The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which celebrated 100 years of continuous service in 2022, is in some way an emblem of the history of broadcasting in the 20th and 21st centuries. At the same time, it has known how to reinvent itself any number of times, keeping up with the developments in technology.
Given the geographical and population scope of the British Empire in the 1920s, and of the Commonwealth after World War II, the BBC has had a remarkable influence, both on models of broadcasting and its technical aspects, as well as on world culture. In some ways the story of the BBC seems straightforward, and its history has been told and critiqued by many academics. But that history opens our eyes to important aspects of the history of communications during the 20th century.
The original BBC – the British Broadcasting Company – began on October 18, 1922, as a programming service to create a demand for radio sets manufactured by a consortium of electronics companies. Much as in the United States, the company needed to create a demand for a product and so it developed the kind of programming content to motivate people to buy the sets or kits manufactured and sold by its partners. However, within just a few years the British company took on a new name – the British Broadcasting Corporation – This received a royal charter as a public service corporation in 1927, together with a new purpose.
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© Union of Catholic Asian News
2023
