1944 in British radio
Events
January
- No events.
February
- 27 February – BBC General Forces Programme replaces the Forces Programme to provide entertainment suitable for American forces in Britain as well as British military and civilian audiences, including a large number of American network and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programmes. It is also broadcast on shortwave frequencies of the BBC Overseas Service.
March
- No events.
April
- April – The American Broadcasting Station in Europe (ABSIE) is established, transmitting from Britain in English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian to resistance movements in mainland Europe.
May
- No events.
June
- 5 June – One day before D-Day, the BBC transmits coded messages (including the second line of a poem by Paul Verlaine) from Britain to underground resistance fighters in France warning that the invasion of mainland Europe is about to begin.[1][2]
- 6 June – D-Day: The 08:00 BBC news bulletin announces that paratroops have landed in France (reporter Guy Byam is among them).[3] 17 BBC reporters are embedded with the invasion forces.[3] At 09:32 John Snagge begins reading announcements of the Normandy landings, broadcasting over BBC transmitters to home and overseas audiences[4] and introducing a message from General Eisenhower.[3] At 13:00, the first eyewitness report, recorded on a bomber, is broadcast.[4] The King speaks to the nation at 21:00.[4] Reports of the landings are carried by around 725 of the 914 broadcasting stations in the United States.[2]
July
- 28 July – Sir Henry Wood, aged 75, conducts his last Promenade Concert, evacuated to the Corn Exchange, Bedford.[5]
August
- No events.
September
- 17–26 September – Battle of Arnhem: BBC correspondents Guy Byam and Stanley Maxted, report from the scene.[6][7]
October to December
- No events.
Debuts
- 4 January – Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh (BBC General Forces Programme) (1944–1954)
- 27 February – Variety Bandbox (BBC General Forces Programme) (1944–1952)
- 6 June – War Report (BBC Home Service)
Continuing radio programmes
1930s
- In Town Tonight (1933–1960)
1940s
- Music While You Work (1940–1967)
- Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
- Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)
Births
- 9 May – Tony Prince, "The Royal Ruler", born Thomas Whitehead, DJ
- 12 May – Brian Kay, bass singer and radio music presenter
- 5 June – Nigel Rees, radio broadcaster
- 28 October – Gerry Anderson, Northern Irish radio broadcaster (died 2014)
- November – Jim Eldridge, scriptwriter
- 25 December – Kenny Everett, born Maurice Cole, DJ (died 1995)
Deaths
- 22 June – Kent Stevenson, war reporter (shot down while flying on an air raid)
See also
References
- Foot, M. R. D. (1999). SOE: An Outline History of the Special Operations Executive 1940–46. London: Pimlico. p. 143. ISBN 0-7126-6585-4.
- Stourton, Edward (2017). Auntie's War: the BBC during the Second World War. London: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-857-52332-7.
- "D-Day Broadcasts". BBC 100. BBC. 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
- Hendy, David (2022). "D-Day". BBC 100. BBC. Retrieved 2022-04-29.
- "Jubilee Prom". The Yorkshire Post. Leeds. 1944-07-28.
from the rural B.B.C. studio to which the concerts have been transferred.
- Bowman, Martin (2013). Shrinking Perimeter. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. pp. 179–. ISBN 978-1-78159-177-2.
- "Stanley Maxted: Former Singer Covered Plight Of Red Devils". The Globe. Toronto. 1963-05-11. p. 2.
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