EXPANSION OF B.B.C.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 79, 16 March 1935, Page 12

EXPANSION OF B.B.C.

Great Progress in Three Years ADDITIONS TO BUILDINGS It is only three years since the 8.8. C. transferred from Savoy Hill to the new Broadcasting House in Portland Place, states a London correspondent. At that time the staff were rather astonished at the ample accommodation pro vided for them. To-day, there is a continuous overflow. Four private mansions in Portland Place have been bought up, and in due course these will be pulled down and a. continuation of Broadcasting House will be constructed. In the meantime, three of them are being used for extra offices. 'I he fourth has a lease to run out. St. George’s Hall, across the street, now belongs to the 8.8. C. I'his was the theatre in which the world-famed Maskclyne and Devant produced their magic night after night for so many years. Now, it is used for the production of 8.8. C. vaudeville programmes. Again, Maida Vale once had a popular skating rink. 8.8. C. took it over for their orchestra studio, and this is connected by private telephone lines to Broadcasting House. There is still another studio at Waterloo Bridge. Thus has the 8.8. C. had to extend its premises for its 1000 permanent employees. These thousand do not include the musicians ami performers. The 8.8.<’. is probably the largest employer of musical talent in the world. The 8.8. C. Symphony Orchestra, the Variety, the Theatre, the Empire, the Dance Orchestras, the Military Band, and the Northern Scottish, Western, and Belfast Orchestras employ altogether 353 musicians. As for the enormous cost of this vast organisation, one has to remember that there are now 7,000,000 broaden-1 licences in Great Britain, and the “Radio Aimes” is responsible fn r the handsome income of £4oo,nod a year.