Reforming Radio: BBC Radio’s music policy 1957-1967

RICHARD WITTS*

*Corresponding author for this work

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    Abstract

    This article examines attempts by the centralised policy makers of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to overcome a crisis at their radio service in reaction to the launch of commercial television in 1955. It looks in particular at the work – the successes, failures and frustrations – of an assistant director, a bureaucrat, who planned to regenerate music policy, especially in terms of pop and light music, which led to the formation of the numbered station system still in use today: Radios 1 - 4. Using primary sources from the BBC’s written archives, the article will identify the oppositions he faced from external forces (the Sound Broadcasting Society, the Musicians’ Union) and the internal forces (music department operatives, presenters). It will attempt to explain, through the prism of Michel Crozier’s study The Bureaucratic Phenomenon (1964), how the assistant director overcame these hurdles across the ten years of time that it took to pummel policy into practice.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number7717
    Number of pages14
    JournalLa Revue Francaise de Civilisation Britannique
    Volume26
    Issue number1
    Early online date5 Dec 2020
    DOIs
    Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 5 Dec 2020

    Keywords

    • BBC
    • radio studies
    • music policy
    • popular music
    • pirate radio

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