Navy Mixture

The BBC General Forces Programme was a BBC radio station from 27 February 1944 until 31 December 1946.

Upon the outbreak of World War II, the BBC closed the existing BBC National Programme and BBC Regional Programme, combining the two to form a single channel known as the BBC Home Service.

The former transmitters of the National Programme continued to broadcast the Home Service until 1940, when the lack of choice and lighter programming for people serving in the Armed Forces was noted. At that point, some frequencies were given to a new entertainment network, the BBC Forces Programme.

The BBC Forces Programme was replaced when the influx of American soldiers, used to a different style of entertainment programming, had to be catered for in the run up to D-Day. The replacement service was named the BBC General Forces Programme and was also broadcast on shortwave on the frequencies of the BBC Empire Service (itself reborn after the war as the BBC General Overseas Service and now known as the BBC World Service).

The BBC Forces Programme was launched to appeal directly to those members of the armed services during the Phony War who were mainly sat in barracks with little to do.

Its mixture of drama, comedy, popular music, features, quiz shows and variety was richer and more varied than the former National Programme, although it continued to supply lengthy news bulletins and informational programmes and talk.

However, when the American servicemen arrived en masse in 1943 and 1944 in preparation for Operation Overlord, they found even the richer Forces Programme shows to be staid and slow compared with the existing output of the American networks.

In response to appeals from General Eisenhower, the BBC abolished the Forces Programme and established the General Forces Programme, designed to provide a mixture of programming suitable for American and British audiences and also to appeal to the "Home Front", who, research had shown, wished to listen to the same output as the forces once fighting had broken out.

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