''Music While You Work'' was a daytime radio programme of continuous live popular music broadcast in the United Kingdom twice daily on workdays from 23 June 1940 until 29 September 1967 by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Initially, the morning edition was generally broadcast on the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

at 10:30am, with the afternoon edition at 3pm on the

Forces In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the magnitude and directi ...

/ General Forces Programme - and after the war on 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 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

. Between August 1942 and July 1945, a third edition was broadcast at 10:30pm for night-shift workers. The programme began in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with the idea that playing non-stop popular/

light music Light music is a less-serious form of Western classical music, which originated in the 18th and 19th centuries and continues today. Its heyday was in the mid‑20th century. The style is through-composed, usually shorter orchestral pieces and ...

at an even tempo would help

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

workers become more productive. It originally consisted of live music (light orchestras,

dance bands (; "dance band"), or in Norwegian and Danish, is a Swedish term for a band that plays (; "dance band music"). ' is often danced to in pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. The music is primarily inspired ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

and

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind instrument, wind and percussion instruments. The conducting, conductor of a ...

s and small instrumental ensembles). In order to make studios more available during the day, it was decided in 1963 that the shows would be pre-recorded (often in the evening or on Sundays). The first edition featured Dudley Beaven playing the BBC Theatre Organ, although organs were dropped two years later because their less abrasive sound could not be heard clearly above factory noise and over the specially installed

Tannoy Tannoy is a British manufacturer of loudspeakers and public address systems founded in 1926. Today the company is part of the Music Tribe group of brands. History The company was founded by the Yorkshire-born engineer Guy Fountain (1898-1977) ...

speakers. From October 1940 a theme tune, ''Calling All Workers'' by

Eric Coates Eric Francis Harrison Coates (27 August 1886 – 21 December 1957) was an English composer of light music and, early in his career, a leading violist. Coates was born into a musical family, but, despite his wishes and obvious talent, his parents ...

, was adopted to begin and end each episode, arranged by the performers of the day. Many combinations made hundreds of appearances, notably Pasquale Troise and his Banjoliers, George Scott-Wood and His Music, Cecil Norman and the Rhythm Players, Bernard Monshin and his Rio Tango Band, Anton and his Orchestra, Bill Savill and his Orchestra and Jack White and his Band. Although the programme became very popular with domestic audiences and later with motorists, it was aimed first and foremost at the factories, and strict rules were applied: predominantly familiar pieces, nothing lethargic, consistent volume, avoidance of overloud drumming (which could sound like gunfire), and generally cheerful programmes to which workers could whistle or sing.Christina L. Baade.
Music While You Work: Discipline, Dance Music, and Workers in Wartime
, Ch. 3 of ''Victory through Harmony: The BBC and Popular Music in World War II'' (2011)

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

was discouraged as, by its very nature, it often deviates from the melody, which had to be clear at all times. The song "

Deep in the Heart of Texas "Deep in the Heart of Texas" is an American popular song about Texas. The 1941 song features lyrics by June Hershey and music by Don Swander. In 1942, Five versions of the song were on the ''Billboard'' charts, with three in the top 10. "Deep ...

" was banned from the show, because of the potential danger of production line workers taking their hands away from their work or banging their spanners on the machinery to perform the four hand-claps in the chorus. ''Music While You Work'' ended in 1967 when the BBC Light Programme transformed into

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

. It was revived for a week to mark the BBC's 60th anniversary in October 1982 and then as a regular part of Radio 2 from January 1983 to January 1984. There were two short revivals in 1990 and 1991, and a final one-off programme in 1995. The concept of the programme was evoked during BBC Radio 3's "Light Fantastic" 2011 season with a live broadcast of light music from a factory in

Irlam Irlam is a suburb in the City of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, it had a population of 19,933. It lies on flat ground on the south side of the M62 motorway and the north bank of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Salf ...

performed by the

BBC Philharmonic The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

, reminiscent of ''Music While You Work'' and '' Workers' Playtime''. This one-off programme differed from the original series as it was staged before an audience and the items were announced. A radio documentary on the programme, ''The Music Factory'', was first broadcast in September 2002. From 2000, Serenade Radio began broadcasting historic reruns of the programme at 9.30am on weekdays.Serenade Radio, weekday schedule
/ref>

Footnotes

{{reflist

External links

Audio clip from BBC archives

Masters of Melody website
BBC Light Programme programmes 1940 radio programme debuts 1967 radio programme endings British classical music radio programmes British jazz radio programmes BBC Home Service programmes 1940s British radio programmes 1950s British radio programmes 1960s British radio programmes

See also

Footnotes

External links