BBC
From just prior to World War II onward, until the present day, the BBC has had an established sequence of events and detailed procedures of what should happen in the event of war or the threat of war. The details are to be found in the BBC War Book, the content of this page is based upon the 1975 edition. In the early years of the Cold War things were rather vague, and the broad intent was to continue broadcasting 24 hours a day, using pre-recorded light entertainment interspersed with government communications and advice. The list of light programmes to be used included: Round the Horne, I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue, Hancock's Half Hour, The Afternoon Play and Thirty-Minute Theatre. From the 1980s until 1993, the entertainment content was dropped and only official announcements would have been broadcast in order to conserve energy.
Prior to the outbreak of nuclear war the role of the BBC would have been to communicate instructions from the Government civil defence organisations about how the population might survive.
Two scenarios were envisioned, the first being a period of international tension escalating to the point of war, or a surprise attack. Throughout the Cold War, the former was considered to be most likely by the Government, and this is reflected in the BBC War Book. How long such a period might have lasted would have been unknown.
The
BBC War Book was based upon instructions found in the Government
War Book, the purpose of which was to lay down the procedures and
plans for Transition to War. It would have been
the government, specifically the War Cabinet, to decide at what point
each of the steps outlined would have been taken. The Government War
book was first prepared in the period immediately after the end of WWII.
More details can be found on the Transition To War page. It was planned
that broadcasting would continue basically as normal during the expected
period of tension, until at least 48 hours prior to the initiation of
Transition to War procedures were launched. Modification to
programming and content was expected to change to reflect the national,
and international situation as they developed. It was to be left to the
BBC how best to handle this, but it was expected that they would
establish an emergency news/current affairs unit. In this phase
preparation was to be covert. It was envisioned that after a period,
that might be very short, even maybe just a few hours, the Government
would authorise the Transition To War (TTW)
status.Regular drills and training exercises were held to give an air of realism, but many BBC staff saw them as pointless or declined to serve during a national emergency because they would not be allowed to take their families with them. One anonymous insider said, "I can't blame them for deciding there were better ways to go than to sit in a bunker with a group of local radio engineers."
The actual Transition To War was planned in phases. Upon receipt of the codeword designated staff were to prepare to move to their duty locations, staff without specific duties were to be advised that they were not required and what they should do. This comprised the first phase. In phase two engineering and some other key personnel would have moved to Wood Norton and other key BBC locations, including transmitter sites, this may already have happened as part of planned transition. In the third phase non-technical staff would have moved to regional Government Civil Defence HQs. In phase four the BBC would have broadcast Government information and the civil defence films of the time would have been shown on television repeatedly. At other times light entertainment would have been the order of the day. In the final phase all peacetime broadcasting on both radio and television would have ceased and the Wartime Broadcasting Service would have taken over with the broadcast of pre-prepared information.
During the lead-up to the declaration of war, designated staff would have been deployed to each of the Regional Controls, plus the BBC HQ bunker at the Wood Norton Hall engineering training facility in Worcestershire and the
government
bunker at Corsham in Wiltshire. Other staff would have been based at
each Civil Defence Regional Controls. The main building at Wood Norton
was sold by the BBC, and is now a luxury hotel. However a hardened
bunker (known as PAWN - Protected Area Wood Norton) was built, with an
associated communications mast linking it to with an SHF dish (microwave
link) to Daventry radio transmitting station. Two VHF yagi aerials were
fitted to receive signals from the transmitters at Holme Moss and
Llandrindod Wells Each of these locations had its own studio and
access to a medium wave transmitter. PAWN and many other
installations, were referred to as "deferred facilities" within the BBC.Staff for the service were originally designated, but were then later invited to be part. There was no special payment for being a part of the team of those who went underground, although in the event of activation of the Wartime Broadcasting Service, each designated person could get an advance of salary payment of £250 from the cash office at Broadcasting House. The activation would be announced by a codeword, these were changed periodically, the only known ones were falsetto and fluellan (possibly meaning Fluellen, a character from Shakespeare's Henry V).
A
survey, conducted by the BBC, in 1975 into the types of radios and
televisions owned by the public revealed the following:- The total number of battery-powered radio receivers is over 22 million, about one per household.
- Of these:
- 19 million, 87%, can receive LF.
- 21 million, 98%, can receive MF.
- 8 million, 34%, can receive VHF.
- Only 5.5 million, 25%, actually use VHF. This figure includes mains powered and stereo receivers.
- About 25% of listeners find the station they want by 'twiddling' round the dial.
- Roughly 50% had no difficulty in finding the station they wanted.
- The remainder, 25%, virtually never changed stations.
