The document discusses the origins and early development of public service broadcasting through the BBC in the UK. It describes how radio technology developed in the late 19th/early 20th century leading to amateur radio use. In the 1920s, the BBC was formed as a monopoly through cooperation between manufacturers to avoid "chaos of the airwaves." John Reith became the first BBC Director General and envisioned it providing what the public "needs" through standards of quality over popularity. The BBC became a public service through the license fee and played a role in national events and identity through the 1930s.

1. WK 5 – The invention of radio
and public service broadcasting
Dr. Carolina Matos
Lecturer in Sociology
Department of Sociology
City University London

2. 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

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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. Radio receivers, 1920s

7. 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)

8. 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).
•

9. 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’)

10. The Radiola Grand (Deluxe version),
1920s

11. 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)

12. John Reith’s office at Broadcasting House

13. 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.

14. John Reith and the BBC Control
Board, 1933

15. 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

16. 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).

17. 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.

18. The BBC and the General Strike

19. 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).

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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

23. 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.

24. 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).

25. BBC reporter after an air raid

26. Overseas programming: De Gaulle’s speech
on 18th
June 1940

27. 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?

28. 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).

29. 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 (15th
century),
the newspaper press industry (19th
century) and the Internet (21st
century) (lectures 1, 3 and 10).

30. 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.

31. 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.