<br clear="all">
<div id="dhtmlwindowholder"><span style="DISPLAY: none">.</span></div><link media="screen" href="http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/css/icwales2/searchandclassified.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet"><link media="screen" href="http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/css/icwales2/tablestyles.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet">
<link media="screen" href="http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/css/icwales2/styles.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet"><link media="screen" href="http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/css/icwales2/registrationandforum.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet">
<link media="screen" href="http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/css/icwales2/styles_ie7bugs.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet"><link href="http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/css/R2Design/print_style.css" type="text/css" rel="STYLESHEET">
<meta content="feature news, interesting news, welsh news" name="Keywords">
<meta content="It was only ever set up as a three-year experiment, but S4C this week reaches its 25th anniversary. Sally Williams explores the background of Wales’ groundbreaking television channel." name="Description">
<span></span><link title="RSS Feed for Happy 25th birthday S4C - Features - News - icWales" href="rss.xml" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate"><span></span>
<div id="wrap">
<div id="header-wrap">
<div id="toplinks">
<p id="nav-top-links"><span id="clock">28 October 2007: 2:59pm</span> |<span></span><span></span><span></span> <a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/registration/index.cfm?redirect=http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/feature-news/tm_headline=happy-25th-birthday-s4c%26method=full%26objectid=20018364%26print_version=1%26siteid=91466-name_page.html">
login</a>/<a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/registration/index.cfm?register=1&redirect=http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/feature-news/tm_headline=happy-25th-birthday-s4c%26method=full%26objectid=20018364%26print_version=1%26siteid=91466-name_page.html">
register</a> </p>
<form action method="get">
<p id="nav-other-sites" style="DISPLAY: block">Visit our other sites: <select id="dropdown-select" name="destination"> <option value="http://www.jobswales.co.uk/" selected><a href="http://jobswales.co.uk">jobswales.co.uk
</a></option> <option value="http://www.homeswales.co.uk/"><a href="http://homeswales.co.uk">homeswales.co.uk</a></option> <option value="http://www.motorswales.co.uk/"><a href="http://motorswales.co.uk">motorswales.co.uk
</a></option> <option value="http://www.publicjobswales.co.uk/"><a href="http://publicjobswales.co.uk">publicjobswales.co.uk</a></option></select> <input onclick="document.forms.header_dropdown.action = document.forms.header_dropdown.destination.value" type="submit" value="Go!">
</p></form><span></span></div>
<div id="header">
<div id="header-logo"><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/"><img title="icWales" height="95" alt="icWales" src="http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/design/transparent.gif" width="485" border="0"></a> </div>
<div id="header-content">
<div id="header-right">
<div class="containerobj">
<div class="block-one">
<h2>Get involved...</h2>
<ul class="menu1">
<li><a href="http://www.icwales.co.uk/news/send-a-story">Send your stories</a>
<li><a href="http://www.icwales.co.uk/videos-and-pics/upload-videos">Send your videos</a> </li></li></ul>
<ul class="menu1">
<li><a href="http://www.icwales.co.uk/videos-and-pics/upload-photos">Send your pics</a>
<li><a href="http://forums.icwales.co.uk/">Join a forum</a> </li></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div>
<div id="main-nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/">Home</a></li>
<li><a id="main-nav-selected" href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/">News</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/business-in-wales/">Business</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/rugbynation/">RugbyNation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/footballnation/">FootballNation</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/sports/">Sports</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/whats-on/">What's On</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/buy-and-sell/">Classifieds</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/countryside-farming-news/">Country & Farming</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/travel/">Travel</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/videos-and-pics/">Videos & Pics</a></li>
<li><a href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/site-map/">Sitemap</a> </li></ul></div>
<div id="top-search">
<div id="top-search-ad-slot">
<form action="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/search.cfm" method="get">
<div class="clearfix">
<p> </p></div></form></div></div></div>
<div id="wrap-inner">
<div class="news" id="content-article">
<h3 class="list-head-colour news"><a class="channellink" href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/">Home</a><a class="channellink" href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/">News</a><a class="channellink" href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/feature-news/">
Features</a></h3>
<div id="three-col-wrap">
<div id="three-col">
<h1>Happy 25th birthday S4C</h1>
<p class="article-date"><a title="Find all articles published on Oct 27 2007 to the Features section" href="http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/feature-news/2007/10/27/">Oct 27 2007</a> Sally Williams, Western Mail </p>
<p><strong>It was only ever set up as a three-year experiment, but S4C this week reaches its 25th anniversary. Sally Williams explores the background of Wales' groundbreaking television channel</strong></p>
<p>ANYONE looking at today's TV schedules in Wales could be forgiven for taking S4C for granted. After all, we live in a time when the Welsh language has been officially embraced to a degree unimaginable a generation ago.
</p>
<p>The language is compulsory in our schools. It is a prominent feature of our National Assembly's workings. And it possesses a certain vibrancy, with the likes of Ioan Gruffudd, Rhys Ifans and Matthew Rhys all conspicuously proud of their Welsh-speaking upbringings.
</p>
<p>Against this backdrop, it seems only natural that we have a channel dedicated to programmes boasting titles such as Nôl â Ni and Rownd a Rownd pitted against the latest populist reality shows or lavish costume dramas.
</p>
<p>Love it or hate it – and it stirs such passions in equal measure – S4C seems set to stay as it serenely enters its quarter century on Thursday.</p>
<p>But for an institution that has become part of Welsh life, it suffered more than its fair share of birthing pangs.</p>
<p>In fact, as Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones – a lecturer in Television Studies at Aberystwyth University – recalls, the whole channel could have been consigned to history in 1985.</p>
<p>"Not many people realise that S4C was initially set up as a three-year experiment," she said.</p>
<p>"The fact that the channel has lasted 25 years is quite an achievement in broadcasting in any minority language," she added. "In fact, it could be argued that S4C, which was launched on November 1, 1982, was the first proper minority-language channel."
</p>
<p>But from such small beginnings, it has created repercussions throughout the world. After its launch a Basque-language channel followed in Spain at the end of December that same year. And later on, a Catalan-language channel was established there too.
</p>
<p>Others have followed. There is now an Irish channel and the next one coming is a Scottish Gaelic channel.</p>
<p>Dr Jones added, "In the beginning, campaigners who wanted a dedicated Welsh channel did not necessarily want to watch television, but they did want to see the Welsh language become more of a part of a modern life.</p>
<p>"When you compare S4C with programming across Europe, it launched a television industry in Wales and a production base after it expanded out of HTV and the BBC.</p>
<p>"It has created an important economic centre in Wales and obviously has helped the Welsh language to integrate within a modern and contemporary setting.</p>
<p>"In that context, S4C has been very successful.</p>
<p>"But whether or not it has reached all parts of Wales at all times of the day is a matter of opinion."</p>
<p>The most popular regular programmes now attract about 100,000 viewers, rising to about 200,000 for major rugby matches – small in a UK context, perhaps. Yet astonishing when you think of a potential Welsh-speaking audience still measured in only the hundreds of thousands.
</p>
<p>Even more sobering is a quick stroll down memory lane, to a time before S4C when Welsh-language programming was relegated to a smattering of offerings scattered at odd times throughout the mainstream schedules. It was a situation that angered a vocal section of the nation's Welsh-speakers who said it gave proof, if it were needed, of Welsh's "second-class" status.
</p>
<p>As a result, the fight for a mould-breaking channel began in earnest in the early 1970s when the Government announced that the wavelength for a new TV "fourth channel" would be available by the early 1980s.</p>
<p>A public debate ensued and Welsh Language Society Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg instigated a campaign for the new channel to be dedicated to the Welsh language within our borders.</p>
<p>From 1971 to 1977, scores of people in Wales were fined for refusing to renew their TV licences, while others were imprisoned for sit-ins at TV masts and transmitters and for causing criminal damage to the offices and equipment of broadcasting authorities.
</p>
<p>Tellingly, at the 1979 general election, the manifestos of the Labour Party, Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats all listed the establishment of a Welsh language TV channel as one of their policies.</p>
<p>Yet after Mrs Thatcher's Conservatives won the election, the new government announced it had changed its mind on its commitment to a Welsh channel. It led to one of the pivotal moments in recent Welsh history as Welsh language lobbyist and Plaid Cymru's first MP Gwynfor Evans threatened to fast to death unless the Government reversed its new policy.
</p>
<p>Tensions grew. Lord Cledwyn, Right Reverend G O Williams (Archbishop of Wales) and Lord Gwilym Prys Davies led a high-level deputation to meet Willie Whitelaw, the Home Secretary. And then came the unthinkable – Thatcher, who in a different context later would famously quip that "the lady is not for turning", performed a policy U-turn, restoring the Government's commitment.
</p>
<p>The White Paper on Broadcasting followed and in 1980 the Broadcasting Act established S4C and Channel 4.</p>
<p>But not all Welsh-language supporters wanted a separate channel.</p>
<p>Some wanted to maintain the status quo, with Welsh programmes to be distributed throughout the schedules of the mainstream channels.</p>
<p>Conversely, a number of non-Welsh speaking viewers broadly welcomed the principle of a designated channel for Welsh language TV, as it would "free" the popular channels of output they did not understand.</p>
<p>Euryn Ogwen Williams, who was director of programmes for S4C for its first 10 years of broadcasting, explained, "Both of these divided factors were important and, because the decision lay in the hands of politicians, their mailbags were full of letters from both sides.
</p>
<p>"There was a lot of pressure from the Welsh-language enthusiast lobby that said there would be a great deal of social unrest.</p>
<p>"And that was highlighted by Gwynfor Evans' threat to fast to death for Welsh language television."</p>
<p>But eventually, S4C was "born" with a welcome to the channel, followed by news at 7pm, a music programme at 7.30pm and drama from 8pm.</p>
<p>In the intervening 25 years, the channel has become synonymous with successes such as Pobol y Cwm, which actually started on the BBC – who still produce it for S4C – before the creation of the new channel. Initially a drama series of 12 episodes a year (and, coincidentally, the BBC's longest-running soap) S4C's arrival gave it a more regular platform and in the process helped provide the launch pad for the career of future Hollywood star Ioan Gruffudd.
</p>
<p>Other success stories have included SuperTed – originally a Welsh-language cartoon – and Oscar-nominated film Hedd Wyn.</p>
<p>Birthdays are traditionally a time for reflection; it is heartening to know that as S4C blows out its 25 candles this week there is plenty in its history it can be proud of.</p>
<p>** On Thursday, S4C is marking its 25th anniversary with a raft of special programmes including a two-part history of Welsh-language broadcasting. The anniversary also sees a revamped children's presentation service and new-look weather bulletins
</p></div></div><img height="1" alt="" src="http://trinitymirror.112.2o7.net/b/ss/mgntrinitymirroraggregate,tmr-icwales/1/H.8-pdvu-2/s75827741473473?[AQB]&ndh=1&t=28/9/2007%2011%3A1%3A24%200%20240&ce=ISO-8859-1&ns=trinitymirror&cdp=3&pageName=icwales2/News/Features&g=http%3A//icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/feature-news/tm_headline%3Dhappy-25th-birthday-s4c%2526method%3Dfull%2526objectid%3D20018364%2526print_version%3D1%2526siteid%3D91466-name_page.html&r=http%3A//icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/feature-news/2007/10/27/happy-25th-birthday-s4c-91466-20018364/&cc=GBP&ch=News&server=http%3A//icwales.icnetwork.co.uk&c1=News%7CFeatures&h1=icwales2%7CNews%7CFeatures&c5=icwales2&c9=page.cfm&c10=20018364&c15=icwales2_happy-25th-birthday-s4c&c16=Wales&c21=Wales-WME&pid=icwales2/News/Features&pidt=1&oid=http%3A//icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/feature-news/tm_headline%3Dhappy-25th-birthday-s4c%2526method%3Dfull%252&ot=A&oi=311&s=1024x768&c=32&j=1.3&v=Y&k=Y&bw=999&bh=582&ct=lan&hp=N&[AQE]" width="1" border="0" name="s_i_mgntrinitymirroraggregate">
<span></span><span></span> </div></div><span></span></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of
<br>the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a <br>message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br>*******************************************