Diversity, 1922–31

Abstract

During the inter-war years, BBC officers sought to encourage the spread overseas of the British approach to broadcasting, and prevent the American model of commercial network broadcasting from being adopted around the British world. This chapter examines the nature of those two models, and how hybrid versions were devised in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The chapter also looks at how the BBC sought to apply key ideas about public-service broadcasting, first developed for use at home, to its overseas operations. The role of John Reith, the BBC's first director-general, is discussed. The chapter surveys how broadcasting was organized around the British Empire during the 1920s. It analyses in detail the BBC's plans of 1929 for an empire broadcasting service, and the reasons why the Imperial Conference of 1930 refused to provide funding.