{"id":20150,"date":"2016-07-26T06:37:40","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T10:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=20150"},"modified":"2016-07-26T06:39:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T10:39:05","slug":"cold-war-radio-the-bbcs-plans-in-the-event-of-nuclear-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/cold-war-radio-the-bbcs-plans-in-the-event-of-nuclear-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold War Radio: The BBC’s plans in the event of nuclear war"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBC-AT-WAR\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> reader,\u00a0William Lee, who shares this item from the BBC:<\/p>\n

(Source: BBC News<\/a>)<\/p>\n

For the first time, the BBC has given detailed access to the plans it drew up in the Cold War for a Wartime Broadcasting System to operate in the event of nuclear war. Paul Reynolds, a former BBC diplomatic and foreign correspondent, has been studying the secrets of what was known as the “War Book”.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The War Book reveals a world of meticulous BBC planning. The Wartime Broadcasting System (WTBS) – referred to in the book as “Deferred Facilities” – would have operated from 11 protected bunkers spread across the UK.<\/p>\n

Known as “Regional Seats of Government”, these would also have sheltered government ministers and staff from government departments during what is termed a “nuclear exchange”. The BBC had a studio in each, usually with five staff drawn mostly from nearby local radio stations.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s headquarters would have been a bunker at the Engineering Training Department at Wood Norton in Worcestershire, where 90 BBC staff would have been assembled, including engineers, announcers, 12 news editors and sub-editors and ominously “two nominations from Religious Broadcasting”. Output would have been controlled by the government.<\/p>\n

To keep the public amused during Armageddon, a collection of cassette tapes of old radio programmes including the Goon Show, Just a Minute and Round the Horne, was kept in a grey locker at Wood Norton. It was eventually realised, however, that these were redundant. If there had been a nuclear attack, radios would probably have been dependent on batteries and these would have needed to be conserved for news and important announcements.[…]<\/p>\n

[Continue reading…]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh how I would love to read a copy of the “War Book”–! I hope, at some point, the BBC adds it to their online archives. Last year, we published a post with the actual statement the BBC would have broadcast in the event of a nuclear exchange. Click here to read the post<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader,\u00a0William Lee, who shares this item from the BBC: (Source: BBC News) For the first time, the BBC has given detailed access to the plans it drew up in the Cold War for a Wartime Broadcasting System to operate in the event of nuclear war. Paul Reynolds, a former BBC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,3,305,288],"tags":[5280,752,4374,4375,4373],"class_list":["post-20150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadcasters","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-radio-history","tag-bbc-cold-war","tag-cold-war","tag-nuclear-attack-statement","tag-peter-donaldson","tag-post-attack-statement"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-5f0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15452,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/what-to-broadcast-after-a-nuclear-attack-the-bbc-had-a-plan\/","url_meta":{"origin":20150,"position":0},"title":"What to broadcast after a nuclear attack? 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Fought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Soviet-Radio-Dial-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12622,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/bbc-plans-north-korean-news-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":20150,"position":3},"title":"BBC plans North Korean news service","author":"Thomas","date":"March 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Richard Cuff, for sharing this news from The Telegraph: \"The BBC is planning a new North Korea service to give the totalitarian state\u2019s 25 million people an alternative to Kim Jong-un\u2019s propaganda. 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