BBC Radiophonic Workshop Changes What were some of the first changes made? As the sixties drew to a close many of the techniques used by the Workshop changed as more electronic music began to be produced by synthesisers. Did most like using synthesisers? Many of the old members of the Workshop were reluctant to use the new instruments, often because of the limitations and unreliable nature of many of the early synthesisers Did musicians begin to like snythesisers? In 1977, Workshop co-founder Desmond Briscoe retired from organisational duties with Brian Hodgson, returning after a five-year gap away from the Workshop, taking over. Was the workshop in demand most of the time? By this point the output of the Workshop was vast with high demand for complete scores
Did the workshop make a lot of programs and shows?
Did the workshop make a lot of programs and shows?
As the sixties drew to a close many of the techniques used by the Workshop changed as more electronic music began to be produced by synthesisers. Many of the old members of the Workshop were reluctant to use the new instruments, often because of the limitations and unreliable nature of many of the early synthesisers but also, for some, because of a dislike of the sounds they created. This led to many leaving the workshop making way for a new generation of musicians in the early 1970s including Malcolm Clarke, Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb and Peter Howell. From the early days of a studio full of tape reels and electronic oscillators, the Workshop now found itself in possession of various synthesisers including the EMS VCS 3 and the EMS Synthi 100 nicknamed the "Delaware" by the members of the Workshop. In 1977, Workshop co-founder Desmond Briscoe retired from organisational duties with Brian Hodgson, returning after a five-year gap away from the Workshop, taking over. By this point the output of the Workshop was vast with high demand for complete scores for programmes as well as the themes and sound effects for which it had made its name. By the end of the decade the workshop was contributing to over 300 programmes a year from all departments of the BBC and had long since expanded from its early two room setup. Its contributions included material for programmes such as The Body in Question, Blue Peter and Tomorrow's World as well as sound effects for popular science fiction programmes Blake's 7 and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (in both its radio and television forms) by Richard Yeoman-Clark and Paddy Kingsland respectively. CANNOTANSWER
over 300 programmes a year from all departments of the BBC and had long since expanded from its early two room setup.
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electronic music and music technology, as well as its popular scores for programmes such as Doctor Who and Quatermass and the Pit during the 1950s and 1960s.

The original Radiophonic Workshop was based in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, London. The Workshop was closed in March 1998, although much of its traditional work had already been outsourced by 1995. Its members included Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire, David Cain, John Baker, Paddy Kingsland, Glynis Jones, Maddalena Fagandini and Richard Yeoman-Clark.

History
The Workshop was set up to satisfy the growing demand in the late 1950s for "radiophonic" sounds from a group of producers and studio managers at the BBC, including Desmond Briscoe, Daphne Oram, Donald McWhinnie, and Frederick Bradnum. For some time there had been much interest in producing innovative music and sounds to go with the pioneering programming of the era, in particular the dramatic output of the BBC Third Programme. Often the sounds required for the atmosphere that programme makers wished to create were unavailable or non-existent through traditional sources and so some, such as the musically trained Oram, would look to new techniques to produce effects and music for their pieces. Much of this interest drew them to musique concrète and tape manipulation techniques, since using these methods could allow them to create soundscapes suitable for the growing range of unconventional programming. When the BBC noticed the rising popularity of this method they established a Radiophonic Effects Committee, setting up the Workshop in rooms 13 & 14 of the BBC's Maida Vale studios with a budget of £2,000. The Workshop contributed articles to magazines of their findings, leading to some of their techniques being borrowed by sixties producers and engineers such as Eddie Kramer.

Early days

In 1957, Daphne Oram set up the Radiophonic Workshop with Desmond Briscoe, who was appointed the Senior Studio Manager with Dick Mills employed as a technical assistant. Much of The Radiophonic Workshop's early work was in effects for radio, in particular experimental drama and "radiophonic poems". Their significant early output included creating effects for the popular science-fiction serial Quatermass and the Pit and memorable comedy sounds for The Goon Show. In 1959, Daphne Oram left the workshop to set up her own studio, the Oramics Studios for Electronic Composition, where she eventually developed her "Oramics" technique of electronic sound creation. That year Maddalena Fagandini joined the workshop from the BBC's Italian Service.

From the early sixties the Workshop began creating television theme tunes and jingles, particularly for low budget schools programmes. The shift from the experimental nature of the late 50s dramas to theme tunes was noticeable enough for one radio presenter to have to remind listeners that the purpose of the Workshop was not pop music. In fact, in 1962 one of Fagandini's interval signals "Time Beat" was reworked with assistance from George Martin (in his pre-Beatles days) and commercially released as a single using the pseudonym Ray Cathode. During this early period the innovative electronic approaches to music in the Workshop began to attract some significant young talent including Delia Derbyshire, Brian Hodgson and John Baker, who was in fact a jazz pianist with an interest in reverse tape effects. Later, in 1967. they were joined by David Cain, a jazz bass player and mathematician.

In these early days, one criticism the Workshop attracted was its policy of not allowing musicians from outside the BBC to use its equipment, which was some of the most advanced in the country at that time not only because of its nature, but also because of the unique combinations and workflows which the Workshop afforded its composers. In later years this would become less important as more electronic equipment became readily available to a wider audience.

Doctor Who

In 1963 they were approached by composer Ron Grainer to record a theme tune for the upcoming BBC television series Doctor Who. Presented with the task of "realising" Grainer's score, complete with its descriptions of "sweeps", "swoops", "wind clouds" and "wind bubbles", Delia Derbyshire created a piece of electronic music which has become one of television's most recognisable themes. Over the next quarter-century the Workshop contributed greatly to the programme providing its vast range of unusual sound-effects, from the TARDIS dematerialisation to the Sonic screwdriver, as well as much of the programme's distinctive electronic incidental music, including every score from 1980 to 1985.

In 2018 Matthew Herbert, creative director of The New Radiophonic Workshop, composed the sting used alongside the reveal of the new Doctor Who logo debuting later that year.

Changes

As the sixties drew to a close many of the techniques used by the Workshop changed as more electronic music began to be produced by synthesisers. Many of the old members of the Workshop were reluctant to use the new instruments, often because of the limitations and unreliable nature of many of the early synthesisers but also, for some, because of a dislike of the sounds they created. This led to many leaving the workshop making way for a new generation of musicians in the early 1970s including Malcolm Clarke, Paddy Kingsland, Roger Limb and Peter Howell. From the early days of a studio full of tape reels and electronic oscillators, the Workshop now found itself in possession of various synthesisers including the EMS VCS 3 and the EMS Synthi 100 nicknamed the "Delaware" by the members of the Workshop.

In 1977, Workshop co-founder Desmond Briscoe retired from organisational duties with Brian Hodgson, returning after a five-year gap away from the Workshop, taking over.

By this point the output of the Workshop was vast with high demand for complete scores for programmes as well as the themes and sound effects for which it had made its name. By the end of the decade the workshop was contributing to over 300 programmes a year from all departments of the BBC and had long since expanded from its early two-room setup. Its contributions included material for programmes such as The Body in Question, Blue Peter and Tomorrow's World as well as sound effects for popular science fiction programmes Blake's 7 and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (in both its radio and television forms) by Richard Yeoman-Clark and Paddy Kingsland respectively.

Latter days
By the early 1990s, BBC Director General John Birt decided that departments were to charge each other and bid against each other for services and to close those that couldn't make enough revenue to cover their costs. In 1991 the Workshop was given five years in which to break even but the cost of keeping the department, which required two dedicated engineers, a software developer (Tony Morton) and a secretary (Maxine) as well as the composers, proved too much and so they failed. Dick Mills, who had worked on Doctor Who since the very beginning, left in 1993, along with Ray White, Senior Engineer, and his assistant, Ray Riley, with the Maida Vale technical team taking on their role, and engineer Fiona Sleigh smoothing the transition.

In 1995, despite being asked to continue, organiser Brian Hodgson left the Workshop, and his role was carried out remotely from Broadcasting House by people with other priorities and little enthusiasm. Malcolm Clarke and Roger Limb left. By the end, only one composer, Elizabeth Parker, remained.  The Workshop officially closed in March 1998, but Elizabeth stayed on for a couple of months to complete her last job.  John Hunt, (who took over much of the specialist editing side of the workshop previously done by Dick Mills) continued working in Studio E, now called "Radiophonics" until well into 2000, occasionally managing to fit in a bit of traditional Radiophonics work.  Mark Ayres recalls the Workshop's tape archive being collected on 1 April, exactly 40 years after the department had opened.

Legacy
Following the decision to close the Radiophonic Workshop, the studios were cleared and most remaining equipment was disposed of, with some of it being sold to the composers. The tape library was largely forgotten until the room was ordered to be "cleared".  Fortunately the Maida Vale studios technical team became aware of this and were able to hide the tapes away in various dark corners of the building before they could be thrown away. Eventually Mark Ayres and Brian Hodgson were commissioned to catalogue its extensive library of recordings with help from other composers.

In October 2003, Alchemists of Sound, an hour-long television documentary about the Radiophonic Workshop, was broadcast on BBC Four.

The Magnetic Fields titled the first track of their album Holiday, after the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Live reunions since 2009

In May 2009, Dick Mills reunited with former BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers Roger Limb, Paddy Kingsland and Peter Howell with archivist Mark Ayres for a live concert at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London, performing as "The Radiophonic Workshop". The composers, backed by a small brass section and a live drummer, performed a large number of their BBC-commissioned musical works including sections of incidental music from The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy and Doctor Who (including a medley of Mark Ayres's work) as well as some collaborative compositions written specifically for the Roundhouse concert.

The live performances were mixed in surround sound and interspersed with musical video montage tributes of deceased members of the Workshop including Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire and John Baker. The two and a half-hour event climaxed with live performances of the Derbyshire and Peter Howell arrangements of Doctor Who, segueing into a new Radiophonic version of the theme tune. Celebrated attendees included actor/writer/composer Peter Serafinowicz and satirist/writer/broadcaster Victor Lewis-Smith. Multiple cameras recorded the event but it has yet to be broadcast or released in any form, although amateur footage of the event can be seen on YouTube.

In 2013 the original members of the Workshop regrouped again for a more concerted programme of live appearances. Performing as 'The Radiophonic Workshop' (dropping the BBC prefix) they were joined by drummer Kieron Pepper (The Prodigy, Dead Kids, OutPatient) and Bob Earland from Clor. They also embarked on a new recording project set for release in Autumn of 2014. This involved collaborations with contemporary electronic musicians, video artists, DJs, remixers, poets, writers and singers. Live appearances in 2013 included Festival Number 6 at Portmeirion, Wales in September and The London Electronic Arts Festival in November. The shows featured archive TV and visuals from many of the TV and film soundtracks that the Radiophonic Workshop contributed to between 1958 and 1998 when the unit was deactivated. The Radiophonic Workshop appeared on BBC television's The One Show on 20 November 2013 playing a unique version of the Doctor Who Theme that combined Delia Derbyshire's original source tapes and Peter Howell's 1980 realisation of the Ron Grainer composition. Radio 6 Music's Marc Riley played host to a Radiophonic Workshop session where they delivered live versions of Roger Limb's Incubus, Paddy Kingsland's Vespucci, the Doctor Who Medley and a new composition – Electricity Language and Me (by American poet Peter Adam Salomon), featuring DJ Andrew Weatherall as the narrative voice for this classic piece of Radiophonic sound design. There were a number of radio, online and print interviews done at the time to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who.

The Workshop's early archive recordings were also reissued on vinyl in November 2013 to accompany this renewed activity. In 2014, "The Radiophonic Workshop" appeared at festivals including End of the Road Festival, and the reissue programme of earlier work from their extensive catalogue continues along with a planned exploration of previously unheard or rare archive recordings.

2012 online revival 
In September 2012 Arts Council England and the BBC announced a joint venture whereby the concept of the Radiophonic Workshop would be revived as an online venture, with seven new, non-original composers and musicians. The new Workshop was based online at The Space, a joint venture between the BBC and Arts Council England. Composer Matthew Herbert was appointed the new Creative Director, and worked alongside Micachu, Yann Seznec, Max de Wardener, Patrick Bergel, James Mather, theatre director Lyndsey Turner and broadcast technologist Tony Churnside.

Composer Matthew Herbert's first work for The New Radiophonic Workshop takes audio from 25 previous projects featured on the website – from theater performances to poetry readings, creating a "curious murmur of activity". It can be heard by clicking on a button labeled "listen to The Space" at the top of any page on the website.

The New Radiophonic Workshop, not to be confused with the reactivated Radiophonic Workshop whose members are original BBC personnel, an entirely separate entity from the original unit, was assembled by Mathew Herbert as an online collective of composers for The Space arts project.

Techniques

The techniques initially used by the Radiophonic Workshop were closely related to those used in musique concrète; new sounds for programmes were created by using recordings of everyday sounds such as voices, bells or gravel as raw material for "radiophonic" manipulations. In these manipulations, audio tape could be played back at different speeds (altering a sound's pitch), reversed, cut and joined, or processed using reverb or equalisation. The most famous of the Workshop's creations using 'radiophonic' techniques include the Doctor Who theme music, which Delia Derbyshire created using a plucked string, 12 oscillators and a lot of tape manipulation; and the sound of the TARDIS (the Doctor's time machine) materialising and dematerialising, which was created by Brian Hodgson running his keys along the rusty bass strings of a broken piano, with the recording slowed down to make an even lower sound.

Much of the equipment used by the Workshop in the earlier years of its operation in the late 1950s was semi-professional and was passed down from other departments, though two giant professional tape-recorders made an early centrepiece. Reverberation was obtained using an echo chamber, a basement room with bare painted walls empty except for loudspeakers and microphones. Due to the considerable technical challenges faced by the Workshop and BBC traditions, staff initially worked in pairs with one person assigned to the technical aspects of the work and the other to the artistic direction.

Influence on popular music 
The Radiophonic Workshop published "Radiophonics in the BBC" in November 1963, listing all equipment used in their two workshops, diagrams of several systems, and a number of anecdotes. The Radiophonic Workshop also contributed articles to magazines of its experiments, complete with instructions and wiring diagrams.

British psychedelic rock group Pink Floyd made a memorable trip to the workshop in 1967. They had employed tape loops, sound effects, found sounds and the principles of musique concrete on their debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn from that same year.  Other fans of the Radiophonic Workshop included The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones – who visited in 1968 – and Roger Mayer, who supplied guitar pedals to Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Phil Manzanera has also cited the Workshop as an influence on the sound of his group Roxy Music.

In 1997 the electronic dance music magazine Mixmag described the Workshop as, "the unsung heroes of British electronica". Their work has been sampled extensively by contemporary electronic artists.

Members of the Radiophonic Workshop

1958–1998

Desmond Briscoe (1958–1983)
Daphne Oram (1958–1959)
Dick Mills (1958–1993)
Maddalena Fagandini (1959–1966)
Brian Hodgson (1962–1972), Organiser (1977–1995)
Delia Derbyshire (1962–1973)
John Baker (1963–1974)
David Cain (1967–1973)
Malcolm Clarke (1969–1995)
Paddy Kingsland (1970–1981)
Richard Yeoman-Clark (1970–1978)
Roger Limb (1972–1995)
Glynis Jones (1973–?)
Peter Howell (1974–1997)
Elizabeth Parker (1978–1998)
Jonathan Gibbs (1983–1986)
Richard Attree (1987–1998)

2009–present
Peter Howell (2009–present)
Roger Limb (2009–present)
Dick Mills (2009–present)
Paddy Kingsland (2009–present)
Mark Ayres (2009–present)
Kieron Pepper (2013–present)
Bob Earland (2013-present)

Discography

Main albums

 BBC Radiophonic Music
 Fourth Dimension
 The Radiophonic Workshop
 Out of This World
 Through A Glass Darkly
 BBC Sound Effects No. 19 - Doctor Who Sound Effects
 BBC Radiophonic Workshop - 21
 BBC Sound Effects No. 26 - Sci-Fi Sound Effects
 Doctor Who - The Music
 The Soundhouse
 The Living Planet
 Doctor Who - The Music II
 Doctor Who: 30 Years at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
 Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 1: The Early Years 1963–1969
 Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 2: New Beginnings 1970–1980
 Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 3: The Leisure Hive
 Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 4: Meglos & Full Circle
 The John Baker Tapes – Volume 1: BBC Radiophonics
 BBC Radiophonic Workshop - A Retrospective
 Doctor Who – The Caves of Androzani
 Doctor Who – The Krotons
 Radiophonic Workshop
 The Vendetta Tapes
 Burials in Several Earths
 The Changes
 Doctor Who – The Five Doctors
 Possum
 The Box of Delights
 The Stone Tape
 Doctor Who – The Visitation
 La Planète Sauvage (with Stealing Sheep)

Selected other works

Radio dramas
The Foundation Trilogy (produced by David Cain) (1973)
Good Friday: A Play in Verse (1974)
A Wall Walks Slowly (produced by Desmond Briscoe with music by Peter Howell) (1977)
August 2026 (produced by Malcolm Clarke) (1977)
Notes from Janáček's Diary (produced by Maxwell Steer) (1991)
This was the only production ever to be realised at the Radiophonic Workshop completely by an external composer.

Sound effects and music contributions
Radio
The Goon Show
The Hobbit (effects and music composed by David Cain) (1968)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (effects by Paddy Kingsland with additional effects by Dick Mills. Music (except theme music) for second series by Paddy Kingsland)
The Lord of the Rings (effects by Elizabeth Parker) (1981)
Doctor Who: Slipback (BBC Radio) (music by Jonathan Gibbs) (1985)
Doctor Who: The Paradise of Death (BBC Radio) (music by Peter Howell) (1993)
Doctor Who: The Ghosts of N-Space (BBC Radio) (music by Peter Howell) (1996)
Television
Quatermass and the Pit (effects by Desmond Briscoe & (uncredited) Dick Mills) (1958)
Doctor Who (effects by Brian Hodgson (1963–1972) & Dick Mills (1972–1989). Some additional effects provided by various Workshop members)
Penda's Fen (Paddy Kingsland) (1974)
Blake's 7 (effects by Richard Yeoman-Clark & Elizabeth Parker)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (music and effects by Paddy Kingsland except theme music)

Doctor Who incidental music
The Doctor Who theme music was provided by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop from 1963 to 1985. From 1986 to the programme's demise the theme was provided by freelance musicians. Between 1980 and 1985 the complete incidental scores for the programme were provided in-house by the Workshop. Below is a complete list of incidental music provided by the Radiophonic Workshop for the programme.

1968
The Wheel in Space (music by Brian Hodgson)
The Krotons (Special sounds by Brian Hodgson)
1972
The Sea Devils (music by Malcolm Clarke)
1975
Revenge of the Cybermen (additional, uncredited music by Peter Howell (main score by Carey Blyton))
1980
The Leisure Hive (music by Peter Howell)
Meglos (music by Paddy Kingsland & Peter Howell)
Full Circle (music by Paddy Kingsland)
State of Decay (music by Paddy Kingsland)
1981
Warriors' Gate (music by Peter Howell)
The Keeper of Traken (music by Roger Limb)
Logopolis (music by Paddy Kingsland)
In 1981 Peter Howell also supplied the incidental music for the spin-off K-9 and Company.
1982
Castrovalva (music by Paddy Kingsland)
Four to Doomsday (music by Roger Limb)
Kinda (music by Peter Howell)
The Visitation (music by Paddy Kingsland)
Black Orchid (music by Roger Limb)
Earthshock (music by Malcolm Clarke)
Time-Flight (music by Roger Limb)

1983
Arc of Infinity (music by Roger Limb)
Snakedance (music by Peter Howell)
Terminus (music by Roger Limb)
Enlightenment (music by Malcolm Clarke)
The King's Demons (music by Peter Howell & Jonathan Gibbs)
The Five Doctors (music by Peter Howell)
1984
Warriors of the Deep (music by Jonathan Gibbs)
The Awakening (music by Peter Howell)
Resurrection of the Daleks (music by Malcolm Clarke)
Planet of Fire (music by Peter Howell)
The Caves of Androzani (music by Roger Limb)
The Twin Dilemma (music by Malcolm Clarke)
1985
Attack of the Cybermen (music by Malcolm Clarke)
Vengeance on Varos (music by Jonathan Gibbs)
The Mark of the Rani (music by Jonathan Gibbs)
The Two Doctors (music by Peter Howell)
Timelash (music by Elizabeth Parker (as "Liz Parker"))
Revelation of the Daleks (music by Roger Limb)
1986
Terror of the Vervoids (music by Malcolm Clarke)

Works about Radiophonic Workshop
Radio
The Sound Makers (1963)
The Electric Tunesmiths (1971)
Repeated as part of Selected Radiophonic Works in 2008.
The Space Between (4 October 1973)
Wee Have Also Sound-Houses (1979)
The title to this programme is a reference to Francis Bacon's 1626 novel "New Atlantis".
Sound in Mind (1979)
Late Junction: 12 February 2008
Sunday Feature: Wee Have Also Sound-Houses (2008)
Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone: 26 October 2008
Selected Radiophonic Works (2008)
Jonny Trunk's OST Show – 2 Hours With Paddy Kingsland
Jonny Trunk's OST Show – David Cain Interview
Television
The Same Trade as Mozart (1969)
The New Sound of Music (1979)
The Electric Music Machine, Five Days at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (1988)
Alchemists of Sound (2003)
What the Future Sounds Like (2009)
Books
Special Sound: The Creation and Legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop by Louis Niebur (Oxford University Press, 2010)
An Electric Storm: Daphne, Delia and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop by Ned Netherwood (Obverse Books, 2014)

See also
 Music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop
 The Radiophonic Workshop
 BBC Radiophonic Workshop – 21
 BBC Radiophonic Workshop – A Retrospective
 List of Doctor Who music releases

References

Further reading

External links
 BBC Radiophonic Workshop: An Engineering Perspective
 Radiophonic Gallery
 Ray White's Radiophonic Home Page
 Peter Howell's Radiophonic Home Page

 
Musical groups established in 1958
Musical groups disestablished in 1998
Electronic music organizations
1958 establishments in England
1998 disestablishments in England
Mute Records artists
2012 establishments in England
Columbia Workshop was a radio series that aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from 1936 to 1943, returning in 1946–47.

Irving Reis
The series began as the idea of Irving Reis. Reis had begun his radio career as an engineer and developed a fascination with the possibilities of the relatively new medium. His idea was to use experimental modes of narrative to enhance the way a narrative was conveyed over the radio. Reis had isolated attempts to experiment on the radio:  Before the Columbia Workshop'''s debut, he had directed at least a few radio dramas. For Reis, the Columbia Workshop was a platform for developing new techniques for presentation on radio as noted in the debut broadcast:
The Columbia Workshop dedicates itself to the purposes of familiarizing you with the story behind radio, both in broadcasting, as well as in aviation, shipping, communication and pathology, and to experiment in new techniques with a hope of discovering or evolving new and better forms of radio presentation, with especial emphasis on radio drama; to encourage and present the work of new writers and artists who may have fresh and vital ideas to contribute.

As a sustaining program, the Workshop served as a symbol to prove to the public (and the Federal Communications Commission) that CBS was concerned with educating and serving the public.

Early shows on the Workshop exemplified Reis's penchant for experimentation through narrative and technical means. The second program, Broadway Evening followed a couple as they meandered down Broadway during an evening. A subsequent show had at least 30 characters functioning within a half-hour drama. Among the technical demonstrations were sound effects, the use of various kinds of microphones to achieve various aural effects and voice impersonators (including sound effects produced by voice).

Reis called upon others to try their hand in writing new or adapting existing material for the experimental nature of the Workshop. Orson Welles did a two-part adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet (mentioned along with the Workshop in the fictitious film Me and Orson Welles), as well as a 30-minute condensation of Macbeth. Irwin Shaw contributed one show, and Stephen Vincent Benét adapted several of his short stories. Reis also experimented with readings and dramatizations of poetry, including works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Masefield and Edgar Allan Poe. One of the most notable presentations of Reis's tenure was Archibald MacLeish's original radio play, The Fall of the City. With a cast that included Burgess Meredith, Orson Welles and 300 students, the play was notable for its portrayal of the collapse of a city under an unnamed dictator, a commentary on fascism in Germany and Italy.

Reis recognized music as an important part of radio presentation. As part of CBS's commissioning of five classical composers to write original works for radio, Deems Taylor narrated a concert (November 7, 1936) which demonstrated the possibilities of idiomatic music composition for radio by playing orchestrations of three works by staff arranger Amadeo de Fillipi.

Among the most significant musical contributions Reis made was appointing Bernard Herrmann music director of the Workshop. Herrmann had previously worked on CBS primarily as a conductor. He had composed his first radio drama for the Workshop, but it was only after his second program, Rhythm of the Jute Mill (broadcast December 12, 1936) that the appointment was made. Thereafter Herrmann composed many radio shows himself, also conducting the music of others and even proposing a show entirely devoted to music composed for the Workshop.

Other significant musical contributions during Reis's directorship include Paul Sterrett's and Leith Stevens's score for a two-part presentation of Alice in Wonderland in which music took the place of all sound effects, and Marc Blitzstein's half-hour musical I've Got the Tune, which similarly tried to convey sound effects and long-distance travel through purely musical means.

William N. Robson
On the broadcast of December 23, 1937 (the first of a two-part dramatization of Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass), it was announced that William N. Robson had succeeded Irving Reis as director of the Columbia Workshop. Reis moved to Hollywood and continued his career in the film industry. Though the Workshop continued some experimentation, Robson placed greater emphasis on good dramatic adaptations, rather than didactic explanations of radio techniques.

Robson was not averse to experimentation. His San Quentin Prison Break, originally broadcast prior to the Workshop on January 16, 1935 was based on an actual incident. To achieve a sense of realism, the dramatization was a combination news report or documentary. Unlike most radio dramas, there was no narrator involved. This was later rebroadcast as part of the Workshop on September 10, 1936.

Under Robson's aegis, the Workshop was able to broadcast a number of notable shows. Known more as a film director, Pare Lorentz wrote and directed Ecce Homo, a story concerning the relationship of man and technology. Both Irwin Shaw and Archibald MacLeish were invited back to write and direct shows as they had done under Reis's leadership. The Workshop extended its experimental mode by preceding the new MacLeish play, Air Raid with a broadcast of its rehearsal. Stephen Vincent Benèt continued to write for the Workshop, and author Wilbur Daniel Steele made his own adaptations of his previously written short stories. Arch Oboler, known for Lights Out! series, contributed one script, as did Thornton Wilder and budding writer Arthur Laurents.

At times, Robson reached beyond the typical crop of radio authors, selecting at least one script (Anita Fairgrieve's Andrea del Sarto), from his class in radio writing at New York University as well as soliciting scripts on the air from the listening audience.

With Bernard Herrmann continuing as music director, Robson (probably at Herrmann's insistence) included a few extended musical works and opera on the Workshop. Frederick Delius's Hassan, and two operas by Vittorio Giannini, Beauty and the Beast and Blennerhasset, were among those heard. Robson apparently stepped down sometime in mid-1939, after which the Workshop was somewhat adrift. Brewster Morgan and Earle McGill are credited as being those responsible for continuing the series.

Norman Corwin

Norman Corwin had been a rising star at CBS for a few years, and had even some of his work aired on the Workshop as early as 1938, when his adaptation of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage aired.  But his sense of social justice again changed the direction of the Workshop into one frequently addressing current issues. By the fall 1940, Corwin was leading the Workshop, and in 1941, the series was giving the subtitle 26 by Corwin, attesting to the author's seemingly indefatigable energy. Given Corwin's strong interest in issues of the day, it is ironic he left the Workshop just one month prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Final years
It is not entirely clear who led the Columbia Workshop during 1942, but interest in the program was clearly waning. There were a few significant programs (historically the most interesting of them is probably the airing of John Cage's and Kenneth Patchen's The City Wears a Slouch Hat).  There are only a few references to shows in 1943. The show had a revival in the 1946–47 season.  When it was revived in 1956, it was retitled the CBS Radio Workshop.

 Radio techniques 
The Columbia Workshop gave authors, directors, sound engineers and composers many opportunities to experiment with the use of sound as a device for enhancing narrative.

 Sound filters Buck Rogers was broadcast from a 21st-floor studio that had been troubled with air conditioning noises. At a bend in a duct the air gave a whoosh that had been difficult to dampen. Later, when it became necessary to suggest a rocket traveling through outer space, someone remembered the duct and put a microphone in the bend. Whenever Buck Rogers was on the move, the microphone was opened, producing the sound of a spaceship. This was the first development in sound filters.
 
Filters developed upon the need for radio directors to find a way to portray a voice over the telephone. The filters were generally small boxes through which a microphone circuit could be shunted. The box had dials on its surface. Its inner mechanism could remove upper or lower tones or a combination of them to give an incomplete reproduction, as given by a telephone. The dials allowed the engineer to vary the effect, creating varieties of incompleteness. It became common for radio personnel to play around with the filters to find new sounds, and then having radio shows based upon their discoveries.

 Staff 
Many of the staff who worked on the Columbia Workshop would continue with CBS and work for television.
Bernard Herrmann, composer
Earle McGill, writer, director
Irving Reis, writer, director
William N. Robson, writer, director
Leith Stevens, composer
Guy Della-Cioppa, writer

Award
The Columbia Workshop received a 1946 Peabody Award for Outstanding Entertainment in Drama.

List of Columbia Workshop programs
This is a list of all the Columbia Workshop'' programs, giving known information about authors, adaptors, directors/producers, composers.  Occasional remarks have been included.  Gaps in dates usually refer to programs that were pre-empted.  Information for the years 1942–43 is difficult to come by.

Sources

References

Listen to

Columbia Workshop: "Meridian 7-1212" (rebroadcast of August 24, 1939)

External links
The Definitive: Columbia Workshop
Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: Columbia Workshop

American radio dramas
1930s American radio programs
1940s American radio programs
1950s American radio programs
CBS Radio programs
Peabody Award-winning radio programs
1936 radio programme debuts
1943 radio programme endings
1946 radio programme debuts
1947 radio programme endings The following is a list of programs featured on Noggin, an entertainment brand owned by Nickelodeon. The brand began in 1999 as a cable channel and a website, launched as a joint venture between Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop. At launch, the channel featured three sectors of programming: a main block aimed at pre-teens and teenagers, a morning block for preschoolers, and an "adult retro" block at night. In 2002, Sesame Workshop sold its stake in Noggin to Nickelodeon, but it continued to co-produce content for the brand. In the same year, Noggin discarded its retro block and extended its preschool and teen blocks to last 12 hours each per day. The older-skewing shows that made up Noggin's original tween and teen lineup aired exclusively during the teen block, now retitled "The N."

Programming blocks based on Noggin aired in the U.S. and UK from 1999 to 2005. In 2009, the Noggin network was replaced by the Nick Jr. channel, but it was relaunched as a streaming service in 2015. As of 2020, the service is continually updated with new series and clips, both from Noggin's library and other companies.

1999 TV channel
The Noggin channel launched on February 2, 1999 and closed on September 27, 2009. It started out mainly aimed at tweens and teenagers, with a few of its programs being aimed at younger children. From April 1, 2002 onward, the channel was divided into two programming blocks: a daytime block for young children and a nighttime block, called The N, for tweens and teenagers. Several shows that had previously aired during Noggin's daytime block, such as A Walk in Your Shoes and Sponk!, aired exclusively during The N from April 2002 onward.

Final programming

Daytime block

Original series
Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop created a company, Noggin LLC, to produce original content for their network in 1999. In 2002, Sesame Workshop sold its stake in Noggin LLC to Nickelodeon, but it continued to co-produce content for Noggin.

Sesame Workshop library
Reruns of series from Sesame Workshop's content library were shown as a staple of Noggin from 1999 to 2005. Two syndication packages of Sesame Street episodes, titled Sesame Street Unpaved and 123 Sesame Street, were created specifically by and for Noggin LLC.

Reruns of Nickelodeon series

Acquired programming

Interstitials 

 And Then What Happened? (2002-2003)
 Art Alive (2003–2009)
 Brain Food (1999–2002)
 Critter Corner (2003–2009)
 Deja Noggin (1999-2002)
 Field Trip (2003–2009)
 Former Kids (1999–2002)
 Game Time (2002-2003)
 The Girl with Her Head Coming Off (1999–2002)
 Head Buzzers (1999–2002)
 Inside Eddie Johnson (1999–2002)
 Inside Out Boy (1999–2002)
 Let's Do Math! (2005–2008)
 Letter and Number Soup (1999–2002)
 Max and His Alphabet Adventures
 Lily in the City (2005–2009)
 Live@Noggin.com (bumpers; 2000–2002)
 Looking at Each Other (1999–2002)
 Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (shorts; 1999–2002)
 Maisy Songs (2000-2007)
 Move to the Music (2003–2009)
 My Wacky Family (1999-2002)
 Nickelodeon's Big Help: Talk Together (2001–2002)
 Noggin Boogie (1999–2002)
 Jungle Boogie
 The Space Between Mr. Frear's Ears
 Nick Jr. Sings
 Noggin's Choice (1999–2000)
 Noggin Gold (1999–2002)
 Noggin Neighbors (2000–2002)
 Nanalan' (2000–2002)
 What's the Buzz with Philomena Fly (1999–2002)
 Winky Love (1999–2002)
 Noggin Presents (1999–2002; 2007–2009)
 Ask Mother Nature (1999–2002)
 Chickiepoo and Fluff: Barnyard Detectives (2007–2009)
 Me in a Box (2000–2002)
 Peppa Pig (2007–2009)
 Nogginoid (1999–2002)
 Noggin's Thoughts (1999–2002)
 Noggolution (1999–2002)
 Oobi (shorts and bumpers; 2000–2009)
 Out of Your Mind (1999–2002)
 Puzzle Time (2008-2009)
 Sesame Street Hits (1999–2002)
 Short Films by Short People (1999–2002)
 Show and Tell (2003–2009)
 Snack Time (2003–2009)
 Cooking for Kids with Luis (2005–2009)
 Story Time (2003–2009)
 Ted the Head (1999–2002)
 Think Loudly (1999–2002)
 What's in Heidi's Head? (1999–2002)
 What Sparks You? (1999–2002)
 The Whooton Observer (1999–2002)
 Zee's Bookshelf (2005–2009)
 Ebb and Flo

The N block
Noggin aired a nighttime programming block called The N from April 1, 2002 until December 31, 2007.

Original programming

Acquired programming

2015 streaming service

Current programming
In March 2015, Nickelodeon relaunched the Noggin brand as a video-on-demand streaming service, featuring episodes from former Noggin series, current-running Nick Jr. series and newly-acquired shows.

Original programming

Acquired programming

Former programming

Original programming

Acquired programming

See also
 List of programs broadcast by Nickelodeon
 List of Nick Jr. original programming
 List of programs broadcast by Nick at Nite
 List of programs broadcast by Nicktoons
 List of programs broadcast by TeenNick
 List of Nickelodeon original films

Notes

References

Lists of television series by network