1943 in British radio explained

This is a list of events from British radio in 1943.

Events

January

• 6 January – BBC reporter Richard Dimbleby makes a live recording from a Royal Air Force nighttime bombing raid over Berlin piloted by Guy Gibson.

February

• 12 February – The BBC Ottringham transmitting station in east Yorkshire goes live for broadcast of propaganda to Europe.^[1]

March

• March – A BBC radio adaptation of E. Nesbit's The Railway Children is broadcast.^[2]

April to May

• Spring – The BBC Monitoring service moves from Wood Norton Hall, Worcestershire, to Caversham Park and Crowsley Park, near Reading, Berkshire.

June

• 24 June – Ralph Vaughan Williams conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere of his Fifth Symphony at a BBC Proms Concert in the Royal Albert Hall.^[3]

September

• 4 September – BBC reporter Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports from an RAF nighttime bombing raid over Berlin.^[4]

October

• 17 October – The BBC Woofferton transmitting station in Shropshire begins shortwave broadcasts.^[5]
• Late October – Gustav Siegfried Eins, a British black propaganda station, ceases broadcasting to German troops in Western Europe on the short wave, ostensibly because of a Gestapo raid.^[6]

November

• 14 November – Soldatensender Calais, a British black propaganda station, begins broadcasting to German troops in Western Europe from a studio at Milton Bryan in Bedfordshire through the powerful medium wave Aspidistra transmitter in Sussex, purporting to be an official German military station.^[6]
• 23 November – British Forces Broadcasting Service begins operation serving forces overseas.^[7]

December

• 3 December – London-based American war reporter Edward R. Murrow delivers his classic "Orchestrated Hell" broadcast over CBS describing an RAF nighttime bombing raid over Berlin.

Debuts

• 2 August – This Week's Composer on the BBC Home Service (1943–Present) (continuing as Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3)^[8]
• Caribbean Voices on the BBC World Service (1943–1958)^[9]

Continuing radio programmes

1930s

• In Town Tonight (1933–1960)

1940s

• Music While You Work (1940–1967)
• Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018)
• Desert Island Discs (1942–Present)

Births

• 29 January – Tony Blackburn, DJ
• 18 February – Graeme Garden, Scottish-born comedy performer
• 6 April – Roger Cook, Australasian-born investigative reporter
• 30 May – Charles Collingwood, Canadian-born actor
• 17 August – John Humphrys, Welsh-born news broadcaster
• 11 September – Brian Perkins, New Zealand-born newsreader
• 28 September – Mike Dickin, DJ and presenter (died 2006)
• 18 October – Dai Jones, Welsh broadcaster (died 2022)
• 23 October – Roger Scott, DJ (died 1989)
• 26 November – Paul Burnett, DJ

Deaths

• 20 November – Rev. George Bramwell Evens ('Romany'), broadcaster and writer on countryside matters (born 1884)

See also

• 1943 in British music
• 1943 in British television
• 1943 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1943

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hidden history in Holderness. Baxter. Dale. 2008-09-10. BBC Humberside. BBC. 2009-12-05.
2. News: Radio. Harrisson. Tom. Tom Harrisson. The Observer. London. 1943-03-21. 2.
3. Richards. Denby. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 in D Major. Musical Opinion. March 2009. 50.
4. Web site: Raid on Berlin: Actuality recording of a Royal Air Force (RAF) bombing raid over Berlin, Germany. 1943-09-04. Australian War Memorial. 2019-01-23.
5. Web site: Fifty years of transmitting at BBC Woofferton 1943–1993: A social and technical history of a Short Wave Station. Cant. Jeff. 2006. 2021-03-10.
6. Book: Taylor, John A.. Bletchley Park's Secret Sisters: Psychological Warfare in World War II. Dunstable. The Book Castle. 2005. 1-903747-35-X.
7. Web site: Historical Events in 1943. www.historyorb.com.
8. News: Donald. Macleod. Happy 70th birthday Composer of the Week. The Guardian. London. 2013-08-02. 2023-08-02.
9. Henry Swanzy. H. L. V.. Swanzy. Caribbean Voices: Prolegomena to a West Indian Culture. Caribbean Quarterly. 1. 2. 1949. 21–28.