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r e OlkLD RADIO aac( TELEVISION ANNUAL ass NANIDliee tio r e WORLDRADIO TELEVISION ANNUAL 'N11131lee Isstio t#4- EDITED BV /a7)44 SAM.PSON LOW, MA-RSTON &COMPANYLIMITED LONDON Contents of the Radio Page RADIO'S YEARS BETWEEN 1896-1946 8 FORTY " FIRST NIGHTS " IN A Row Tommy Handley I I I LIKE RADIO COMEDY You CAN BELIEVE IN Arthur Askey 16 FUN ON THE AIR... ...Gale Pedrick 19 IF EVERY LISTENER LAUGHED AT THE SAME KINDOF JOKE Eric Barker 22 RADIO HUMOUR ... Charlie Chester 25 SOME REFLECTIONS... Hannen Swaffer 28 IT's Too EASY TO SAY NO A. G. Thornton 31 PUZZLE CORNER ... Ronald Waldman 34 IT'S A SERIOUS BUSINESS BEING FUNNY Gordon Crier 37 MR. EVERYMAN IS No. I STAR Kenneth Horne 41 THE GREAT GOD " SERIES " John Watt 44 JUST WILLIAM Rex Diamond 47 "PRODUCED BY-" Douglas Moodie 51 A STUDIO ON THE STAGE Henry Hall 55 THE BANDS... 59 A CONCERTO ?CERTAINLY, SIR, STRAIGHT AWAY Peter Phillips 70 How RADIO HELPS THE POLICE Percy Hoskins 72 HERE IS THE NEWS Bruce Belfrage 75 CHILDREN AND RADIO Ruth Adam 79 PICTURE PARADE ... Peter Eton 83 MEN OF MANY VOICES Hilary Pryde 88 BUILDING A RADIO CHARACTER Hugh Morton 91 THE THIRD PROGRAMME... Lionel Gamlin 94 APPOINTMENT WITH FEAR... Valentine Dyall 99 OUTSIDE BROADCASTING IS A MAN'S SIZE JOB Dick Richards 101 COMMERCIAL RADIO : FOR Howard Thomas AGAINST Leslie Ayre 104 and Television Annual Page LISTENERS' ACROSTIC 108 MILESTONES OF RADIO B.B.C. AND MUSIC ... Stephen Williams 113 How TO WRITE FOR RADIO Gale Pedrick 115 PETER ETON OFF DUTY ... 119 POWER IN THE AIR .F. J. Lyons 120 REGIONAL BROADCASTING... Victor Kay Davies 122 124 SEVEN LINKS MAKE THE CHAIN THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING . Wilfrid Bessent 126 LISTENING LAID ON 128 THE RADIO RECORD 130 THE STORY OF TELEVISION, PART 133 OF TELEVISION, PART 2 ruy Cheviot 139 THE STORY OF TELEVISION, PART 3 145 THE MEASURE OF SHORT WAVES ... 149 WHAT IS F.M.? 152 SERVICES CALLING ... Major B. D. Chapman154 AMERICA : OVER THERE Harry Alan Towers 157 A YANK IN THE B.B.C. Joel O'Brien 16o A REPORTER REMEMBERS Ed. Murrow 162 TRANSATLANTIC QUIZ Lionel Hale 164 STARS OF THE AIR ... 166 BROADCASTING IN LATIN AMERICA Jorge Camacho 168 FREEDOM OF THE AIR 170 A CANADIAN LOOKS AT BRITISH RADIO Gerry Wilmot 173 LIKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR 175 BROADCASTING IN AUSTRALIA 177 INTRODUCING THE N.Z.B. S. 178 BROADCASTING IN SOUTH AFRICA 180 BROADCASTING IN INDIA ... 181 BROADCASTING IN EUROPE ... 182 AMATEUR RADIO ... 186 SOME RADIO PERSONALITIES 189 NOMMIIIIII111111111111111MMONSININNIMmumswiummorganewirs " Never beforehasa newly -crowned King beenabletotalktoallhis 6 peoplesintheirown homes on the day of his Coronation." -HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE VI. 7 RADIO'SYEARS EXPERIMENT AND TELEGRAPHY 1864 :Clerk Maxwell mathematically proved the existence of electro- magnetic waves. 1887 :Heinrich Hertz generated and received an electro-magnetic wave. 1892 : Edouard Branly inventeda device-the " coherer "-for detecting electro-magnetic waves. Heinrich Hertz. 1894: Oliver Lodge showed how the waves might be usedas carriers of communication signals. 1896: GuglielmoMarconi cametoBritain,demonstratedhis apparatus for radio transmission and reception to G.P.O. engineers, and took out his first British patent. 1897 :First Marconi station set up at The Needles, Isle of Wight. Oliver Lodge invented the tuned circuit. 1898 : First paid -for message sent from the Isle of Wight;Queen Guglielmo Marconi. Victoria used radio to communicate with the Prince of Wales. 1899: First report by radio of a mishap at sea, sent by the East Goodwin Lightship ;first message transmitted across the English Channel ;Marconi apparatus sent to the South African War. 1901 : Marconi achieved the first transatlantic signal :transmission of the letter " S " from Cornwall to Newfoundland; ap- paratus first installed aboard a British sea -going vessel-the Oliver Heaviside. s .s Lake Champlain. 1902 :First wireless message transmitted from Americato Britain ; Oliver Heaviside of Britain and A. E. Kennelly of the U.S.A. suggested-independently butalmost simultaneously-the existence of atmospheric layers of value to radio communi- cation. 1903: Radio officially adopted for use by the Royal Navy ;the first International Conference on Radio Telegraphy held in Berlin. Sir Ambrose Fleming. 8 BETWEEN :1896-1946 1904 :British Parliament legislated for the control of radio tele- graphy ;Sir Ambrose Fleming invented his two -electrode thermionic valve. 1907 :Dr. Lee de Forest (U.S.A.) invented the three -electrode valve. 1908: Radio service between Britain and Canada opened for public use. 1911 :Imperial Conference approved a proposal for linking the Thermionic Valves. Empire by radio. 1916: All British ships of over 3,000 tons compelled to carry radio apparatus. 1918 :First radio message from Britain to Australia. 1921 :First Imperial beam station opened at Leafield, Oxford- shire. 1925 :Sir Edward Appleton proved the existence of the Kennelly - Heaviside layers and measured their height above the earth. 1926 :First plan for international allocation of wavelengths agreed Dr. Lee de Forest. at Geneva. SOUND AND VISION 1906: R. A. Fessenden (U.S.A.) transmitted speech and music over a distance of 25 miles. 1907 :Fessenden increased radio -telephonic range to too miles. 1908: A. A. Campbell Swinton (Britain) suggested the use of the cathode-ray tube for television. Reginald Fessenden. 1910: Radio -telephony achieved over 500 miles. 1914 :Marconi successfully experimented with radio -telephony between Italian war vessels up to 44 miles apart. 9 1915: American Telegraph and Telephone Company, using a valve transmitter, radiated speech and music over 4,80o miles. 1919 :Captain Round (Britain) transmitted speech and music from Ireland to Nova Scotia ;with the removal of war- time restrictions, amateur enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic developed theiractivities and thereby greatly stimulated radio -telephonic progress. 1920 :First experimental broadcasts from Marconi Company's transmitter at Chelmsford, Essex ;first regular broad- casting stationin the world (KDKA) opened atEast Madame Melba. Pittsburgh, U.S.A. 1921 :Demonstration of two-way telephony on the short waves between England and Holland. 1922 :First regular broadcasting programmes in Britain trans- mitted from Writtle, near Chelmsford ;British Broad- casting Company Limited formed, and first programme transmitted. 1923 :J. L. Baird (Britain) and C. F. Jenkins (U.S.A.) developed disc -scanning systems of television. 1926 :Baird demonstrated his television system. 1927: BritishBroadcasting Corporation constituted by Royal Charter. 1929: B.B.C. began transmission of low -definition pictures by J. L. Baird. the Baird process. 1932 :After five years of experiment, B.B.C. inaugurated a regular short-wave service to the Empire. 1934: Television Advisory Committee officially appointed. 1936 :B.B.C. began the world's first regular television service, from Alexandra Palace, London. 1938 :Introduction of first regular transmission from Britain in a foreign language (Arabic). 1111lullbil 1939 :Broadcastinguniversallyrecognised and appliedasa weapon of war ;B.B.C. Television Service closed down. *Sh' 1940: Frequency -modulation experiments began in the U.S.A. 1946 :London Television Service restored ;triple programme service for British listeners introduced. Alexandra Palace. I0 Forty First Nights in aBow are all inthe year's work TOVVY HANDLEY c It should be written somewhere for all toread that Tommy Handley, in the fiendish 'forties of our century, made more folk laugh than any othernative comedian.And by laugh I do not mean smile.Tom is unselfish, friendly and fizzling with fun-theradio comedian par excellence, beloved equally by children andcentenarians." -TED KAVANAGH. yES, it is true enough that I have recently come of age as abroadcaster, and the Editor says he thinks you may be interested in some random reflectionsof an old hand. People often ask me the secret of success in radio.My reply to that is :I think it's because I like broadcasting.I just enjoy being on the air, and find it all very natural andpleasant. It also helps to possess a voice that people like.I don't claim any special merit for this.It is just a matter of luck.You either have a microphone voice or you haven't. Any artistwhose name is before the public, week after week, for many years,is bound to collect a fan -mail.But the one letter that gave me more pleasure, Ithink, than any other, came from a woman whose sons werefighting overseas during the war. " You sound like a nice man," she wrote." I am sure my boys would like you.You seem to me just as though you were talking to a few of us in one smallroom." That's something like a compliment :and I like to think that that last bit is true. I always try to remember that I am playing not to the audience inthe studio, but to the people who are listening at home, and who are paying a pound a year tohear us do our best for them. I have always believed it fatal to let listeners imagine for a momentthat one is reading from a script.In fact, I don't thinkcomediansshouldevercrack a gag about their script, or evenhint that they're holding one in their hands. I don't go down to the studio where my particular show is produced andjust read the words.Three solid days of " He don't tell nobody nothing these days, do he Francis Worsley(producer),Tommy Handley and Ted Kavanagh (script -writer). ppe,irmwono.mtlirrifill0"lerfe7r( " Water, Sir?I never touch it ! "Jack Train and Tommy Handley. work at least go into each script.You've heard and read a good deal about the " Itma " team I expect, so I won't go into details.I'll just say I've been fortunate to work with such a brilliantwriteras Ted Kavanagh, and sucha receptive and imaginative producer as Francis Worsley.