This is a list of events from British radio in 1946.
Events January 3 January – American-born Nazi propagandist William Joyce is hanged, unrepenting, at HM Prison Wandsworth in London for high treason for his English-language wartime broadcasts on German radio. 20 January – Composer Granville Bantock writes to fellow composer Rutland Boughton criticising the BBC Music Department's attitude towards some newer composers.
February No events.
March 5 March – Have A Go with Wilfred Pickles and his wife, Mabel, is introduced; it is the first British quiz show to offer prizes (although these are limited to a few pounds and some home-made produce). Initially broadcast as Have a Go, Joe! on BBC Home Service North until August, from 16 September it is produced by BBC Manchester for national transmission on the Light Programme. 24 March – BBC Home Service radio in the UK broadcasts Alistair Cooke's first American Letter. As Letter from America, this programme will continue until a few weeks before Cooke's death in 2004.
April No events.
May No events.
June The BBC's regional director for Wales tells Welsh MPs that there is "not enough talent... to sustain a full continuous programme".
July No events.
August No events.
September 29 September – The BBC Third Programme launches at 6pm. The evenings-only service is devoted to broadcasting cultural and intellectual content, serious classical music and programming about the arts. Its first controller is George Barnes and its chief announcer is Alvar Lidell.
October 7 October – The BBC Light Programme transmits the first episodes of two daily programmes: The magazine Woman's Hour (initially presented by Alan Ivimey), which will still be running nearly 80 years later. The early-evening 15-minute serial thriller Dick Barton, which will achieve a peak audience of 20 million, predominantly schooboys. The BBC begins broadcasting a 2-month comedy series Heigh-Ho, its first script by Frank Muir, featuring Peter Waring, Kenneth Horne and Charmian Innes, and produced by Charles Maxwell; no further series is commissioned after Waring's criminal convictions come to light.
November No events.
December December – BBC correspondent Edward Ward with a sound engineer is landed on Bishop Rock lighthouse to give a report on life there but is trapped there for a month by the weather. 31 December – BBC General Forces Programme closes down.
Unknown The BBC adopts the Paris Theatre, a former cinema in London's Regent Street, as a studio for recording comedy and other shows before a live audience. Bush DAC90 bakelite radio introduced in the UK: it becomes the best-selling model for some years.
Station debuts 29 September – The BBC Third Programme
Closing this year 31 December – BBC General Forces Programme
Debuts 4 January – Housewives' Choice (1946–1967) 5 March – Have A Go (1946–1967) 24 March – Letter from America (1946–2004) 7 October Dick Barton – Special Agent (1946–1951) Woman's Hour (1946–Present) 29 December – Down Your Way (1946–1992)
Continuing radio programmes 1930s In Town Tonight (1933–1960)
1940s Music While You Work (1940–1967) Sunday Half Hour (1940–2018) Desert Island Discs (1942–Present) Family Favourites (1945–1980)
Births 25 January – Pete Price, Merseyside media personality and radio presenter 4 February – Peter Allen, radio broadcaster 18 February – Michael Buerk, journalist and broadcast presenter 22 March – Jonathan James-Moore, radio comedy producer (died 2005) 5 April – Russell Davies, journalist, jazz musician and broadcast presenter 11 April – Bob Harris, broadcast music presenter 17 April – Henry Kelly, Irish-born broadcast presenter 7 May – Michael Rosen, children's poet and radio presenter 26 May – Simon Hoggart, journalist and broadcaster (died 2014) 2 June – Sean Street, radio broadcaster and poet 26 August – Alison Steadman, comedy actress 7 October – Jenny Abramsky, BBC Director of Audio and Music 13 October – Edwina Currie, Conservative politician, author and radio personality 31 December – Eric Robson, broadcast presenter Sue Limb, scriptwriter
Deaths 3 January – William Joyce, 39, American-born propagandist 16 October – Sir Granville Bantock, 78, composer
See also 1946 in British music 1946 in British television 1946 in the United Kingdom List of British films of 1946
References