- Chapter Forty -
addition to enhancing a local identity, they have also strengthened a linguistic
identity. They are to be found all over Wales and if the content is local the language
of each and everyone is part of the corporate national language.
Broadcasting is another potent force in the Welsh situation. There is a Welsh
language radio network, Radio Cymru, provided by the BBC, which broadcasts
some 100 hours a week entirely in Welsh. The Welsh language television output is
found on S4C, Sianel Pedwar Cymru (Figure 40.4). This service was established
in 1982. In it all the Welsh programmes, previously transmitted as opt-outs on other
channels, are contained on this one channel. S4C does not of itself produce
programmes but acts as a commissioning body. Its programmes are drawn from two
main sources - BBC Cymru and the independent commercial companies, particu-
larly those in Wales, which have mushroomed since S4C was set up. The channel has
to be all things to all men and it is funded largely by central government grant sup-
plemented by its own advertising and marketing income. It is in a unique situation
in terms of its independent status, its funding and its programming. Whatever its
virtues, and they are many, whatever its weaknesses, of which there are some, S4C
does fly the flag of linguistic identity. It was intended to be a coherent Welsh lan-
guage service at peak viewing hours and it came as the result of a long campaign of
agitated and heated canvassing. It now transmits some 30 hours of Welsh language
television per week flanked by programmes from the UK Channel 4 output.
S4C
Figure 40.4 S4C logo.The setting up of S4C was a seminal achievement for Cymdeithas yr Iaith
Gymraeg - Welsh Language Society - which was in the vanguard of the campaign.
This society was founded in 1962 and, over the years, has conducted an active
programme for the cecognition of the language by government, local authorities and
agencies (Figure 4°.5). It is spearheaded by a constant turnover of college students
who have succeeded in sustaining considerable pressure on officialdom and who haveFigure 40.5 WLS logo (Cymdeithas y laith 'tafod y ddraig (dragon's tongue».