History
Development
Upon the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939, the BBC closed both existing National and Regional radio programmes, combining the two to form a single channel known as the BBC Home Service. The former transmitters of the National Programme continued to broadcast the Home Service until 1940, when the lack of choice and lighter programming for people serving in the British Armed Forces was noted. At that point, some frequencies were given to a new entertainment network, the BBC Forces Programme.
The BBC Forces Programme was replaced when the influx of American soldiers, used to a different style of entertainment programming, had to be catered for in the run up to 'D-Day'. This replacement service was named the General Forces Programme, and was also broadcast on shortwave on the frequencies of the Overseas Service.
Programming
The BBC Forces Programme was launched to appeal directly to those members of the armed services during the Phoney War who were mainly sat in barracks with little to do. Its mixture of drama, comedy, popular music, features, quiz shows and variety was richer and more varied than the former National Programme, although it continued to supply lengthy news bulletins, informational and talk. However, when the American servicemen arrived en masse in 1943 and 1944 as preparation for Operation Overlord, they found even the richer Forces Programme shows to be staid and slow compared with the existing output of the American networks.
In response to appeals from General Dwight Eisenhower, the BBC abolished the Forces Programme and established the General Forces Programme, designed to provide a mixture of programming suitable for American and British audiences and also to appeal to the "Home Front", who research had shown wished to listen to the same output as the forces once fighting had broken out. As well as a large number of American network and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programmes, the General Forces Programme also offered British programming:
The General Forces Programme maintained the previous broadcasting hours of the Forces Programme on air each day from 6.30am until 11.00pm.
Closure
After Victory in Europe Day, the British longwave frequencies of the General Forces Programme became the BBC Light Programme on 29 July 1945. The service continued broadcasting by shortwave to areas that were still seeing fighting, and after Victory over Japan Day to occupying forces in each former occupied and enemy country.
As Britain began to disengage from each fighting area and civilian rule was finally restored and the soldiers demobbed, the reason for the existence of the General Forces Programme faded. In each area, it was slowly replaced by the Overseas Service until its complete closure on 31 December 1946.
Communications in the Solomon Islands.
The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM, LW and MW relays. In 2024, the World Service reached an average of 450 million people a week. In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz. It lies between the medium frequency band (MF) and the bottom of the VHF band.
International broadcasting consists of radio and television transmissions that purposefully cross international boundaries, often with then intent of allowing expatriates to remain in touch with their countries of origin as well as educate, inform, and influence residents of foreign countries. Content can range from overt propaganda and counterpropaganda to cultural content to news reports that reflect the point of view and concerns of the originating country or that seek to provide alternative information to that otherwise available as well as promote tourism and trade. In the first half of the twentieth century, international broadcasting was used by colonial empires as a means of connecting colonies with the metropole. When operated by governments or entities close to a government, international broadcasting can be a form of soft power. Less frequently, international broadcasting has been undertaken for commercial purposes by private broadcasters.
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations covering the majority of musical genres, as well as local radio stations covering local news, affairs and interests. It also oversees online audio content.
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the long wave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939 – by the BBC National Programme.
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The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4.
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Captain Thomas Marcus Brownrigg CBE DSO RN (Retired) was a British Royal Navy officer before and during World War II who later became the first General Manager of Bracknell New Town Development Corporation before becoming the first General Manager of Europe's first commercial television station, Associated-Rediffusion.
Howard Thomas CBE was a Welsh radio producer and television executive.
The BBC Regional Programme was a radio service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – replacing a number of earlier BBC local stations between 1922 and 1924 – until 1 September 1939 when it was subsumed into the BBC Home Service, two days before the outbreak of World War II.
The BBC National Programme was a radio service which was on the air from 9 March 1930 – replacing the earlier BBC's experimental station 5XX – until 1 September 1939 when it was subsumed into the BBC Home Service, two days before the outbreak of World War II.
The BBC Forces Programme was a national radio station which operated from 7 January 1940 until 26 February 1944, when it was replaced by the BBC General Forces Programme.
The BBC Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme was a national radio station during World War II in the mid-1940s.
BBC Radio 5 was a national radio station that broadcast sports, children's and educational programmes. It ran from 1990 to 1994 and was transmitted via analogue radio on 693 and 909 kHz AM.
2ZY was the name of a radio station established by the British Broadcasting Company in Manchester, England, in 1922. Part of the newly nationalised British Broadcasting Corporation from 1 January 1927, the station continued broadcasting under the 2ZY name until its transmissions came to be referred to, from 9 March 1930, as "the Manchester programme". Subsequently, on 17 May 1931, the Manchester station – broadcasting from a new high-powered station at Moorside Edge – became the main production centre of the newly launched BBC North Regional Programme, which was to remain on air until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939.
A timeline of notable events relating to the BBC World Service, the world's largest international broadcaster, which began broadcasting in 1932.
This is a list of events from British radio in 1944.
