a dedicated bbc european service was added in 1941 . these broadcasting services financed not from the domestic licence fee but from government grant in aid from the foreign office budget were known administratively as the external services of the bbc . the external services broadcast propaganda during the second world war . its french service radio londres also sent coded messages to the french resistance . george orwell broadcast many news bulletins on the eastern service during world war ii . 13 14 15 by the end of the 1940s the number of languages broadcast had expanded and reception had improved following the opening of a relay in modern day malaysia and of the limassol relay cyprus in 1957 . on 1 may 1965 the service took its current name of bbc world service 16 and the service itself expanded its reach with the opening of the ascension island relay in 1966 serving african audiences with greater signal and reception and the later relay on the island of masirah . in august 1985 the service went off the air for the first time when workers went on strike in protest at the british government s decision to ban a documentary featuring an interview with martin mcguinness of sinn f in . the external services were renamed under the bbc world service brand in 1988 . in recent years financial pressures have decreased the number and type of services offered by the bbc . due to the launch of internet based services the need for a radio station is less frequent in countries where the population has easy access to the internet news sites of the bbc . the german broadcasts were stopped in march 1999 after research showed that the majority of german listeners tuned into the english version of the service . broadcasts in dutch finnish french for europe hebrew italian japanese and malay were stopped for similar reasons . on 25 october 2005 it was announced that the bulgarian croatian czech greek hungarian kazakh polish slovak slovene and thai language radio services would end by march 2006 to finance the launch of arabic and persian language tv news channels in 2007 . 17 additionally romanian broadcasts ceased on 1 august 2008 . more service closures came in january 2011 when the closing of five language services was announced as a result of the financial situation the corporation was facing following the eventual financial transfer of responsibility for the world service from the foreign office to the bbc licence fee . the albanian macedonian portuguese for africa serbian and english for the caribbean services were closed ; the russian ukrainian mandarin chinese turkish vietnamese azeri and spanish for cuba services ceased broadcasting a radio service and the hindi indonesian kyrgyz nepali swahili kinyarwanda and kirundi services ceased transmission on the shortwave band . the british government announced that the three balkan countries had luxuriant access to international information and continuation of broadcast in the local tongues had become unnecessary . 650 jobs went as part of the cuts and the service is facing a sixteen per cent budget cut . 18 19 20 in march 2011 the guardian published an article concerning an agreement between bbc media action the bbc s broadcasting development charity and the us state department in which the latter would provide the charity with a low six figure sum so that new technology could be developed that would stop jamming and to educate people on how to avoid state censorship should they want to . 21 however the agreement has caused accusations that these measures would encourage a pro american bias within the service and would help america win the information war . 22 23 24 25 operation edit the bbc world service is located in broadcasting house london . the bbc world service broadcasts from broadcasting house in london headquarters of the corporation as a whole . the service is located in the new constructions of the building and contains radio and television studios for use by the several language services . the building also contains an integrated newsroom used by the international world service the international television channel bbc world news the domestic television and radio bbc news bulletins the bbc news channel and the bbc website service to the world wide web . bush house in london was home to the world service between 1941 and 2012 . upon launch the service was located along with nearly all radio output in broadcasting house . however following the explosion of a parachute mine outside the building on 8 december 1940 the services relocated to new premises away from the likely target of broadcasting house . 26 the overseas service relocated to premises in oxford street while the european service moved temporarily to the emergency broadcasting facilities at maida vale studios . 26 the european services moved permanently into bush house towards the end of 1940 completing the move in 1941 with the overseas services joining them in 1958 . 27 bush house subsequently became the home of the bbc world service and the building itself has gained a global reputation with the audience of the service . 27 28 however the building was vacated in 2012 as a result of the broadcasting house changes 27 and the end of the building s lease that year ; 29 the first service to move was the burmese service on 11 march 2012 30 and the final broadcast was a news bulletin broadcast at 11.00 gmt on 12 july 2012 . 29 31 32 33 the bbc world service is used to describe an english 24 hour global radio network and separate services in 27 languages . news and information is available on all these languages on the bbc website with many having rss feeds and specific versions for use on mobile phones and some also offering email notification of stories . in addition to the english service 18 of the language services broadcast a radio service using the short wave am or the fm band . these programmes are also available to listen live over the internet can be listened to again over the internet for seven days or indefinitely in some cases and in the case of seven language services can be downloaded as podcasts . one can also listen to the news from the bbc news app which is available on both itunes and the google play store . 34 in recent years video content has also been used by the world service ; 16 language services now show video reports in that language on the service s website and two services now have dedicated television channels bbc arabic launched in 2008 and bbc persian launched in 2009 . television services are also used to broadcast the radio service with local cable and satellite television operators providing the english network and occasionally some local language services free to air on their services . the english language service is also available on digital radio in the uk and europe . 35 36 traditionally the bbc world service relied on shortwave broadcasts because of its ability to overcome barriers of censorship distance and spectrum scarcity . to this end the bbc has maintained a worldwide network of shortwave relay stations since the 1940s mainly in former british colonies . these cross border broadcasts have also been used in special circumstances to broadcast emergency messages to british subjects abroad such as the advice to evacuate jordan during the black september incidents of september 1970 . these facilities were privatised in 1997 as merlin communications which were later acquired and operated as part of a wider network for multiple broadcasters by vt communications now part of babcock international group . it is also common for bbc programmes to air on traditionally voice of america or orf transmitters while their programming is relayed by a station physically located in the uk . however since the 1980s satellite distribution has made it possible for local stations to relay bbc programming . the world service aims to be the world s best known and most respected voice in international broadcasting thereby bringing benefit to the uk the bbc and to audiences around the world 37 while retaining a balanced british view of international developments . 38 like the rest of the bbc the world service is