View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Bournemouth University Research Online The Evolution of British Asian Radio in England: 1960 – 2004 Gloria Khamkar Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of Bournemouth University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2016 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis. II ABSTRACT Title: The Evolution of British Asian Radio in England: 1960 – 2004 Author: Gloria Khamkar This doctoral research examines the evolution of British Asian radio in England from 1960 to 2004. During the post-war period an Asian community started migrating to Britain to seek employment as a result of the industrial labour shortage. The BBC and the independent local radio sector tried to cater to this newly arrived migrant community through its radio output either in their mother tongue or in the English language. Later, this Asian community started its own separate radio services. This research project explores this transformation of Asian radio, from broadcasting radio programmes for the Asian community on existing radio stations, to the creation of independent local and community radio stations, catering to the Asian community exclusively in England. Existing research concentrates on the stereotype images and lack of representation of Asian community on the British radio; it lacks a comprehensive overview of the role of radio during the settlement period of the newly migrant Asian community. Hence, this research sets out to fill that gap by bringing in the significant facet of the early years’ Asian radio programming, mainly on the BBC, and the development of independent British Asian radio broadcasting in England. The main methods used to conduct this research are archives and in-depth semi-structured interviews, which have helped me to understand the relationship between the development of British Asian radio and the ongoing migration of the Asian community in England. This research provides a fresh and strong dimension of British Asian radio services in England. It confirms that the issues of access, participation, representation, integration, and linguistic expression were identified, discussed and acted upon by British and Asian radio enthusiasts, radio campaigners and Asian community groups since the 1960s, which led to the creation of British Asian radio in England. I believe this research will bring forth the importance and relevance of having British Asian radio services in England. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study was undertaken under the BU Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship at Bournemouth University, UK and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been granted this opportunity. Without this scholarship, I could not have embarked on this journey. I would like to thank my supervisors Professor Hugh Chignell and Dr Kristin Skoog; this thesis could not have been researched and written without the valued guidance, supervision and continuous support from both of them. I would also like to thank the participants of the research who gave me their valuable time and insights through interviews for this thesis. I am also grateful to the BBC’s Written Archive Centre as well as the IBA Archive at Bournemouth University to be able to access the valuable archives for this research. This research could not have been possible without infinite support of my loving husband Amol. Also, this research could not have been possible if my then one-year old and now five-year old son Ruhaan had not been patient in his most playful years over the past four years. I would also like to express my gratitude to my family and friends who have endlessly encouraged me on this journey. This has been one of the most exciting, as well as challenging, experiences of my life and I look at it as a positive turning point. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Chapter One: Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Aims and objectives 2 1.3 Research Questions 3 1.4 Research Methods 4 1.5 Archives 5 1.6 In-depth semi-structured interviews 7 1.7 Ethical considerations 11 1.8 Limitations 12 1.9 Structure of the thesis 13 1.10 The Context 14 2. Chapter Two: Reflection on Asian migration and media 16 2.1 Introduction 16 2.2 Asian migration 16 2.3 The role of Ethnic Media 17 2.4 The impact of migration on the BBC 23 2.5 The idea of BBC’s local radio 24 2.6 Contribution from the Independent Local Radio (ILR) sector 26 2.7 The beginning of Community Radio 26 2.8 Conclusion 29 V 3. Chapter Three: 1960 – 1970: Asian migration and the BBC’s initiatives 30 3.1 Introduction 30 3.2 Post-war migration to Britain - historical context 30 3.3 Asian migration to Britain 31 3.4 Patterns of Asian migration and settlement 33 3.5 Race Relations and early integration measures 35 3.6 Asian migration and British media 40 3.7 The role of the BBC as a Public Service Broadcaster 43 3.8 The BBC’s Immigrants Programme Unit (IPU) 50 3.9 The BBC’s plans for local radio – background 57 3.10 BBC local radio for the Asian community 61 3.11 Conclusion 63 4. Chapter Four: 1971 – 1980: From representation to participation 64 4.1 Introduction 64 4.2 The continued migration 65 4.3 The BBC’s local radio service 68 4.4 The Independent Local Radio (ILR) sector 70 4.5 Ethnic media and multicultural broadcasting 73 4.6 The BBC’s multicultural broadcasting for the Asian community 76 4.7 From representation to participation 79 4.8 BBC Radio Leicester’s pioneering contribution to Asian programming 91 4.9 Contribution from the ILR sector to Asian programming 101 4.10 Conclusion 106 5. Chapter Five: 1981 – 1990: Further radio initiatives - Precursor of separate Asian radio broadcasting 107 5.1 Introduction 107 5.2 The continued attention to race relations in the 1980s 108 5.3 Good education as a foundation of a multicultural society 111 VI 5.4 The BBC’s continued Public Service Broadcasting for the Asian community 115 5.5 The Independent Broadcasting Authority’s (IBA) role 117 5.6 The Greater London Council’s (GLC) initiatives 118 5.7 The beginning of the community radio experiment 129 5.8 Incremental radio contracts and Asian radio broadcasters 137 5.9 Conclusion 147 6. Chapter Six: 1991 – 2004: More experiments towards the beginning of Asian radio broadcasting 149 6.1 Introduction 149 6.2 The implications of the Broadcasting Act 1990 150 6.3 Race dimensions 152 6.4 The Radio Authority in power 156 6.5 Restricted Service Licences (RSL) 162 6.6 The BBC’s continued role as a Public Service Broadcaster 168 6.7 Mother-tongue radio programmes and Localness 174 6.8 Re-emerging community radio movement 178 6.9 The concept of Community Radio 179 6.10 Access Radio - initiating access 186 6.11 Conclusion 194 7. Chapter Seven: Findings and Conclusion 196 Sources and Bibliography 207 VII 1. Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Background This doctoral research examines the evolution of British Asian radio in England, covering the time period from 1960 to 2004. During the 1960s, the influx of migrants from the Indian sub-continent began to arrive in England, and the year 2004 saw the creation of third tier radio - Community Radio, which enabled Asian community groups to start independent, small-scale, micro-local, non-profit British Asian radio stations. Throughout this thesis, I use the term ‘Asian’ collectively to cover a range of ethnic minorities whose cultural roots emanate from the Indian sub-continent. By ‘Asian’, I mean mainly the Indian and Pakistani community, which migrated to England from India, Pakistan, East Africa and elsewhere. Although the term ‘Asian’ refers to the people from the continent of Asia, which comprises of many other countries than just India and Pakistan, I use this term to refer to England’s Indian and Pakistani community only. This term has been used in a similar way in industry and by the primary sources of this research. The BBC has used this term with a similar context by renaming its Immigrants Programme Unit as the Asian Programmes Unit that was initiated by the BBC for the Asian migrants in the 1960s. The BBC Asian Network is another example of how the term ‘Asian’ has been used to refer to England’s Indian and Pakistani listener community mainly. Also, this term has been used in a similar context by the primary sources for this research, including the BBC’s Written Archives and the key radio people that I interviewed. In the BBC’s Written Archives, the terms ‘Asian’ and ‘Asian Programmes Advisory Committee’ have been used to refer to the programmes produced for the Indian and Pakistani listener community in England. My interviewees Own Bentley, Don Kotak, Vijay Sharma, Salim Salam, Tony Stoller have used this term in a similar context in their interviews with me. Hence, throughout this thesis, I use the term ‘Asian’ mainly to refer to the Indian and Pakistani community in England. The religious associations of these Asian migrants comprise mainly Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and their languages include primarily Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Gujarati. 1 During the post-war period, Asian population started migrating to England for various reasons, including seeking employment as a result of the industrial labour shortage. This phenomenon of migration started to bring in a change to existing British society.