Mediating the Past: BBC Radio Archaeology Broadcasting, 1922-1966.

Abstract

The advent of BBC radio broadcasting in 1922 created a new opportunity for communicating archaeology. Accessing archive material from the BBC Written Archives at Caversham, and referencing scholarship from the disciplines of media research, archaeological historiography and public history, the project addresses the nature of Talks radio archaeology broadcasts from the BBC’s inception until 1966. During this period when both archaeology and radio broadcasting were developing as professions, archaeologists were sought for their expert contribution to radio content, and radio increasingly acted as a catalyst for the promotion of the professional archaeological identity. From the earliest days of regular broadcasting, archaeologists were present in an educational role, and showed themselves aware of radio’s potential as a platform for public relations and fund-raising. The interwar period saw archaeology portrayed on radio through the lens of the outdoor movement, and as part of the BBC’s science communication policy. Wartime radio programmes with archaeological themes contributed to BBC policy in relation to education, propaganda and reconstruction. Archaeologists continued to have a regular place in the radio schedules in the post-war period, contributing expert knowledge of progress in research and scientific methods. At the same time radio producers harnessed developments in sound technology to find new ways of mediating complex archaeological information for public presentation, until in the mid- 1960s the focus for archaeological broadcasting moved to television. The research throws new light on the early years of BBC radio, and on the nature of the Third Programme and the Home Service, and highlights the potential of radio studies to contribute to the historiography of archaeology. Overall the study reveals the central role of radio in the public communication of archaeology, and demonstrates the symbiotic relationship between the developing professions of archaeology and radio production.