BBC General Forces Programme

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The BBC General Forces Programme was a national radio station operating from 27 February 1944 until 31 December 1946.

History

Development

Upon the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

on 1 September 1939, the

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closed both existing National and

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

radio programmes, combining the two to form a single channel known as the

Home Service Home Service is a British folk rock group, formed in late 1980 from a nucleus of musicians who had been playing in Ashley Hutchings' Albion Band. Their career is generally agreed to have peaked with the album ''Alright Jack'', and has had an ...

. The former transmitters of the National Programme continued to broadcast the Home Service until 1940, when the lack of choice and lighter programming for people serving in the British Armed Forces was noted. At that point, some frequencies were given to a new entertainment network, the Forces Programme. The BBC Forces Programme was replaced when the influx of American soldiers, used to a different style of entertainment programming, had to be catered for in the run up to ' D-Day'. This replacement service was named the ''General Forces Programme'', and was also broadcast on shortwave on the frequencies of the Overseas Service.

Programming

The BBC Forces Programme was launched to appeal directly to those members of the armed services during the

Phoney War The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...

who were mainly sat in barracks with little to do. Its mixture of drama, comedy, popular music, features, quiz shows and variety was richer and more varied than the former National Programme, although it continued to supply lengthy news bulletins, informational and talk. However, when the American servicemen arrived ''en masse'' in 1943 and 1944 as preparation for Operation Overlord, they found even the richer Forces Programme shows to be staid and slow compared with the existing output of the American networks. In response to appeals from General Dwight Eisenhower, the BBC abolished the Forces Programme and established the General Forces Programme, designed to provide a mixture of programming suitable for American and British audiences and also to appeal to the "

Home Front Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the full participation of the British public in World War I who suffered Zeppelin raids and endured food rations as part of what came t ...

", who research had shown wished to listen to the same output as the forces once fighting had broken out. As well as a large number of American network and

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

programmes, the General Forces Programme also offered British programming: * ''Shipmates Ashore'' – for the Merchant Navy, starring

Evelyn Laye Evelyn Laye (née Elsie Evelyn Lay; 10 July 1900 – 17 February 1996) was an English actress who was active on the London light opera stage, and later in New York and Hollywood. Her first husband, actor Sonnie Hale, left her for Jessie Ma ...

and Doris Hare * ''Navy Mixture'' – with Joy Nichols * ''Forces' Favourites'' – a record request show which later became ''

Family Favourites ''Family Favourites'' (remembered by its later name ''Two-Way Family Favourites'') was the successor to the wartime radio show ''Forces Favourites'', broadcast at Sunday lunchtimes on the BBC Light Programme, later BBC Radio 2 from 1945 unti ...

'' * ''War Office Calling the Army'' – information and news for servicemen * ''Strike a Home Note'' – for Scottish servicemen overseas * ''Welsh Half Hour'' * ''SEAC'' – a newsletter for the South-East Asian theatre * ''Hello GIs'' – a newsletter for Americans in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

* '' Mediterranean Merry-Go-Round'' – made up of ''Stand Easy'' for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

* ''Much Binding in the Marsh'' – for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

* ''HMS Waterlogged'' – for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

The General Forces Programme maintained the previous broadcasting hours of the Forces Programme on air each day from 6.30am until 11.00pm.

Closure

After

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

, the British

longwave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...

frequencies of the General Forces Programme became the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

on 29 July 1945. The service continued broadcasting by shortwave to areas that were still seeing fighting, and after

Victory over Japan Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on ...

to occupying forces in each former occupied and enemy country. As

began to disengage from each fighting area and civilian rule was finally restored and the soldiers

demobbed Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milita ...

, the reason for the existence of the General Forces Programme were faded. In each area, it was slowly replaced by the Overseas Service until its complete closure on 31 December 1946.

External links

Radiomusications from Transdiffusion
{{Navboxes, list1= {{BBC {{BBC Radio BBC history BBC Radio Defunct BBC national radio stations Radio stations established in 1944 Radio stations disestablished in 1946 1944 establishments in the United Kingdom 1946 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1940s in the United Kingdom United Kingdom in World War II Radio during World War II Military broadcasting

History

Development

Programming

Closure

Further reading

External links