TV and Radio – is the UK a nation of square-eyed couch potatoes

What were you doing before you came online to read this? Chances are, you were either watching conventional television, broadcast either from a satellite or antenna into your home, or streamed via internet on the plethora of streaming providers, also known as ‘streamers’. People in the UK spend on average 3 hours a day in front of the gogglebox, with the so-called ‘grey-brigade’ (the over 65s) spending as much as 2 hours longer staring into a screen.

Or you might have been listening to the radio, which the average Brit does for nearly 3 hours each day. One could say we are becoming a nation of square-eyed couch potatoes. Naturally, the wireless offers perfect background noise for a lot of activities. In fact, I’m listening to the local radio station as I write this, and spend more time than the average person doing so. I personally like the variety of music which as played, as well as hearing the current news, travel and weather reports.

There is an accompanying video to this blog post which you can find on the right-hand side or below, depending on your device. Anyway, I wrote it a couple of years ago, and only after I had published it, did I realise that I had totally omitted to mention the world-famous BBC. Moreover, I just discovered that the company affectionately known as ‘the beeb’ starting broadcasting (on the radio) in London 100 years ago, on the precise day I’m writing this, which is November 15.

The first outside broadcast came in 1923, with a live recording of the opera, ‘The Magic Flute’, and the first live sports broadcast was 4 years later, when listeners could hear the rugby match between England and Wales. The first experimental television broadcast followed in 1929, and just 2 years later the Epsom Derby, possibly the most famous horse race of the day, was transmitted to the few people who had televisions.

By 1960, three quarters of the population had a television, albeit black and white. Colour televisions were introduced in 1967, although only 5,000  households were the proud owners of the newest technology. If I remember rightly, we didn’t own a technicolour box until 1974, when we were able to watch the white shirts of Germany beat the orange shirts of The Netherlands on an incredibly green pitch. I have to say, it took a while to get used to it.

Throughout the years, the BBC has been at the forefront of quality television, which has not only entertained hundreds of millions of viewers in the UK, hundreds of programmes have been exported all around the world. Highlights include the nature documentaries made by Sir David Attenborough, the live sport broadcasts as well as the hundreds of comedies which have kept us laughing over the years. Whether the BBC will be able to sustain their popularity is difficult to predict, with the competition of on-demand providers enticing viewers away. What will you watch this evening?