On the eighteenth of April 1930, absolutely nothing of any
importance happened. At least, according to the British Broadcasting Service,
there was nothing newsworthy to report. It was the start of the regularly
scheduled radio news broadcast at 8:45 p.m. Listeners all over the British
Isles tuned in and heard, “Good Evening. Today is Good Friday. There is no
news.” This unexpected announcement was followed by fifteen solid minutes of pre-recorded
piano music. Then at 9:00 p.m. the radio station resumed its broadcast of
Wagner’s opera Parsifal. I don’t know if anyone was annoyed there weren’t any
news stories to follow, but I do know no one switched stations. I know this
because the BBC had a nationwide monopoly on radio news until 1972. I’m guessing
the listening audience was surprised, but not genuinely distressed. After all,
no news is good news.
No comments:
Post a Comment