Celebrating the centenary of the BBC and our work in the creative industries

BU is celebrating 100 years of the BBC through familiar and not so familiar objects used in BBC programmes and content. From bizarre looking components of the first ever public broadcast transmitter "2LO", to very recent BBC IDs belonging to BU staff. Each object is linked back in some way to the Faculty of Media and Communication community. There will be exhibits in display cases and personal stories in the gallery. From the actual BBC2 ident “fluffy dice” to a first edition Radio Times. The exhibition is open to the public and all Bournemouth’s community and university members.

No booking required, viewing is available in the Atrium, Poole House, Talbot Campus.

As the BBC celebrates its 100th year of broadcasting, we invite the next generation of content creators, presenters and tech innovators to join us for a day of learning new skills. Hear how you can develop your critical thinking and digital literacy in the Real News presentation; try out some journalistic techniques and skills via our Filming with a Smartphone workshop; create some digital animation celebrating BBC 100; create your very own podcast and finally, an opportunity to meet and have a chat with media industry experts, and to ask them any questions you may have about their careers.

Fully booked. To register your interest in the 2023 Young Report Event please contact [email protected]. 

One of the BBC's first radio stations, 6BM started broadcasting from a building in Bournemouth in 1923. To mark the near centenary, Bournemouth's Civic Society is unveiling a plaque to record the station's place in the town's history. BBC Radio Solent is broadcasting its breakfast show live from where the studio used to be on Holdenhurst Road. BU Journalism students will report on the plaque unveiling as part of their broadcast and digital newsdays and offer support to the BBC show's production team. Reports will be published on Buzz News, BU's outward facing news site. The event has inspired a further collaboration involving BU students and staff to delve into the BBC's archive for a potential series of broadcast items reflecting the BBC's news coverage in Dorset over its centenary.

The distinguished BBC journalist, Stephen Titherington will visit BU on 31 October to share his insights into doing global journalism at the BBC with our journalism and communication students. Mr Titherington just left his position as Senior Commissioning Editor of BBC World Service in September, after a 40-year career that includes many years as Head of BBC World Service’s Newsroom. At noon, he will deliver a two-hour guest lecture to MA Multimedia Journalism students on commissioning global news and current affairs at the BBC. He will provide a senior insider’s perspective on (a) the key values and considerations that explain how and why some global stories are commissioned while others are not; and (b) how these have changed over time to adapt to new socio-economic, political and technological forces. This will be followed by a one-hour career conversation (4-5 pm) with interested BA Multimedia Journalism, BA Communication & Media and MA Multimedia Journalism students, in which he will offer thoughts into what they should expect and prepare to do if they wish to find a place in BBC journalism.

Students will be invited as part of their scheduled teaching sessions. 

The BFX Festival is a week-long event designed to celebrate VFX, Animation and Games, inspire the next generation of talent and share the latest knowledge. The 2022 Festival includes industry speakers from DNEG, Milk VFX and Blue Zoo covering animation and VFX in some of the finest BBC shows. Keynote Mat Irvine will be kicking off this year's festival, he is perhaps best known for his work on the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who. He was a part of the Visual Effects Department from the 1970s to the early 1990s and is credited with building the first K-9 prop. 

On 14 November 1922, the British Broadcasting Company inaugurated a radio service that would become a national institution. Whilst institution implies something that is static and unmoveable, over the past 100 years the BBC has hugely changed. This symposium draws on the expertise of BU academics to explore the evolution of the organisation and its programming – from music and talks, to documentary and immigrant programming as well as programmes for women. We’ll also consider the BBC as a workplace by examining the dynamic workforce of its early years and during the Second World War, and through the sharing of memorable moments and characters. The symposium will have a broad appeal to the public and is open to all Bournemouth’s community and university members.

With regret the live audio challenge will not be running at this time. We are looking to bring it back later next year.

We're celebrating the creative legacy of 100 years of BBC radio from drama and sketches to comedy and beyond. Students from across the Faculty of Media & Communication are invited to take part in the 48-hour live audio challenge. Working together in groups you'll be tasked with using sound to tell a story. Over 48 hours you'll develop and practice your dialogue and sound design in preparation for a live performance, reflecting the history of radio broadcasting, in front of an audience and our esteemed judges. 

Bournemouth University, in partnership with the Royal Television Society, Southern Centre (RTS), invite university media students from across the South to join a live talk and Q&A with BBC3 Commissioner Yasemin Rashit. In this informal session she talks with RTS host Gordon Cooper, about how accessing young audiences is changing the way the BBC approaches commissioning, production and transmission. Former Producer for VICE, and C4, Yasemin is now commissioning genres for BBC 3 and will share insights into the challenges, opportunities and futures at the BBC.  Her linear and digital work includes Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation, States of Undress, and Children Who Kill.

John Reith, the first Director-General of the BBC, introduced the public service tradition of British broadcasting through the BBC, to cater for majorities and minorities. Back in the 1970s, BBC local stations were given the responsibility to involve local communities, including the Asian migrant community. This led to the launch of BBC Asian radio programming, which is the foundation of today’s BBC Asian Network. Many British and Asian radio campaigners participated in this historical development by producing Asian radio programmes.

Join us on the 23 November for the showcase event; a 20-minute screening celebrating the BBC’s pioneering Asian radio programming through exceptional audio-visual artefacts. Open to all between 2-5pm in the Screening Room, PG217, Poole Gateway Building.