Kenneth Adam

Kenneth Adam, CBE, FRSA (1 March 1908 in Nottingham – 18 October 1978) was an English journalist and broadcasting executive, who from 1957 until 1961 served as the Controller of the BBC Television Service.

After attending Nottingham High School, Adam read history at St John's College, Cambridge and graduated with a First Class degree. While at St John's he was both President of the Union and President of the University Liberal Club. After graduating, he joined the staff of the Manchester Guardian newspaper as a journalist at the age of just twenty-two. While working for the Guardian he also began working as a freelance broadcaster for BBC radio in Manchester, leaving the newspaper to join the BBC full-time in 1934 as a Home News Editor.

However, he stayed in radio for just two years before returning to the world of print journalism, joining The Star in 1936. He worked for the paper as a Special Correspondent until 1940, when due to the journalistic restrictions of the Second World War he temporarily left the industry to become the press officer for the British Overseas Airways Corporation. His time at BOAC was short-lived, however, as in 1941 he re-joined the staff of the BBC, this time serving as its Head of Publicity.

Adam spent nine years in this role, before in 1950 the Director General of the BBC, William Haley, took the perhaps surprising decision to appoint him as the Controller of the BBC Light Programme, one of the BBC's most popular national radio stations. Adam took up the post at the end of the year and successfully ran the station for the next four years, although he apparently became frustrated at the lack of opportunities to move across into the newer medium of television, which was his latest ambition.

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