Thanks Martin for some really useful information and detail.
But Stewart remains a rather intriguing figure who could be described as a liberal and an innovator in Northern Ireland but as soon as he arrived at Broadcasting House was 'soberly cautious' and even 'authoritarian and narrow' (Hendy, 2007: 29).
Almost as if he was someone who thrived lower down the BBC hierarchy, and away from the centre of things, but when he found himself in a senior position, in the full glare of BH, lost his way!
Hugh
Hugh Chignell
Associate Professor of Broadcasting History
The Media School
Bournemouth University
BH12 5BB 01202 961393 Mob. 07799643970
Public Issue Radio: Talks, News and Current Affairs in the Twentieth Century, 2011
On 13 Nov 2012, at 12:32, McLoone, Martin wrote:
On Stewart again.
I note that his liberalising credentials are endorsed by historian Jonathan Bardon who actually credits Stewart, rather than the Advisory Council, with the new air of liberalism in Broadcasting House in Belfast. He credits Stewart with expanding the news agenda and the coverage of politics to include more from the nationalist community and for being more open to what would be deemed nationalist culture (folklore, music ). Bardon also credits Stewart with the improvement in the quality of programming generally.
Perhaps the biggest success of Stewart's time was the setting up of the radio serial 'The McCooeys', a soap about a Belfast working class family that achieved a phenomenal listnership and has become the stuff of legend in Northern Ireland broadcasting terms.
Stewart may appear more of an establishment character when compared to the younger liberal voices of the time (and maybe reflected that in his later career) but compared to what went before, he certainly seems to have blown some cobwebs away in BBC NI in 1948-52.
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Martin McLoone
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University of Ulster
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________________________________________
From: The History of the BBC [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Hugh Chignell [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 13 November 2012 10:55
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [BBC-HISTORY] Andrew Stewart
I wonder if anyone has any views on Andrew Stewart, the BBC lifer who was eventually Controller, Home Service 1953-7.
David Hendy is rather dismissive of him as an old school broadcasting reactionary but in Ieuan Franklin's unpublished PhD I read that he was an innovative Controller, Northern Ireland who encouraged radical producers like Sam Hanna Bell.
Can anyone enlighten me on the man who seems to have had a character change?
Best, Hugh
Hugh Chignell
Associate Professor of Broadcasting History
The Media School
Bournemouth University
BH12 5BB 01202 961393 Mob. 07799643970
Public Issue Radio: Talks, News and Current Affairs in the Twentieth Century, 2011
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