Episode 70 is a biggie.
In April 1923, the five-month-old BBC faced a two-pronged attack.
The Daily Express ran an anti-BBC campaign, with front page stories questioning its existence, and even offering to take over broadcasting themselves. Over the course of one week, the Express applied to the government for a broadcast licence (and were turned down).
Meanwhile the Postmaster General's chance encounter with Reith in the street brought to a head 'the licence problem'. Reith wanted more £ for the BBC; the govt wanted more £ for themselves.
It's a hundred years' war that's still raging, so it's the ideal episode to bring in Prof Patrick Barwise and Peter York, authors of The War Against the BBC: How an Unprecedented Combination of Hostile Forces is Destroying Britain's Greatest Cultural Institution... And Why You Should Care.
Their insight in 2023's BBC battles tell us of right-wing press ('SMET': Sun, Mail, Express, Telegraph), now joined by GB News and Talk TV, plus think tanks galore doing down Auntie Beeb. This is all coupled with cuts in funding that is starting to affect output, from local radio to orchestras to the merged news channel.
April 5th-15th 1923 is perhaps just the beginning then...
Next time...
Episode 71 - Today in Parliament: The BBC Debates of April 1923, plus Dr Martin Cooper on radio in popular culture.
www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio
#085 The Earliest BBC Recording and The First Monarch On Air
#084 Women's Hour on the BBC: 1923-24
#083 The Launch of Savoy Hill: The BBC's New Home, 1 May 1923
#082 The BBC at Marconi House: 14-11-1922 to 30-04-1923
#081 The Pips at 100! A Brief History of Time at the BBC
#080 SPECIAL: The First Religious Broadcast: Re-enacted
#079 Three More Authors: Doctor Who | R4 Sunday | Radio 1+2
#078 Three Authors on Broadcasting History: Love | Films | Education
#077 Loose Ends 2: 1920’s SS Victorian to 1980’s Tardis via Frank Milligan
#076 Radio Times at 100 - Part 2
#075 (The) Radio Times at 100 - Part 1
#074 The BBC and Music: from Percy Pitt to Johnny Beerling
#073 Comedy on Air: Hysterical History from The Co-Optimists to Bottom
#072 The First Radio Dramatist: The Truth about Phyllis Twigg
#071 Yesteryear in Parliament: The BBC vs The Government, April 1923
#069 Children’s Hour to Bedtime Hour: Uncles, Aunts and Iggle Piggle
#068 Major Arthur Corbett-Smith: Reith’s Rival
#067 SPECIAL: A Brief History of Coronation Broadcasts
#066 The BBC’s News, Weather and SOS Broadcasts of March 1923
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