The Listener (magazine)  The Listener was a weekly magazine established by the BBC in January 1929 which ceased publication in 1991. The entire digitised archive was made available for purchase online to libraries, educational and research institutions in 2011. It was first published on 16 January 1929, under the editorship of Richard S. Lambert, and was developed as a medium of record for the reproduction of broadcast talks. It also previewed major literary and musical broadcasts, reviewed new books, and printed a selected list of the more intellectual broadcasts for the coming week. Its published aim was to be "a medium for intelligent reception of broadcast programmes by way of amplification and explanation of those features which cannot now be dealt with in the editorial columns of the "Radio Times"". The title reflected the fact that at the time the BBC broadcast via radio only. The first issue was published as a four-page insert in the "Wireless World" magazine on 24 March 1926. "The Listener" was described as "The Journal of the Wireless League" and was edited by Prof. A. M. Low. A comment from the BBC was included: "The B.B.C. welcomes "The Listener". We have always before us the need for constant progress and we gladly listen to constructive criticism and help from the large body of listeners you represent. "The Listener" should be a milestone in the advance of British Broadcasting." The Newspaper Proprietors' Association considered its launch to be "an illegitimate stretching of official activity" and, after consultation between Reith and the Prime Minister, a number of compromises were agreed to, including an upper limit of 10% original contributed material not related to broadcasting. Another compromise was a limit to the amount of advertising it could carry. It came to be seen as one of a trio of weekly magazines, the other two being "The Spectator" and the "New Statesman", though it was distinguished from them by not being associated with a political party. The management of the other two magazines were occasionally critical of what they saw as the privileged financial position of their subsidised rival. Above all, "The Listener" represented the BBC's cultural mission (strongly emphasised by John Reith). It gradually declined after 1960 as British society changed, the BBC became more plural, and other sources of information became more readily available. The first editor, Richard S. Lambert, left in 1939 after successfully suing Sir Cecil Levita for slander over allegations that he was unfit for his job because of his credulity in believing in Gef, the talking mongoose.