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The Lonely Listener in the Bush

The BBC Empire Service was established in 1932 and primarily sought to serve white expatriates scattered across British colonies in Africa and Asia. It provided a selection of programmes taken from its home services, augmented with specially produced and recorded material, and based decisions on what to broadcast largely on feedback provided by its listeners. This chapter challenges the assumption that the interwar BBC was largely uninterested in what its audience thought, and that it gave listeners what it thought they should have rather than what they wanted. It also questions the belief that the BBC was intent on the ‘uplift’ of audiences and thus focused on providing high culture. For the Empire Service concentrated on offering light music, light talks, and light entertainment. Listeners were thought to be tired after a day spent working in hot climates, and lonely and thus requiring something that reminded them of ‘home’. The BBC knew it also had to compete with other international broadcasters for the attention of overseas audiences. Special production techniques were developed in an attempt to overcome the problems associated with short-wave reception and ensure that programmes were comprehensible and enjoyable. Big Ben became the aural signature of the Empire Service. However, by the late 1930s many critics were questioning whether it was wise to devote so much of the BBC’s resources to this tiny audience, and whether BBC international broadcasts should instead be seeking to project Britain to larger and more important audiences across the world.