The BBC Forces Programme was a national radio station which operated from 7 January 1940 until 26 February 1944.

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

on 1 September 1939, the BBC 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. Domestically, the BBC's

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the dayti ...

transmitters continued to broadcast only the Home Service until the start of 1940, when the lack of choice and of lighter programming for people serving in the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

having been noted – some of the former regional frequencies (804 and 877 kHz) were given over to a new service known as the ''Forces Programme''.

Programming

The BBC Home Service had been put together in a hurry and many of the pre-war favourite programmes had been lost. The new network mainly concentrated on news, informational programmes and music – in the early days of the war, the theatre organist

Sandy MacPherson Roderick Hallowell "Sandy" MacPherson (3 March 1897 – 3 March 1975) was a Canadian-born theatre organist in Britain. As the second official BBC Theatre Organist, in succession to Reginald Foort, he achieved considerable broadcasting time dur ...

provided several hours a day of light organ music to fill gaps in the schedule. It became clear that the 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 ...

, especially those in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

who had been expecting to fight, were now mainly sat in barracks with little to do. The BBC Forces Programme was launched to appeal directly to these men. Although intended for soldiers and civilians in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

could receive the Forces Programme, among them it became more popular than the Home Service and after the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

, will also continue to broadcast in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. The Forces Programme's 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. Programming was developed for specific services include: * ''Ack Ack Beer Beer'' – for the anti-aircraft and barrage balloon stations * ''Garrison Theatre'' – 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 Gurkha ...

* '' Danger - Men at Work!'' * '' Sincerely Yours, Vera Lynn'' * ''Hi Gang'' – for the

Initially, the station was on the air from 11.00am until 11.00pm. However from Sunday 16 June 1940, the station would commence its broadcasting day from 6.30am and would continue until 11.00pm. These broadcasting hours remained in place until the new General Forces Programme began on Sunday 27 February 1944, with the service maintaining the same broadcasting hours.

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

troops had broadcasts designed for them on the Forces Programme. From 1942, American troops also received their own broadcasts on the service; popular

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

variety programming, such as Charlie McCarthy, '' The Bob Hope Show'', and ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...

'', appeared on the BBC for the first time. The British benefited from wartime co-operation only had to pay $60 for ''The Bob Hope Show'', which cost $12,000 to produce. A brief daily programme on American sports also began, as did rebroadcasts of the American military's '' Command Performance'' and ''

Mail Call ''Mail Call'' is a television program that aired on the History Channel. It was hosted by R. Lee Ermey, a retired United States Marine Corps staff sergeant and honorary gunnery sergeant. The show debuted on August 4, 2002 as part of the "Fighting ...

''. The broadcasts led to concerns over "

Americanisation Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of American culture and business on other countries outside the United States of America, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, te ...

" of the BBC, but an executive stated that 90% of British soldiers would choose American music if they had a choice.

Closure

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 The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

'. The replacement service was named the General Forces Programme and was also broadcast on the shortwave frequencies of the Overseas Service (which itself had been known until November 1939 as the Empire Service, and it was relaunched again on 1 May 1965 as World Service). 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 frequencies of the former National Programme (200 and 1149 kHz) were taken over by the new

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 ...

Inheritance

The pre-war National Programme, whilst using the same frequencies and transmitters as the post-war Light Programme, was not the general entertainment network its successor the Light Programme became. The Light Programme was more of a child of the Forces and General Forces Programme, with a style of presentation and programming that had not existed in the United Kingdom before the war.

Sources

References

External links

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