''The Daily Service'' is a short

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

service broadcast every weekday morning between 09:45 and 10:00 on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

long wave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...

and

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frequencies. It was also broadcast on Radio 4's FM frequencies until 13 September 1991. In 1926, British novelist Kitty Cordeux began a persistent letter-writing campaign urging the BBC to broadcast daily Christian religious services on the radio. The result was ''The Daily Service,'' beginning in 1928 and continuing to the present day. Her campaign was documented in the BBC Radio 4 documentary ''The Lady Behind the Daily Service'' (2005). Originally aired from Savoy Hill and then Broadcasting House, the service was moved on the outbreak of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

in 1939, first to Bristol and later to the Trinity Chapel of

St Paul's Church, Bedford St Paul's Church is a Church of England parish church located on St Paul's Square in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. Formerly a medieval collegiate church, the large building of cathedral proportions with its later additions and iconic spire domi ...

, under the musical direction of Dr

George Thalben-Ball Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball (18 June 1896 – 18 January 1987) was an Australian organist and composer who spent almost all his life in England. Early life George Thomas Ball (he later took the additional name of "Thalben") was born in Sydn ...

. In 1945 the service returned to a studio in Broadcasting House. For many years ''The Daily Service'' was broadcast live from

All Souls Church, Langham Place All Souls Church is a conservative evangelical Anglican church in central London, situated in Langham Place in Marylebone, at the north end of Regent Street. It was designed in Regency style by John Nash and consecrated in 1824. As it is direc ...

, the church adjacent to

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The ma ...

. In 1993, when the Religion and Ethics department of the BBC moved to Manchester, its new base became Emmanuel Church,

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are ...

, a suburb in south

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. In 2017, live services moved from Emmanuel Church Didsbury to

MediaCityUK MediaCityUK is a mixed-use property development on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. The project was developed by Peel Media; its principal tenants are media organisations and the Quayside Media ...

in Salford. using the Philharmonic Studio, MPAS studio or a radio studio in Dock House. This move was driven by cost and logistical issues, and was facilitated by the installation of an electronic organ in the Philharmonic Studio. Since 2018 live choirs and music groups have often been replaced by specially pre-recorded segments, again for logistical reasons and to make cost savings. Due to practical restrictions imposed on broadcasting by the Covid-19 pandemic, since March 2020 presenters have pre-recorded the services remotely and music is provided mainly by commercial CDs. The service of today combines hymns, prayers and reflections by a variety of ministers and laypeople and has evolved to reflect the range of contemporary worship styles in the UK. ''The Daily Service'' was first transmitted on 2 January 1928, though not listed in the ''

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'' until 16 January. Until 30 June 1928, it was broadcast under the title ''A Short Religious Service''.

References

External links

St James & Emmanuel, Didsbury

80th anniversary of the ''Daily Service''

''Daily Service'' index
BBC Radio 4 programmes British religious radio programmes Christian radio programs 1928 radio programme debuts {{BBC-radio-stub