The edition of the Radio Times dated 23 August 1940 went even further than BBC radio in removing the anonymity, providing pictures of the seven announcers and three main newsreaders used across the two BBC networks (the domestic Home Service and the barracks-aimed Forces Programme there was also the Overseas Service in English and various other language services but these were not for domestic consumption). Whether or not Joseph Goebbels in the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda knew of this strategy is unknown, but the Germans never tried the tactic, preferring instead to launch American-born Irish fascist William Joyce – Lord Haw Haw – to spread discord in amongst the entertainment programmes on their British-aimed radio networks, to little effect at all. The argument was that if listeners became used to the names as well as the voices of the people on the radio, the Germans couldn’t fake news bulletins and would have a hard job pretending to be the BBC. In response, the BBC removed the anonymity of their announcer and newsreaders. If the Germans were wise, they could put a pretend news bulletin out in the style of the BBC, announcing invasion or death rays or mass gas attacks or that the government or the Royal Family had fled, causing panic and riots – all things the public were expecting and the politicians were fearful of. And millions of British radios were tuned to Radio Luxembourg.
That remained fixed of tone and anonymous, the fear of bias still present even as death was about to rain down from Messerschmitts above.īut when the Phoney War ended and Germany marched through Luxembourg on their way to the English Channel and possible invasion, the enemy suddenly gained control of Europe’s most power radio transmitter at Junglinster in Luxembourg. The BBC’s reputation for producing the best news coverage in the world was made very early into the war.īut the best news presentation? No.
Hourly bulletins were instituted, reporters hired and sent out with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium, new portable recording equipment invented and put into use in tanks, aeroplanes and battleships. The public’s demand for war news, even during the ‘Phoney War’ of September 1939 to April 1940, was insatiable. The BBC’s news department suddenly and dramatically grew. The outbreak of World War II changed all that. For comparison, BBC Radio 4 alone devoted 33⅔% of its standalone airtime to news today.
That’s 5½% of the BBC’s total domestic radio output being news. This is a grand total of one hour and 10 minutes of news across the two networks broadcasting 13 hours and 45 minutes of programmes in total each. The next news is a half-hour news and sport round up at 7.30pm across the Regional Programmes, followed by a 20-minute, including the shipping forecast, bulletin at 9.40pm on the National and finally a 10 minute summary across the Regional at 11.30pm. How one man was drawn into online conspiracies and how they led to his death – an investigation by the BBC’s disinformation reporter Marianna Spring.In this typical Radio Times entry for Monday 30 August 1937, you can see that there is no news until a 20-minute bulletin at 6pm on the National Programme. Helena Merriman interviews people who – like her – were changed by a medical diagnosis. The science, drama, history, personal stories and politics in-between.
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