Loud and clear
For more than 65 years, forces families have relied on the British Forces Broadcasting Service as a vital source of information and entertainment. Rebecca Grant learns more about its diverse history
At 0700hrs on 29 July 1945, the clipped English tones of Sgt Gordon Crier carried over the airwaves: “This is the British Forces Network in Germany,”
he announced.
Those listening in could have been forgiven for assuming the voice was being transmitted from a purpose-built studio within the BBC’s Broadcasting house, yet it was actually coming from a makeshift studio built in a concert hall, which was put together in just 46 days.
Forces broadcasting historian Alan Grace explains: “The BFN took over this beautiful building in Hamburg called the Musikhalle, which was a bit like the Royal Albert Hall. They had less than seven weeks to convert it into a radio station, and it was finished just 10 minutes before they officially went on air.
A BBC station was due to start too, and if we hadn’t started on time, we may have lost our frequencies to them,” he says.
The broadcast was even more significant as it marked the first time that the forces had set up a radio station in a permanent location. However, the real birth of forces radio had come nearly 18 months earlier, when three officers set up an experimental station in Algiers. The project – described as a ‘historic scrounge’ by the Army’s Broadcasting Section founder Maj Eric Maschwitz – was given a negligible budget, yet they succeeded in getting a working radio station up and running
in a former Turkish pirates’ harem by
1 January 1944.
“Heaven knows how they did it,” Alan says. “It was a ‘sealing wax and string’ effort – they made the studios soundproof by pinning blankets to the wall.”
Their ingenuity proved that setting up a forces radio station was possible, but this was the height of WWII, and troops weren’t in the same place for long. The solution was to broadcast from mobile teams that could move where they did.
During the Italy Campaign, for example, static stations were set up in major cities like Naples and Rome, but two mobile units served the spaces in between. Mobile units also proved vital in late 1944 following the D-Day landings. Four British Liberation Army Mobile teams were sent out to follow troops closely, ensuring that when they tuned in, they were certain to get British coverage of events rather than the German propaganda stations that were dominating the airwaves.
Keeping everyone happy
Since its inception, forces broadcasting has been a vital communication tool, keeping troops up-to-date with events and operations. But equally important has been its role as an entertainment outlet and morale booster, especially in the years after the war ended, when thousands of troops – and also many of their families – were still stationed overseas.
When Sgt Crier began his broadcast in Germany, the area was no longer enemy territory, but troops were feeling unfamiliar in their surroundings. To address this, the BFN produced a series of documentaries, which taught the British forces about the country’s landmarks and culture, and a ‘teach yourself German’ programme also went out on air.
But programming for forces broadcasting could be tricky – it had to cater for the British service listeners, but also avoid upsetting the local communities. “In 1967, during the six-day war in Benghazi, the station over there had a fairly torrid time. It was perceived to be supporting the Jews as it played music sung by Jewish artistes who were currently top of the pops in America and in Britain,” says Alan.
He recalls one time, while stationed in Aden, when things got dangerous. “The station was a target because the Arabs thought we were broadcasting ‘untruths’ to the British forces. We had our first real run-in with the military when BFBS Aden was hit by bazooka shells. The press kept ringing up the radio station and saying ‘we hear you’ve been hit.’ But we weren’t allowed to say anything, so the announcer dutifully said ‘no, we’re ok’, and all the while there was a great hole in the wall.”
Fortunately, it was very rare that locals took exception to what the British forces stations were broadcasting. Alan reveals: “During EOKA’s campaign in Cyprus, nothing happened to our Cyprus radio station, because, as we subsequently discovered, the young Greeks and the young Turks involved in the campaign liked the pop music that it played, so they decided not to blow up our transmitters. However, they blew up the transmitters of Cyprus Broadcasting.”
Branching out
By the late 1950s, forces broadcasting stations had popped up across the globe. But although they all shared similar audiences, the set-up of the stations varied greatly.
Programming for BFN Cologne was straightforward. As well as its own music and entertainment shows, it was able to transmit popular programmes, such as Woman’s Hour, The Saturday Club, Sports Report and Hancock’s Half Hour, direct from the BBC. In addition, the popularity of BFN’s Two Way Family Favourites programme resulted in record companies in Britain and America inundating BFN with promotional records, many of which had not yet been heard in Britain.
With many popular music stars also undertaking promotional tours of the area, BFN in Germany was able to arrange live interviews with some of the day’s rising stars, including Frankie Vaughan, Cliff Richard and Petula Clark.
However, there was no syndication for these programmes, so the forces broadcasting stations in North Africa and the Middle East went without. Some BBC programmes were available to them, but they had to be sent on BBC ‘transcription discs’, and it would take weeks for them to arrive. Quality of the equipment also varied – sometimes to extremes. “I remember the equipment in Aden was rather old, and it remained like that for a number of years,” says Alan. “It was initially a shock for me, because I’d come from Cologne, then Europe’s most advanced radio station. But still, the equipment in Aden did work and it was kept going by the skills of the BFBS engineers.”
To ensure the quality of equipment did not affect their productivity, forces broadcasters needed to be resourceful. “In Benghazi, back in the days when stations played the old 78 records, they ran out of metal needles to play the discs. An engineer had the idea that cacti thorns might do the trick – there were loads of them about. You could only use them once, and then you had to throw them out, but they did the job,” Alan explains.
Joining forces
As forces broadcasting expanded all over the world, it began to suffer an identity crisis. In Germany, it had always been known as the British Forces Network, but in Cyprus, and several other parts of the world, it had taken on the name Forces Broadcasting Service.
In 1963, following a report by Jack Knott, the former Director of Broadcasting in Nigeria, the stations all over the world were united under the one name: ‘British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS).’
But not everyone was happy with the change. “We had a two-tier system; BFBS Germany was fantastic, but the rest of the organisation was struggling to keep up. But now we were all going to be BFBS. There were protests everywhere, but the then-Director of BFBS, the impressively named Bryan Cave-Brown-Cave, said ‘I’m sorry but that’s the way it’s got to go.’ We didn’t realise it but he’d actually seen the way ahead,” says Alan.
The service has expanded over the years to include radio stations from the Falklands to Brunei, catering for the diverse markets. There is also a Gurkha service, and a television network, which became a lifeline for forces families when it was first introduced in 1975.
Alan explains: “When the Troubles in Northern Ireland were at their height, the families of most of those sent over there to serve were based in Germany, and morale among the wives was low. Most of them were young girls, who were living in a foreign country and they didn’t speak the language, and this was very depressing for them, so a limited television service was created to great effect.
“I remember the headline in the local services newspaper over Christmas 1975 during the first year of forces television; ‘drink and drive convictions were down almost to zero’, and I’d argue it was because people were staying in and watching the new forces television service.”
Now, the ‘digital age’, which took off at the turn of the century, is allowing more forces families to establish a link with their loved ones overseas. In April this year, BFBS began broadcasting on DAB digital radio across the UK.
“The link with home is critical,” says Alan. “There are people in the UK now who, through DAB, will know what’s happening with the lads overseas.
“I think it was Field Marshal Montgomery who said that morale is incredibly important. If a man’s morale is up, he is a better soldier, and I think forces broadcasting has always gone down that road; we’ll do our best to lift morale in as many ways as we possibly can.”
Alan Grace is the official archivist and historian for
BFBS, and has been involved in forces broadcasting
for 50 years. His books include The Link with Home
(SSVC Publishing), This is the British Forces Network (Sutton) and Battledress Broadcasters (SSVC).
