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The BBC Radio Theatre (originally named The Concert Hall) is a theatre situated within the

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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 main ...

complex. It is used for live broadcast and audio recordings.

History

Originally named The Concert Hall, the theatre was designed by George Val Myer as part of the

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building. The hall is long, and tapers from wide at the rear to wide behind the stage. The room's height is , taking up three storeys of Broadcasting House. Upon original specification, the hall had a

reverberation time Reverberation (also known as reverb), in acoustics, is a persistence of sound, after a sound is produced. Reverberation is created when a sound or signal is reflected causing numerous reflections to build up and then decay as the sound is abso ...

of 1.7 seconds. Broadcasting House was opened on 14 May 1932 by Queen Mary. The theatre's first performance was held on 15 October 1932; at this time the hall's capacity allowed a large orchestra and an audience of 550. On 10 March 1933, the hall hosted a memorial concert to the BBC's former Director of Music,

Percy Pitt Percy Pitt (4 January 1869 – 23 November 1932) was an English organist, conductor, composer, and Director of Music of the BBC from 1924 to 1930. Biography A native of London, Pitt studied music in Europe at the Leipzig conservatory, t ...

. In 1933, the BBC ''Yearbook'' described the hall's

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

and architecture: Val Myer's interior included extensive

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

fittings, an oak dado and

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s by

Gilbert Bayes Gilbert William Bayes (4 April 1872 – 10 July 1953) was an English sculptor. His art works varied in scale from medals to large architectural clocks, monuments and equestrian statues and he was also a designer of some note, creating chess piec ...

. The theatre's

green room In show business, the green room is the space in a theatre or similar venue that functions as a waiting room and lounge for performers before, during, and after a performance or show when they are not engaged on stage. Green rooms typically have ...

was designed by

Raymond McGrath Raymond McGrath (7 March 1903 – 23 December 1977) was an Australian-born architect, illustrator, printmaker and interior designer who for the greater part of his career was Principal Architect for the Office of Public Works in Ireland.Nich ...

. Upon the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, part of the theatre was used as a dormitory. On 6 September 1939, Stuart Hibberd wrote that: In 1966, the BBC commissioned a report into

sound propagation In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

between spaces inside Broadcasting House, entitled ''Acoustic Tests in Broadcasting House, London: The Anomalous Sound Transmission between Studio S2 and the Concert Hall''. The investigation found that Studio S2—situated in the sub basement below the Concert Hall and used for small orchestras and pop groups—leaked sound into the auditorium above due to inadequate

sound insulation Soundproofing is any means of impeding sound propagation. There are several basic approaches to reducing sound: increasing the distance between source and receiver, decoupling, using noise barriers to reflect or absorb the energy of the sound ...

and lack of a

floating floor A floating floor is a floor that does not need to be nailed or glued to the subfloor. The term floating floor refers to the installation method, but is often used synonymously with laminate flooring. It is applied now to other coverings such as ...

; this occasionally distracted musicians in the Concert Hall although it could not be heard on transmissions or recordings. In 1994, the Concert Hall was renamed the Radio Theatre. In 2012, a developmental Super Hi-Vision ( 8K) video system with 22.2 surround sound audio was installed in the theatre to show the London Olympics and its opening ceremony.

Organ

On 16 June 1933, the BBC unveiled the Concert Hall's

Compton organ John Compton (1876–1957), born in Newton Burgoland, Leicestershire was a pipe organ builder. His business based in Nottingham and London flourished between 1902 and 1965. Life John Compton was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham an ...

. To celebrate the event, the corporation broadcast a concert featuring George Thalben-Ball,

G. D. Cunningham George Dorrington Cunningham (October 2, 1878 – August 4, 1948) was an English concert organist. Born in London to musical parents, Cunningham studied piano with his mother, subsequently switching to organ at the Guildhall School of Music. U ...

, and

Walter Alcock Sir Walter Galpin Alcock (29 December 186111 September 1947) was an English organist and composer. He held a number of prominent positions as an organist and played at the coronations of three monarchs. He was professor of organ in the Royal Co ...

. The organ featured 2,826

pipes Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

in 35

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

Productions

The BBC has recorded a number of comedy programmes in the theatre, including ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'', '' Just a Minute'', and ''

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by a chairman. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody ...

''. Musical artists to have performed in the venue include

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

(for his ''

Bowie at the Beeb ''Bowie at the Beeb'' is a compilation album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, first released in 2000. Originally, it came in a three-CD set, the third, bonus CD being a live recording made on at the Portland BBC Radio Theatre. Later ...

'' album). The '' Radio 2 In Concert'' series is broadcast from the theatre; contributing artists include

Stereophonics Stereophonics are a Welsh rock band formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales. The band consists of Kelly Jones (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Richard Jones (bass guitar, harmonica, backing vocals), Adam Zind ...

Jeff Lynne's ELO The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical ...

, James Morrison, Emeli Sande,

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

, and

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

References

{{reflist Theatres in the City of Westminster BBC offices, studios and buildings