BROADCASTING EMPIRE This page intentionally left blank Broadcasting Empire Th e BBC and the British World, 1922–1970 S IMON J. P OTTER 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Simon J. Potter 2012 Th e moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2012 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 978–0–19–956896–3 Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King’s Lynn Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work. For Th omas and Ciara, who thought (or hoped) that this book would be about Peppa Pig and radiators. Acknowledgements I have received generous fi nancial support for my research from a number of sources: an Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Fellowship and Small Project grant; a Millennium Fund Minor Project grant and a Library Special Research Fund grant from the National University of Ireland, Galway; a Harold White Fellowship at the National Library of Australia; a Menzies Centre Australian Bicentennial Fellowship; an Ireland–Canada Univer- sity Foundation Scholarship; an International Council for Canadian Studies Faculty Research Award; and a Royal Irish Academy/British Academy Exchange Fellowship. During research trips I was off ered welcome hospitality by the University of Sydney, the Australian National University, and the Stout Centre at Victoria University, Wellington. Numerous libraries and archives provided invaluable assistance in locating and accessing primary and secondary material. I would like to express my thanks to those at the BBC Written Archives Centre, especially Jeff Walden, who vetted previously unseen material and pointed me in the direction of further archival riches. Rachel Lord, Blair Parkes, and John Kelcher devoted much time to guiding me through the Radio New Zealand Sound Archive. Th e Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House, Oxford, provided a calm place to read and write, and Lucy McCann helped locate hard-to-fi nd material in remote storage. Elizabeth Smith and her colleagues allowed me open access to the archives of the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, and Guy Tranter opened up previously unreleased fi les from the ABC archives. Unpublished archival material is quoted with the permission of the BBC Written Archives Centre and the Master and Fellows of Massey College. Lawrence Constable, Peter Downes, Kent Fedorowich, Mark Hampton, Len Kuff ert, Eddy Vickery, and the late Neville Petersen all generously shared research material. Steven Ellis, Ged Martin, and Ann Barry off ered vital assistance during diffi cult times. I would like to thank my parents Joan and David, my brother Mat- thew, and my wife Maria Scott, for all their support. My children, to whom this book is dedicated, arrived about half-way through the endeavour, and provided many welcome distractions. SJP Contents List of Abbreviations and Acronyms viii Glossary x Introduction 1 1. Diversity, 1922–31 18 2. Discord, 1932–35 46 3. Integration, 1935–39 78 4. War, 1939–45 110 5. Continuities, 1945–59 144 6. Challenges, 1945–59 173 7. Disintegration? 1960–70 200 Conclusions 234 Archival and Manuscript Sources 243 Index 247 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ABC Australian Broadcasting Commission ABCB Australian Broadcasting Control Board AIR All India Radio ANZ Archives New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand ATL Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand AWA Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd BBC British Broadcasting Corporation (before 1927, British Broadcasting Company) BBG Board of Broadcast Governors, Canada BCINA British Commonwealth International Newsfi lm Agency Ltd (also known as ‘Visnews’) BFEBS British Far Eastern Broadcasting Service, Singapore CBA Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, London, UK CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBS Columbia Broadcasting System, US CNR Canadian National Railways CPD Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates , Australia CPR Canadian Pacifi c Railway CRBC Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission CRL Canadian Radio League DoI Department of Information, Australian Commonwealth ESBS Egyptian State Broadcasting Service FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation, United Nations GOS General Overseas Service, BBC GPO General Post Offi ce, UK HJFRT Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television HL Hocken Library, Dunedin, New Zealand ITA Independent Television Authority, UK ITN Independent Television News, UK JICH Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History LAC Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada LTS London Transcription Service MALS Manchester Archives and Library Services, Manchester Central Library, UK MBS Malayan Broadcasting Service ML Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia MoI Ministry of Information, UK NAA National Archives of Australia NARA National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland, US NAS North American Service, BBC NBC National Broadcasting Company, US NBS National Broadcasting Service, New Zealand NCBS National Commercial Broadcasting Service, New Zealand List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ix NFSA National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, Australia NLA National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia NZBA New Zealand Broadcasting Authority NZBB New Zealand Broadcasting Board NZBC New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation NZBS New Zealand Broadcasting Service NZPD New Zealand Parliamentary Debates OHBE Oxford History of the British Empire O W I O ffi ce of War Information, US P&T Department Post and Telegraph Department, New Zealand PBS Palestine Broadcasting Service PMG’s Department Postmaster-General’s Department, Commonwealth of Australia RBC Radio Broadcasting Company, New Zealand RNZSA Radio New Zealand Sound Archive, Christchurch, New Zealand SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation UBCSCD Library of the University of British Columbia Special Collections Division, Vancouver, Canada UKNA United Kingdom National Archives, Kew, UK UMA University of Melbourne Archives, Melbourne, Australia UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientifi c, and Cultural Organization UPMT United Press Movietone Television UTARM University of Toronto Archives and Records Management, Toronto, Canada WAC Written Archives Centre, BBC, Caversham Park, Reading, UK Glossary Actuality —the presentation of non-fi ctional events or people in radio and television programmes and fi lms. Actualities present scenes from ‘real life’. Features —programmes combining diff erent production methods and types of material (actuality, dramatization, music, spoken word, etc.) to present an idea or a theme in a striking way. Features were seen as a way to bring out radio’s special characteristics, yet had something in common with the fi lmed documentary. Th ey were generally shaped by the artistic values of a single producer. Long wave —low-frequency radio transmissions, capable of travelling very long distances, but requiring very high-powered transmitters. Medium wave—medium-frequency radio transmissions, suitable for reaching receivers located several hundred miles away (further at night). F M —transmissions using frequency modulation to provide high-fi delity sound signals, in the Very High Frequency (VHF) band of the radio spectrum. FM signals cannot bend around the curvature of the earth, and FM transmitters thus have a quite limited broadcast range. Outside broadcast —a programme involving live transmission or recording from locations beyond the fi xed studio. Rediff usion (also known as ‘ wired wireless ’)—a system by which radio signals are relayed from a central station to loudspeakers in people’s homes and/or public places, using landlines. Later, rediff usion was also used to describe similar ways of providing television services. Relay station —an intermediate installation of receivers and transmitters, used for boosting and redirecting short-wave transmissions and thus improving signal strength. Short wave —high-frequency transmissions which can be generated by relatively low- powered transmitters, and yet travel very long distances. Direct listening is possible for members of the public who have their own short-wave receiving sets. Short-wave signals can also be rebroadcast on other frequencies by local stations equipped with short- wave receivers, and thus made available to listeners who do not possess short-wave sets of their own. Transcriptions