This is a query from Michele Hilmes of Wisconsin
[log in to unmask]
Dear list folk -- I wonder if you could help me with a
research question. I would like to find out what, if any,
critical discussion Charles Siepmann's work in the 1940s-50s received in
Britain, in the press or in policy/BBC circles.
Siepmann is the former Director of Talks (later Regional Director) at the
BBC in the 1930s, who went to the US just before the war and became the
co-author of the "Blue Book" -- the legendary though never really enforced
FCC report officially titled "Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast
Licensees" that appeared in 1946 -- and author of two more influential
studies of American radio, "Radio's Second Chance" (1946) and "Radio,
Television, and Society" in 1950.
He was one of the first in the US to argue for the separation of sponsor
and program production, and what I'd really like to know is if his ideas
and publications had any effect on the introduction of commercial
television in Britain.
And in a separate but related question, is the Radio Times from this era
indexed anywhere?
Any help or guidance to sources would be greatly appreciated! -- Michele
|