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However, Despite These Problems Broadcast Television Grew In Popularity, And ...


However, despite these problems broadcast television grew in popularity, and by the time of the war around 20,000 sets had been sold. Although it might have been popular, television had little influence over the audience at this time, and was mainly seen as a toy for the rich. Television programmes were most fairly frivolous and lacked depth. Stuart Hood sums up the situation well:
Pre-war television was aimed at a small and affluent audience in London and the Home Counties, which had not been affected by the depression and mass unemployment. In the South-East prosperity based on the boom in building and light industry and in consumer goods like refrigerators and radios and the car industry financed the purchase of sets. The programmes the viewers wanted were dominated by the concept of the West End show, of the revue and the kind of entertainment which was the middle class audience's idea of a night out.
Television didn't offer anything new in terms of content or entertainment compared to the shows or the theatre at the beginning it was driven by technology and the novelty factor. In fact, the only real event of note broadcast in pre-war television was the coronation of George VI in 1937, which was the first outside broadcast and was seen by tens of thousands of people. However, things were to change with the start of the war in 1939, when the broadcast television industry was to shut down altogether. for 7 years, resuming again to around 15,000 homes in 1946.
During the wartime, the BBC did not close altogether however, as it had a duty as a public service broadcaster to report on the war and maintain morale through entertainment. This was done through the medium of radio, something which the BBC was more familiar with and which cost less and could be broadcast to the masses easily. Although there was no television, the war had a significant effect on helping to shape the BBC as a broadcaster and public service entity. Their staff levels increased in the thousands as the war carried on, with the need to report more news to the whole country. The two main programmes created were the Home Service and the Forces Programme, whose aims were to inform the people and those in the service of the goings on in the war, whilst entertaining them and keeping their spirits as high as possible. It also helped to create the BBC's team of correspondents, and improve sound and reporting technology so that more accurate information could be gathered. Those years in the war were not only a step forward in terms of the way the BBC was run, but also the first time the broadcasting had been used for a truly ideological purpose to entertain and maintain spirits during the hard years of WW2.

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