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This essay considers how radio broadcasting appealed to and reinforced Britannic sentiment during the Second World War. Radio utilised this sentimental appeal to help mobilise a united imperial war effort. Radio played on the bonds of sentiment in a particularly powerful fashion, because it addressed listeners intimately and with a sense of authenticity. It also allowed rapid, regular, and direct communication with audiences over long distances. Imperial broadcasting structures established during the 1920s and 1930s were repurposed for war, under the leadership of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The cooperation of broadcasters (and state information and propaganda agencies) all around the British world was also crucial. Many different producers, writers, artists, and experts helped broadcast Britishness during this period, appealing to Britannic sentiment in a wide variety of ways. Often they linked Britishness with liberty, democracy, and equality, even if this bore little relation to the realities of empire. The British connection was presented as a living and vital force, bringing people together despite their differences. Broadcasters also made a powerful appeal to ideas about a common history and set of traditions. The essay suggests that such themes offered a powerful means of harnessing Britannic sentiment to the needs of war.

This essay considers the role of radio broadcasting in appealing to and reinforcing Britannic sentiment during the Second World War, and thus mobilising a united imperial war effort. Radio played on the bonds of sentiment in a particularly powerful fashion, because it addressed listeners intimately and with a sense of authenticity, and allowed rapid, regular, and direct communication with audiences over long distances. Imperial broadcasting structures established during the 1920s and 1930s were repurposed for war, under the leadership of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), but bringing in broadcasters (and state information and propaganda agencies) all around the British world. Many different producers, writers, artists, and experts helped broadcast Britishness during this period, appealing to Britannic sentiment in a wide variety of ways. Often they linked Britishness with liberty, democracy, and equality, even if this flew in the face of the realities of empire. The British connection was presented as a living and vital force, bringing people together despite divisions of race. Broadcasters also made a powerful appeal to ideas about a common history and set of traditions. The essay suggests that such themes offered a powerful means of harnessing Britannic sentiment to the needs of war.

During the 1920s and 1930s the new medium of radio broadcasting promised to transform society by fostering national unity and strengthening and popularising national cultures. However, many hoped that 'wireless' would also encourage international understanding and world peace. Intentionally or otherwise, wireless signals crossed borders, bringing talk, music, and news to enthusiastic 'distant listeners' in other countries. In Europe, radio was regulated through international consultation and cooperation, to restrict interference between stations, and to unleash the medium's full potential to carry programmes to global audiences. A distinctive form of 'wireless internationalism' emerged, reflecting and reinforcing the broader internationalist movement and establishing structures and approaches which endured into the Second World War, the Cold War, and beyond. This study reveals this untold history. 0'Wireless Internationalism and Distant Listening' also explores the neglected interwar experience of distant listening, revealing the prevalence of listening across borders and explaining how individuals struggled to overcome unwanted noise, tune in as many stations as possible, and comprehend and enjoy what they heard. The volume shows how radio brought the world to Britain, and Britain to the world. It revises our understanding of early BBC broadcasting and the BBC Empire Service (the precursor to today's World Service) and shows how government influence shaped early BBC international broadcasting in English, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese. It also explores the wider European and trans-Atlantic context, demonstrating how Fascism in Italy and Germany, the Spanish Civil War, and the Japanese invasion of China, combined to overturn the utopianism of the 1920s and usher in a new era of wireless nationalism

This text examines how, for much of the 20th century, the BBC supported the British empire, and how it sought to link listeners in Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. It considers the impact of the end of the empire on British broadcasting