Originally established in as the British Broadcasting Company , it evolved into its current state with its current name on New Year's Day The oldest and largest local and global broadcaster by stature and by number of employees, the BBC employs over 21, staff in total, of whom approximately 17, are in public-sector broadcasting. Since its formation in , the BBC has played a prominent role in British life and culture. Britain's first live public broadcast was made from the factory of Marconi Company in Chelmsford in June The Melba broadcast caught the people's imagination and marked a turning point in the British public's attitude to radio.
By late , the pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office GPO , was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. Stanton Jefferies was its first director of music. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate. Set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets.
This was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee to fund broadcasts. To avoid competition with newspapers, Fleet Street persuaded the government to ban news bulletins before 7 pm and the BBC was required to source all news from external wire services. Mid found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee. By now, the BBC, under Reith's leadership, had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified monopoly broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion.
Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss-making consortium, and Reith was keen that the BBC be seen as a public service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the United Kingdom general strike broke out in May.
The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production, and with restrictions on news bulletins waived, the BBC suddenly became the primary source of news for the duration of the crisis.
