WK 5 – The invention of radio and public service broadcasting

Dr. Carolina MatosLecturer in SociologyDepartment of SociologyCity University London

Core issues• What values do you associate with the BBC: your opinion• Radio receivers• The origins of public service broadcasting• The launch of the British Broadcasting company• John Reith and the BBC• The BBC and the general strike• BBC and the national identity• The BBC in the 1930’s and overseas programming• Essay questions and exams• Conclusions and seminar topics• Readings for week 7

What do you think when you hear the name of the BBC? What comes to mind?

The Origins of Broadcasting*

• Wireless communication had its technical origins in the 19th century * Building on the work of scientists in the field of electromagnetic waves, Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated in an experiment in 1896 that signals would be sent between two points without connecting wires

* The first step along the road to the development of wireless telegraphy as a means of mass communication came when Marconi began the transmission of speeches in 1914 * This coincided with the outbreak of war, during which the authorities came to realise its strategic importance

The Origins of Broadcasting* * Amateur radio was banned by the Post Office and the Navy granted a

monopoly over the new medium of communications * Growth of commercial radio in the US versus in the UK: “The US saw an uncontrolled growth: in 1922 the American public

spent over 60 million dollars on buying equipment to assemble radio receivers, which doubled to 135 million in the following year. By the middle of 1923 there were over 460 stations broadcasting on the same wavelength.”

* In the UK, the idea was to avoid the “chaos of the airwaves”: “The Post Office, under pressure from wireless enthusiasts, lifted its

ban on transmission in 1922 and granted licences to some of the large wireless manufacturers to broadcast experimentally.”

* Williams (1998)

Radio receivers, 1920s

The Origins of Broadcasting in the UK: the result of a compromise *

• “…a number of other bodies, including businesses, local authorities and amateur wireless operators were involved in the transmission of speech. Listening in to these messages was becoming a very popular pastime in Britain and it was out of this confusion of disparate sounds in the air that organised broadcasting grew….In 1922, the ‘wireless boom’ was reaching the proportions it had attained in America and almost a hundred requests had been made to the Post Office from manufacturers and amateur enthusiasts wanting to establish a broadcasting station. The Postmaster General recommended that all those who wished to obtain a licence should work together with the Post Office to set up a service through co-operation rather than competition, forcing the wireless manufacturers to come together in one broadcasting company.”

• (Williams, 1998)

The context under which the BBC was born*• The arrival of the wireless came at a time when there was debate about the

influence of mass communication on moral values and political life• John Reith saw the trashy and vulgar products of the industry as a

consequence of ‘giving the public what it wants.’• To ward off competition from amateurs and smaller rivals and other

media interests, such as Lord Northcliffe, who had first highlighted the potential of the new medium in 1920…

• “The British Broadcasting Company was formed in 1922 after much hard bargaining between the six leading manufacturers. Each put in £ 10.000 and nominated a director. The remaining smaller firms were represented by two independent directors. The company’s income would come from two sources: an annual licence fee of 10 shillings levied on every receiver and payable to the Post Office…and a percentage of the royalties on the sales of sets by the manufacturers.” (Williams, 1998, 92).

•

The Launch of the British Broadcasting

Company• When?: • 14 November 1922

• Context?: • Two reasons for the monopoly:

- Government’s concerns about the impact of radio on public opinion and the political process- The political and cultural elite’s concerns about the low standards of the British press

(Criticisms towards the ‘popular press’)

The Radiola Grand (Deluxe version), 1920s

John Reith at the helm

• BBC’s first Director General, December 1922 – June 1938• A man of contradictions, ‘conservative elitism’, but also a visionary

• The Committee for Imperial Defence in 1921 stated that the invention of broadcasting had ‘incalculable significance for political stability.’

• General broadcasting philosophy:• “It is occasionally indicated to us that we are apparently setting out

to give the public what we think they need – and not what they want, but few know what they want, and very few what they need.” John Reith

• (All quotes from Broadcast over Britain, John C.W. Reith)

John Reith’s office at Broadcasting House

The BBC as a public service broadcaster

• Transformation of the BBC into a public service broadcaster in order to protect the BBC from: commercial pressure (e.g. advertising) and governmental pressure

• Thus, on the 1st of January, 1927 the BBC became the British Broadcasting Corporation, established by Royal Charter, with a board of governors and director-general, sir John Reith.

• Its activities are regulated by a Licence and Agreement. It is obliged to inform, entertain and educate.

John Reith and the BBC Control

Board, 1933

The Invention of Public Service Broadcasting

• The four dimensions of PSB during the interwar period:• The licence fee• The monopoly• “Incidentally it may be have been observed that the verb “to

broadcast” follows the conjugation of the verb “to cast” and hence not “broadcasted” but “broadcast” for the past tense. This was a decision of the B.B.C.! After all, it is our verb.” John Reith

• Promotion of social cohesion• Broadcast with a sense of moral obligation

John Reith and the cultural values of the BBC*

• General mission of the BBC: • “To disregard the spread of knowledge, with the consequent

enlargements of opinion, and to be unable to supplement it with reasoned arguments, or to supply satisfactory answers to legitimate and intelligent questions, is not only dangerous but stupid.” John Reith

* Intention was to not simply for each individual to seek and find their own

interest, but rather that she/he would be enriched by exposure to the full range of programming. *As Crisell (1997) noted, many historians have highlighted how the BBC brought classical music to all segments of the public. Jazz and light entertainment were initially resisted (Crisell, 1997).

The BBC and the general strike

• The General strike, which lasted for nine days in May 1926, was significant in shaping the relationship between the BBC and the state

• The BBC was the only source of information for most people about what was going on in the country

• For Reith, the strike was an opportunity to show that the corporation could broadcast on ‘controversial matters’ (the BBC had to broadcast programmes to the ‘reasonable satisfaction of the Postmaster General’).

• Reith fought between 1923 ad 1926 to secure the right of the BBC to report controversial matters, including the coverage of the Parliament, official events such as the budget…

• On the general strike, Reith sought to guarantee that the news bulletins included comments from both sides. However, ‘impartiality’ was interpreted as being in favour of the government.

The BBC and the General Strike

The BBC in the 1930s: “Everything of the best” (in Crisell, 1997)

• News – In the first years as a news medium, radio was obliged to declare that it was a prisoner of the press.

• The general news bulletin came from Reuters, Press Association, and they lasted 20 to 25 minutes, with no interviews.

• Newspapers also felt that radio was a threat to them. They finally realised that they posed strengths in news reportage that the sound medium did not have

• Music styles – what constituted ‘the best’?: • Was the ‘best Shakespeare’ and Ibsen and ‘the worst’ music hall?• Reith and the BBC were putting forward a particular idea of democracy: • ‘…the aim was to open to all those who had been denied them by a limited

education, low social status and small income the great treasures of our culture.’ (Crisell, 1997, 29).

The BBC as a national institution

• BBC became a national institution by the 1930s, part of the Establishment and of British society, alongside the diplomatic service, Oxbridge and the City

• In a short period of time, it was transformed from a commercial enterprise into a major national institution, whose influence was compared to one that was once exercised by the Crown (Williams, 1998, 88).

• Although it strived to be independent, it was never from the start• The BBC’s relationship with all governments has been delicate and the

licence to broadcast has been granted for fixed periods

The BBC and National Identity

• “There is a grumble and a cause of complaining if the crofter in the North of Scotland or the agricultural labourer in the West of England has been unable to hear the King speak on some great national occasion.” J. Reith

• The BBC brings the nation together on special occasions such as ceremonies of state, Christian religious festivals and sporting occasions such as the FA Cup Final.

King George: The movie

Colin Firth plays King George VI, and makes the first wartime radio broadcast on Britain’s declaration of war on Germany in 1939

The Making of the BBC: “Auntie” during the Second World War

• For much of the interwar years, news and journalism hardly featured in the BBC’s output. On Sundays religious services dominated and classical music was common.

• Much of the information provided came from talks, features and documentaries

• In 1936, the Listener Research Department was established, and it found that 70% of those interviewed wanted more variety programmes

• Programmes such as In Town Tonight, Monday Night at Seven and Band Waggon represented a ‘new found populism’

• The sound of working class voices was not heard until the Second World War.

The Making of the BBC: “Auntie” during the Second World War (in Crisell, 1997)

• During the war, the BBC’s relationship with the government became even more delicate.

• At the outset of the war, the BBC took the decision to tell the truth, rather than create propaganda

• “It was thanks to the war that radio at last came into its own as a rapid news medium….As the war progressed bulletins developed from simple readings into something richer. Newsgathering became much more systematic and efficient, and from 1944, the BBC began to appoint its own correspondents.”

• • Stephen Barnard (1989) underlines that “the war was the first time in

which broadcast entertainment was used for ideological purposes: to cheer people up and bind them together.” (1997, 57).

BBC reporter after an air raid

Overseas programming: De Gaulle’s speech

on 18th June 1940

Role of the UK’s PSB in British society (in Matos, 2012)

In the UK, PSB has emerged as vehicle for strengthening debate.

Talk became more spontaneous and less constrained (Scannell, 1995)

As a vehicle for cultural and educational emancipation; boost of political diversity as well as both regional and national integration

Functioning as a counterweight to the market – the necessity of multiple public spheres and media to attend to both citizen and consumer demands

Is a truly independent public media possible?

Essay questions• 1. Analyse the impact of the printed book on either a)

science, b) Christianity c) the nation-state (lecture 1).• 2 Analyse the key characteristics of the public sphere

in 17th and 18th century Britain. How did it differ from today’s? (lecture 2).

• 3 Analyse the key features, including the social and political impact, of the radical press in the first decades of the 19th century (lecture 2).

• 4 Analyse the impact of the taxes on knowledge on the British press when they were levied, and once they were repealed in 1855 (lectures 2 & 3).

• 5 Explain when, how and why the press become an industry in Britain (lecture 3).

• 6 “Journalism is an Anglo-American invention of the second-half of the 19th century”. Discuss (lecture 3).

Essay questions• 7. Analyse the contribution of either Northcliffe or Beaverbrook

to the history of the press and journalism in Britain (lecture 4).• 8. Explain how and why the concept of public service

broadcasting was invented in Britain (lecture 5).• 9. Explain why either ITV or Channel Four were considered so

original when they were launched, in 1955 and 1982 respectively. Have they retained their originality? If not, is it an issue? (lectures 6 and 7)

• 10. Analyse the development of cable and satellite television in Britain, and explain why satellite distribution is today more widespread than cable (lecture 8)

• 11. Analyse the impact of the web and social media on journalism. Which issues does it raise about democracy and access to information? (lecture 9)

• 12. Analyse the differences and similarities between the three information revolutions initiated by the printed book (15 th century), the newspaper press industry (19 th century) and the Internet (21st century) (lectures 1, 3 and 10).

Conclusions and questions for thought

• How did Reith shape and define the BBC?• Are there elements of his philosophy still present in the BBC?• What role has the institution played in social and political life

in the UK?• How did the public benefit from the institution, functioning as

a counter-weight to the ‘popular press’?• Was the BBC every fully independent?

• Class topics: • Explain John Reith’s concept of public service

broadcasting and say if it is still valid today.

Readings for week 7

• Essential reading• Crisell, A. (1997) An Introductory History of British Broadcasting.

Routledge. Chapters 4, 5 & 6.• OR• Williams, K. (1998) Get Me a Murder a Day: A History of Mass

Communication in Britain. Arnold. Chapter 8.• • Highly recommended reading• Curran, J. and J. Seaton (2010) Power Without Responsibility - 7th

Edition. Routledge. Chapters 11, 12 & 13.• Scannell, P. (1991) A Social History of British Broadcasting – Vol.

1: 1922-1939 Serving the Nation. Blackwell.