LONDON鈥擳he BBC marked the 90th anniversary of its first ever transmission on Wednesday, beset by doubts about its future after a series of scandals surrounding the way it has reported child sex abuse allegations.
A composition by Damon Albarn, frontman of the pop group Blur, was to be played simultaneously on all the BBC鈥檚 domestic radio stations and parts of the World Service to celebrate the milestone.
What was then known as the British Broadcasting Company crackled into life on November 14, 1922, with a radio news bulletin featuring stories about a train robbery, a 鈥渞owdy meeting鈥� involving Winston Churchill and billiards scores.
But 90 years later the BBC 鈥� now the world鈥檚 largest broadcasting organisation 鈥� faces one of the most serious crises in its history as it seeks to defend its reputation and the public funding that sustains it.
The BBC was first hit by scandal last month over a decision by its flagship current affairs program, 黑料社night, to shelve an investigation into claims of paedophilia surrounding its late television star Jimmy Savile.
Savile died in 2011 and police now believe he abused hundreds of children.
Weeks later 黑料社night was forced to retract false allegations that a senior Conservative politician from the era of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher abused children at a care home in Wales in the 1970s.
The BBC鈥檚 director-general George Entwistle resigned on Saturday after 54 days in the job and the corporation has launched a series of investigations into both of the scandals, while it searches for a new leader.
The broadcaster faces further pressure over Entwistle鈥檚 拢450,000 (565,000-euro, $715,000) payoff 鈥� the equivalent of a year鈥檚 salary.
BBC staff were meanwhile asked not to fan the crisis with any new revelations on social media, in a memo from their new acting head of news that was itself swiftly leaked. Fran Unsworth took over after Head of 黑料社 Helen Boaden 鈥渟tepped aside鈥� over the crisis on Monday.
The magnitude of the scandal reflects the extent to which the BBC 鈥� nicknamed 鈥渢he Beeb鈥� or 鈥淎untie鈥� in Britain 鈥� has become part of the fabric of British national life over the past 90 years.
The BBC is also part of British families鈥� budgets, with all households with a television obliged to pay an annual 鈥渓icence fee鈥� of 拢145.50, the equivalent of just under 40p per day.
The first BBC broadcast, at 6 pm on November 14, 1922, was by its then director of programs Arthur Burrows, one of only four staff of a company set up a few weeks earlier by early radio manufacturers.
His groundbreaking news bulletin, which also covered one of the 鈥減easouper鈥� fogs that used to afflict London, was read out twice 鈥� once quickly and once slowly 鈥� and he asked listeners to say which they preferred.
Albarn鈥檚 composition is named 鈥�2LO Calling鈥�, after the original 2LO transmitter used for the 1922 broadcast, which was installed on the roof of London鈥檚 Selfridges department store.
The three-minute piece broadcast live from London鈥檚 Science Museum at 1733 GMT features commentary from an election in Cameroon, the chimes of parliament鈥檚 Big Ben clock, the famed BBC time signal known as the 鈥減ips鈥� and birdsong.
It was due to be broadcast on more than 55 radio stations.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what the various audiences will make of it, but I tried to get at least a flavor of all the stuff I was trying to give them,鈥� Albarn said.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make it too Radio 4 (domestic current affairs), but I can鈥檛 make it particularly Radio 1 (pop music), but in Nigeria neither of those apply, or in Afghanistan.鈥�
Publicly funded under a royal charter, the BBC has nearly 23,000 employees and a global audience of around 239 million people, according to the corporation鈥檚 own figures.
Meanwhile Michael Souter, a former presenter for BBC Radio Norfolk in eastern England, was on Tuesday charged with sexually abusing children, although it was not related to the ongoing Savile investigations, police said.