‘Did Anglians dream of electric screens?’ A history of broadcasting in Norfolk and East Anglia from 1923-1960

Cross, Samuel (2017) ‘Did Anglians dream of electric screens?’ A history of broadcasting in Norfolk and East Anglia from 1923-1960. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis re-examines broadcasting history in Britain through the lens of the experience in Norfolk and East Anglia rather than via the nation state as has usually been the case in prior academic investigations. Using a combination of archival sources, secondary literature and selected extracts from original oral history interviews it aims to introduce a greater level of nuance into the historiography of broadcasting in Britain. These archival sources include the BBC Written Archives, the ITA Archives, Hansard and the archive of the most popular newspaper in Norfolk – the Eastern Daily Press.

The first half of the thesis concentrates on the BBC’s policies towards the region in respect of both wireless and television broadcasting before the outbreak of war and in the immediate aftermath of the war’s end, highlighting the short and long term legacies of these policies and the reaction of the press and public in the area. The second half of the thesis includes a discussion of the opening of the regions first permanent television transmitter in 1955, a detailed and original analysis of the applications for the East Anglian ITV programme station contract in 1958 and an analysis of the arrival of both Anglia Television and a BBC Television local news bulletin during 1959.

Utilising the results of this investigation it becomes possible to assess the extent to which the history of broadcasting in East Anglia both fits into, but also deviates from, the accepted historical timeline of British broadcasting, particularly in relation to supposedly pivotal events such as the 1953 Coronation and the launch of ITV in 1955. It also raises questions about how this new knowledge might change existing theoretical understandings of the relationship between broadcasting and society, specifically with respect to the idea of television and public service/the public sphere.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Users 9280 not found.
Date Deposited:	22 Mar 2018 13:28
Last Modified:	22 Mar 2018 13:28
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/66554
DOI:

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