Radio days
Sir: Kate Chisholm is wrong (Arts, 15 November) when she says the financing of the BBC World Service by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office is a hangover from the days when it was known as the Empire Service. The Empire Service, which was started on 19 December 1932, was financed by the BBC. Not until the Arabic Service started on 3 January 1938 did the Foreign Office provide any finance to overseas services of the BBC.
Not only did the British government refuse the BBC’s request for finance for the Empire Service, but because of the economic crisis it asked the BBC for a voluntary contribution to the National Exchequer. Amazingly, the BBC agreed to contribute £50,000 by March 1932 and £150,000 in the course of the financial year 1932/3. It was as part of that deal that the BBC agreed ‘to carry the cost of Empire broadcasting’.
Michael Nelson
London W11
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