Programming
The BBC Forces Programme was launched to appeal directly to those members of the armed services during the Phony War who were mainly sat in barracks with little to do.
Its mixture of drama, comedy, popular music, features, quiz shows and variety was richer and more varied than the former National Programme, although it continued to supply lengthy news bulletins and informational programmes and talk.
However, when the American servicemen arrived en masse in 1943 and 1944 in preparation for Operation Overlord, they found even the richer Forces Programme shows to be staid and slow compared with the existing output of the American networks.
In response to appeals from General Eisenhower, the BBC abolished the Forces Programme and established the General Forces Programme, designed to provide a mixture of programming suitable for American and British audiences and also to appeal to the "Home Front", who, research had shown, wished to listen to the same output as the forces once fighting had broken out.
As well as a large number of American network and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programmes, the General Forces Programme also offered British programming:
- Shipmates Ashore – for the Merchant Navy
- Navy Mixture
- Forces' Favourites – a record request show
- War Office Calling the Army – information and news for service people
- Strike A Home Note – for Scottish service people overseas
- Welsh Half Hour
- SEAC – a newsletter for the South East Asian theatre
- Hello GIs – a newsletter for Americans in Britain
- Mediterranean Merry Go Round – made up of Stand Easy for the Army, Much Binding in the Marsh for the RAF and HMS Waterlogged for the Navy.
Read more about this topic: BBC General Forces Programme
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