Radio Newsreel

Radio Newsreel
Other namesThe News and Radio Newsreel
GenreNews magazine
Running time15 mins
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home station
Syndicates
Created byNorman Collins
Original release1940 (1940) –
31 October 1988 (1988-10-31)
Opening theme"Imperial Echoes" by Arnold Safroni[1]

Radio Newsreel is a news programme produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation between 1940 and 1988. The 15-minute programme, which was eventually broadcast four times a day on the BBC World Service with a daily broadcast on the BBC Light Programme (as part of The News and Radio Newsreel), was composed of recorded dispatches from correspondents in the field, live and recorded actuality and such other features, borrowed from the format of the cinema newsreel, as interviews with people currently in the news.[2]

An example of the programme's early content is the coverage of Captain George Robinson's "Adventure in a lifeboat adrift in the Atlantic", broadcast on 19 August 1942.[3]

The programme was broadcast in the United Kingdom at 19:00 each evening; transmission to North America was scheduled for 03:30 GMT, (22:30 EST, 19:30 PST).

Radio Newsreel was created by Norman Collins, who had worked as the head of the BBC General Forces Programme and the BBC Light Programme.[4] It was originally broadcast on the Overseas Service of the BBC, and also broadcast by the BBC General Forces Programme from 27 February 1944 until 28 July 1945.[5] It returned to domestic airwaves on 3 November 1947, when it started to be broadcast by the BBC Light Programme,[6][7] later transferring to the BBC Home Service and eventually BBC Radio 4. In 1953, the programme had a domestic audience of over 4 million listeners.[8] On 3 April 1970, it was broadcast in the UK for the last time,[9] but it continued to be broadcast on the BBC World Service for a further 18 years, with the final edition on 31 October 1988.[10]

Outside the United Kingdom, the programme was also carried weekly on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States during World War II[11] and as part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio programming in the 1970s. Until 1987, American Public Radio also carried the programme in the United States.[12]

  1. ^ Weedon, Robert (1 September 2010). "Audio Identities: Radio news themes". Image Dissectors. Archived from the original on 22 September 2010. Retrieved 4 September 2010.
  2. ^ Conboy, Martin (2004). Journalism: A Critical History. London: SAGE Publishing. p. 195. ISBN 0-7619-4100-2.
  3. ^ Lane, Tony (1990). The Merchant Seamen's War. Manchester University Press. p. 64. ISBN 0-7190-2397-1.
  4. ^ Jacobs, Jason (2000). The Intimate Screen: Early British Television Drama. Oxford University Press. p. 82. ISBN 0-19-874233-9.
  5. ^ "News Headlines: Radio Newsreel". Radio Times. Vol. 88, no. 1138 (National ed.). BBC Magazines. 28 July 1945. p. 19. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  6. ^ "News and Radio Newsreel". Radio Times. Vol. 97, no. 1255 (Television ed.). BBC Magazines. 31 October 1947. p. 7. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  7. ^ Briggs, Asa (1995). The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Vol. V: 1955–1974 - Competition. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-19-215964-X.
  8. ^ Simon, Earnest Dawn (1953). The B.B.C. from Within. London: V. Gollancz. p. 81.
  9. ^ "The News and Radio Newsreel". Radio Times. Vol. 186, no. 2420 (London & South East ed.). BBC Magazines. 28 March 1970. p. 51. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Radio Newsreel". Radio Times. Vol. 259, no. 3383 (London ed.). BBC Magazines. 29 September 1988. p. 91. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  11. ^ Cull, Nicholas John (1995). Selling War: The British Propaganda Campaign Against American "Neutrality" in World War II. Oxford University Press. p. 86. ISBN 0-19-511150-8.
  12. ^ Wallis, Roger; Baran, Stanley J (1990). The Known World of Broadcast News: International News and the Electronic Media. London: Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 0-415-03604-6.