Reinventing Radio
Postwar Rebuilding
Building on its wartime experience, radio expanded exponentially after 1945, with many countries adding new languages and services and a number of fairly small nations playing a prominent role on the air. Indicative of the changing world scene, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) international service added Russian language
programs late in 1946. For many countries, the years after World War II were focused on rebuilding or replacing prewar radio stations and network links. Reconstruction in other European countries included both AM and long-wave services.
Growth of the BBC
European and American radio services faced both political and financial crises through the 1950s and ’60s. The BBC external service had a difficult time with its own government when it included negative press comments on the British role in the 1956 Suez Crisis. British and American international radio services consistently suffered from a lack of sufficient domestic political support, often being the subject of fierce infighting about funding priorities. From the 1950s through the 1980s, the Russians and their satellite nations spent huge sums on electronically “jamming” incoming Western broadcast signals.
