BBC World Service

BBC World Service is the BBC's international news and current affairs radio service in English. The stream carries live global news bulletins, reports from correspondents around the world, interviews, discussion programmes, documentaries, business and technology coverage, science, culture and sport. It is mostly speech, with a calm and impartial tone, and it is one of the most widely followed international broadcasters.

The World Service began in 1932 as the BBC Empire Service and is part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, a public broadcaster in the United Kingdom. Its output is guided by the BBC's editorial guidelines on impartiality and accuracy. The clear, standard English also makes it useful for learners who want to practise listening to news language. Broadcasts reach audiences through shortwave, FM relays, satellite, digital platforms and the internet, and regional feeds are scheduled for different time zones.

This entry was previously labelled as TV audio, but the stream carries the World Service radio feed. It is delivered as MP3 at 56 kbps, a low bitrate that keeps speech intelligible while using little data, which suits slow connections. It plays in your browser on RadioKite, and you can add it to your favourites.