User:Marconiman/Sandbox

User:Marconiman/Sandbox

Radio SEAC was a broadcasting station based in Sri Lanka in WWII, and part of the (British) Forces Broadcasting Service which operated in most of the theatres of war in which British forces were involved. The station was intended to provide a broadcasting service for services personnel in two commands, India and South-East Asia. It operated on short wave in order to cover its huge service area. Its main transmitter did not go on the air until some months after the war ended.

South East Asia Command
In October 1943, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten took up his position as  Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia. His headquarters was originally in Delhi, but in April 1944 it was moved to Kandy in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and in September 1945 to Singapore. British India Command, under General Auchinleck, remained in Delhi.

British Forces Broadcasting
During WW2, forces broadcasting was defined as “the forces broadcasting to the forces”, which distinguished it from broadcasts to the forces by the BBC, or any commercial broadcaster. The official start was on 1st January 1944 in North Africa, but informal stations had been operating at various times and in a number of places. At about the same time, a former BBC producer, Brian Cave-Brown-Cave started from scratch to organise a forces broadcasting station in Delhi,  and  its “All Forces Programme” began with an hour’s programmes a day, which was increased greatly in the months that followed. As they had no transmitter, All-India Radio provided time on one of its transmitters.

This was the situation when Lord Munster arrived in September 1944 with a brief from Prime Minister Winston Churchill to investigate and report on the welfare facilities provided for the troops in South East Asia. Forces radio was just one among many aspects to be reviewed.

Lord Munster's Report
On 23rd December 1944, Churchill told M.P.s in the House of Commons that he had had concerns about the adequacy of welfare facilities in the Far East, and had asked Lord Munster to assess the situation at first hand and report back to him with recommendations for improvements. These had been received and a number had been acted on already. More radio receivers were needed, and more programmes needed to be broadcast. Transmitters were needed. The report was made available for M.P.s that day. On 18th April 1945, Churchill reported to the Commons on progress that had been made. He had sent Lt. Gen. King to assess the situation, and he had spent three months in the area and reported back. Numerous wide ranging improvements had been made, but much remained to be done. As far as broadcasting was concerned, there had been a big increase in the number of radio receivers in issue. A transmitter was already in operation, and one with a much greater range was to be installed. It was hoped this would be operating by the end of the year.

The Development of Radio SEAC
Experimental broadcasts started in about October 1944, using call sign ZOJ. In January 1945, agreement was reached, with considerable difficulty, between the War Office and the two Commands (India and SEAC), that a powerful transmitting station should be built near Colombo, and that it should provide forces broadcasting for services personnel in both Commands. To ensure coverage of the vast area involved, a shortwave transmitter with 100kW power would be installed. As most of the equipment had to be sent by sea from England, it was appreciated that it would be a considerable time before construction of the station would be completed. A much smaller transmitter would need to be deployed as soon as practicable. The station officially opened with that lower power on xxxx April 1945, Unexpected delays caused the completion of the station to be delayed even further. The first aerial array, earmarked in the Isle of Wight (U.K.) was lost in transit. The delays meant that the 100kW service did not start until 8th May 1946. Most listeners then started to receive a strong signal, but the shortage of radio receivers meant that many of those for whom the service was intended were not able to enjoy it. The power of the main transmitter was such that the station acquired listeners in many places outside the intended service area, including USA, Australia and Sweden. In August 1946 special programmes started to be directed to the United Kingdom on Sunday evenings. The headquarters of the station and the studios were in a converted house in Turret Road, Colombo. Initially there was one studio in a converted wash house. Later there were three studios, a control room, a recording suite and an outside broadcast unit.

Programmes
There were record programmes, produced in the studios, relays from the BBC, and recordings of complete programmes produced in England. More ambitious programmes such as plays and outside broadcasts were introduced into the schedules, but as early as 20th December 1945 “The Radio SEAC Show” was broadcast from the RAF theatre in Maitland Crescent, Colombo. Tito Burns with a sextet was on the bill. The jazz accordion player was to became a well known broadcaster in Britain.

Staff
A number of experienced staff were transferred to Colombo from the station in Delhi, including some who had worked for the BBC, and others with a commercial radio background. The station’s first commander was “Benjy” McNabb who had worked for Radio Normandie as an announcer. This was part of the International Broadcasting Company founded by Capt. L.F. Plugge. Charles Chilton had had several years experience with the BBC. There were also staff with little or no previous experience who learned about programme presenting, and other skills, on the station. This proved to be the basis for long and highly successful careers for those such as Desmond Carrington and David Jacobs. Staff came from all three services (Navy, Army, and Air Force). The end of the war with Japan on 15th August 1945 meant that the station gradually lost experienced staff as personnel returned to Britain for demobilisation. McNabb left shortly after the start of the 100kW service. He was replaced by Wing Comdr. Smith, with Ross Parker being appointed Head of Programmes. He was the composer of “There’ll Always be an England”, one of the best known tunes from WW2.

Closure of Radio SEAC
The end of the war with Japan also led naturally to the gradual winding down of S.E.A. Command. Mountbatten handed over command to Lt.Gen. M Stopford in June 1946, and the Command ceased to exist in November of that year, but the station continued to broadcast as Radio SEAC until its closure on 1st April 1949. There remained a powerful transmitting station which did not go off the air, and for a time it relayed  BBC programmes from London. Ownership of it passed to the government of Ceylon as part of the arrangements made when the country became independent. It became the main transmitting station for Radio Ceylon.