Distant Listening

In the interwar years distant listening offered individuals, families, and communities a way to form real and imagined connections across vast distances, and to hear the sounds of the familiar and the exotic. Yet distant listening was seldom easy: it often required specialist equipment and skills and was disrupted by various forms of interference. It should be understood as part of the noisy soundscape of the Roaring Twenties, and as carrying the echo of the deteriorating international climate of the 1930s. Distant listening was often associated with noise: the irritating noise of interference, but also wonderful, astonishing, strange, and authentic noises from far-off countries. Many international broadcasters sought to capitalize on the appeal of exotic noises as a means to draw listeners to their programmes. Contemporary ideas about listening were also shaped by assumptions about gender (including interwar thinking about the ‘Modern Girl’) and race. Listening to distant stations was often depicted as an essentially masculine activity, and yet many women emphasized their own prowess tuning-in stations, and the enjoyment they derived from the pursuit. Contemporaries meanwhile often depicted non-European listening habits in highly racialized terms. They debated whether radio would be harnessed as a means of imperial communication that could strengthen imperial rule, or would be something that subverted colonial and semi-colonial regimes.

Introduction

During the 1920s and 1930s radio was transnational in its reach and appeal, attracting distant listeners and encouraging hopes that broadcasting would foster international understanding and world peace. This chapter connects the themes of the book to broader currents in historical writing, exploring how international broadcasting relates to histories of internationalism, radio, sound, and listening. It introduces the concepts of ‘wireless internationalism’ and ‘distant listening’. It argues that British broadcasting was profoundly influenced by the European context, as well as by links with the US. It discusses the key sources used in the book and outlines the content of the main chapters of the book. It examines contemporary thinking about propaganda and national projection.

Rivalry and Competition, 1934–1937

The mid 1930s were one of the most decisive periods in the development of international broadcasting, as the use of wireless for propaganda purposes intensified and states became intimately involved with cross-border radio services. Fascist Germany, Italy, and Japan set the pace: Germany’s short-wave station at Zeesen continued to be the main competitor for the BBC’s Daventry station, and following the invasion of Abyssinia Italy’s stations at Rome and Bari threatened to undermine British influence in the Middle East, and particularly in Egypt and Palestine. Attempts by the International Broadcasting Union and the League of Nations (with its Broadcasting in the Cause of Peace initiative) to halt the rising tide of broadcast propaganda failed. Wireless internationalism increasingly seemed a forlorn hope. Britain also used broadcasting for propaganda purposes. The BBC stepped up attempts to reach US audiences by providing improved relays for the American networks. More significantly, the Foreign Office turned to the BBC to begin broadcasting in Arabic for the Middle East and Spanish and Portuguese for Latin America. The chapter significantly revises our understanding of the relationship between the BBC and the British state in this period, demonstrating that in taking on the work of broadcasting in foreign languages, the BBC accepted significant restrictions on its independence.

Conclusions

This chapter summarizes the book’s main findings. It argues that during the interwar years wireless brought a distinctive British soundscape to listeners around the world while also carrying the world to British ears. Wireless internationalism was both a set of ideas about how radio broadcasting should work, and a lived transnational experience. Although wireless internationalism was in retreat by the late 1930s, vestiges survived right up until the outbreak of war, and would resurface thereafter. Wireless internationalism produced practical initiatives with concrete outcomes, which had lasting legacies. The chapter also emphasizes the extent of state intervention in BBC international broadcasting during the 1930s and argues that we should question much of the established historical wisdom concerning this issue. Finally, it stresses the need to work international broadcasting, sound, and listening more prominently into the cultural and social history of the interwar years.

The Shock Troops of Propaganda

During the 1930s, British broadcasters and policymakers came to agree that the BBC could best support British foreign policy interests by broadcasting truthful, objective news—or, at least, news which seemed to be so. The BBC began international news broadcasting in 1930, as part of the experimental short-wave service aimed at expatriate listeners in the colonies. Bulletins mixed political and economic news for imperial administrators with items intended to provide a sense of connection with ‘home’. The BBC broadcast news provided by the news agency Reuters. Broadcasting this news across borders threatened to disrupt the restrictive practices upon which much of the news industry relied, and careful negotiation between the BBC, Reuters, and newspapers in various parts of the British Empire was necessary. During the latter part of the 1930s, Reuters’ position in several crucial news markets began to deteriorate. The British government turned to the BBC as a means to provide Reuters with support and covert subsidies, and also to broadcast news from British sources direct to key areas, such as Latin America, in order to underpin British influence and compete with state-supported news services from fascist countries and formidable commercial services from the US. The Foreign Office also exerted influence over the content of BBC news broadcasts, preventing the transmission of bad news from Palestine, circulating official reports from British officials in the Middle East, and limiting coverage of the plight of Germany’s Jews.

Fraternizing in the Ether, 1931–1933

During the early 1930s faith in a utopian form of wireless internationalism was shaken by the world economic crisis, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and the Nazi revolution in Germany. Radio still seemed a potential means to encourage international understanding and peace, but increasingly it also appeared to be a powerful tool of propaganda that might serve aggressive nationalist ends. As Europe’s broadcasting infrastructure became more formidable, broadcasters continued to work through the International Broadcasting Union to regulate the airwaves and combat interference and hostile propaganda. These measures were only partially effective and were ignored by a powerful new station broadcasting commercial programmes across Europe in several languages, Radio Luxembourg. The League of Nations also began to study the disruptive impact of radio on international affairs, and established its own broadcasting station, Radio Nations. Relay work continued, linking up the broadcasters of Europe and forging new connections across the Atlantic. The number of short-wave broadcasters increased significantly during this period, and the BBC established its own short-wave Empire Service, designed to reach out to white expatriate listeners in Britain’s colonies, and to English speakers in the ‘dominions’. Many in the US could also tune in, and British civil servants, notably at the Foreign Office, worried about the impact on Anglo-American relations.

Pulling Down the Walls of the World, 1920–1930

This chapter traces the origins of international broadcasting in the 1920s, examines cooperation among broadcasters working to control and regulate transnational transmissions, and analyses utopian ideas about the impact of radio on the international order. It draws out the early history of cross-border broadcasting and listening and demonstrates that in the first years of radio, all listeners were distant listeners. It explores the technologies of transmission and reception used in international broadcasting during the 1920s. It discusses why many contemporaries thought that broadcasting could encourage international understanding and peace in the wake of the carnage of the First World War. It argues that wireless internationalism found its most obvious expression in this period with the foundation of the International Broadcasting Union (IBU). The IBU encouraged members to exchange material with one another and relay each other’s programmes. Finally, the chapter explores the early history of short-wave broadcasting and relay work, and examines debates about the establishment of a BBC empire service.

The Lonely Listener in the Bush

The BBC Empire Service was established in 1932 and primarily sought to serve white expatriates scattered across British colonies in Africa and Asia. It provided a selection of programmes taken from its home services, augmented with specially produced and recorded material, and based decisions on what to broadcast largely on feedback provided by its listeners. This chapter challenges the assumption that the interwar BBC was largely uninterested in what its audience thought, and that it gave listeners what it thought they should have rather than what they wanted. It also questions the belief that the BBC was intent on the ‘uplift’ of audiences and thus focused on providing high culture. For the Empire Service concentrated on offering light music, light talks, and light entertainment. Listeners were thought to be tired after a day spent working in hot climates, and lonely and thus requiring something that reminded them of ‘home’. The BBC knew it also had to compete with other international broadcasters for the attention of overseas audiences. Special production techniques were developed in an attempt to overcome the problems associated with short-wave reception and ensure that programmes were comprehensible and enjoyable. Big Ben became the aural signature of the Empire Service. However, by the late 1930s many critics were questioning whether it was wise to devote so much of the BBC’s resources to this tiny audience, and whether BBC international broadcasts should instead be seeking to project Britain to larger and more important audiences across the world.

Wireless Nationalism, 1938–1939

During the late 1930s international broadcasting was mobilized as a weapon for deployment in the coming conflict, an essential tool of propaganda. In 1938 the BBC began broadcasting to the Middle East in Arabic and to Latin America in Spanish and Portuguese. In running the Arabic Service in particular, the BBC was obliged to accept the input of civil servants from the Foreign Office and other branches of the state, particularly when it came to the editing of news bulletins. Material was carefully included and omitted to further British foreign policy goals. BBC officers sought to build up an Arabic Service that would appeal to listeners across the Middle East but made limited headway due to a lack of resources and the scarcity of listener feedback. Similarly, there seemed little evidence to suggest that the BBC Latin American Service developed a significant audience. Attempts to strengthen links between British and American broadcasters meanwhile continued. Only vestiges of wireless internationalism remained: these were years of wireless nationalism, driven by the expansion of fascist broadcast propaganda. The September Crisis of 1938 prompted the inauguration of BBC broadcasts in German, Italian, and French. In all these activities the BBC adhered closely to official policies of appeasement, and accepted government directions to avoid broadcasts that would provoke Germany and Italy. The British government also covertly broadcast to Europe from commercial stations on the Continent, particularly Radio Luxembourg, with the involvement of the Secret Intelligence Service.