BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION, WORLD'S OLDEST AND LARGEST BROADCASTER 

Did you know that BBC won 184 major awards in total, including five Golden Globes and 16 Baftas for shows like Bodyguard and Killing Eve in 2019, and that 426 million people access the network around the world each week, with India the largest according to its annual report as of December 2021?

Headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England, United Kingdom is the world's oldest national broadcaster and the largest broadcaster in the world, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC employs over 22,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 19,000 are in public-sector broadcasting.

The British Broadcasting Company, as the BBC was originally called, was formed on 18 October 1922 by a group of leading wireless manufacturers including Marconi. Following the closure of numerous amateur stations, the BBC started its first daily radio service in London – 2LO. After much argument, news was supplied by an agency, and music drama and 'talks' filled the airwaves for only a few hours a day. It wasn't long before radio could be heard across the nation. 

Thirty-three year old John Charles Walsham Reith became General Manager of the BBC on 14 December 1922. There were no rules, standards or established purpose to guide him. He immediately began innovating, experimenting and organising, and with the help of his newly appointed chief engineer, Peter Eckersley, the service began to expand.

The first edition of The Radio Times listed the few programmes on offer. It also provided advice for budding radio enthusiasts, and numerous advertisements by the fledgling radio industry, offering the latest in radio receiving technology. It was to become one of the world's most popular listing magazines.

Heard on BBC radio since 1924, the six electronically generated 'pips' to indicate the Greenwich Time Signal (GTS) were invented by the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Watson Dyson, and the Director General of the BBC John Reith. The six short 'pips' were designed to mark the precise start of every hour on BBC radio. Today the GTS is heard on BBC Radio 4, and other BBC networks. Time signals based on the same principle exist in other countries.

Using BBC frequencies, John Logie Baird broadcast some of his first experimental television broadcasts from studios near Covent Garden in London. Pictures were in black and white, created by mechanical means using a scanning disc, consisting of just 30 lines definition.

The BBC is established by Royal Charter as the British Broadcasting Corporation on January 1927. Sir John Reith becomes the first Director-General. The Charter defined the BBC's objectives, powers and obligations. It is mainly concerned with broad issues of policy, while the Director-General and senior staff are responsible for detailed fulfilment of that policy.

The BBC operates under its agreement with the secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television licence fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organisations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts and iPlayer catch-up. 

The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and is used to fund the BBC's radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. Since 1 April 2014, it has also funded the BBC World Service (launched in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service), which broadcasts in 28 languages and provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in Arabic and Persian.

Around a quarter of the BBC's revenue comes from its commercial subsidiary BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), which sells BBC programmes and services internationally and also distributes the BBC's international 24-hour English-language news services BBC World News, and from BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd. In 2009, the company was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise in recognition of its international achievements.

From its inception, through the Second World War (where its broadcasts helped to unite the nation), to the popularisation of television in the post-WW2 era and the internet in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the BBC has played a prominent role in British life and culture. It is colloquially known as the Beeb, Auntie, or a combination of both (Auntie Beeb).