Wartime and Post-War Radio Broadcasting: BBC Hegemony and Commercial Sector Hiatus

The Second World War gave the BBC time to consolidate its output and also prepare its radio strategy for the post-war era as commercial stations were forced to close down, although Lord Haw-Haw was able to be heard clearly in Britain broadcasting from Radio Hamburg. The BBC introduced the BBC Forces Programme and General Forces Programme for British soldiers fighting abroad during the war, and for the post-war era, it established new national radio stations in the form of the BBC Home Service, the BBC Light Programme and the BBC Third Programme. Radio Luxembourg would also return after war as would television which would become a huge threat to radio. Devlin describes how the Second World War allowed BBC Radio to re-establish itself.