The last voice you'd hear in a nuclear war (297)

Cold War Conversations

The BBC Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS) is a little-known piece of Cold War history that would have been for many the last human voice they heard after a nuclear attack on the UK.

Iain started work for the BBC in 1988 and due to the pressure on training space, was trained in the nuclear bunker at BBC Wood Norton.

After training he went to Broadcasting House in London where he first encountered some of the technical infrastructure the WTBS would use. Iain did a spell in the main control room and recalls the red phone which was the link from Whitehall to initiate the BBC War Book.

Over time Iain has collected knowledge on all aspects of the WTBS and he shares details of where it would have been broadcast from, what would have been heard, and who, in the event of an attack, would have descended into the bunkers to broadcast it.

Iain also delivers a talk on the subject. There are more details on this link.

https://speakernet.co.uk/talk/4000/the-bbc-the-bomb-cold-war-broadcasting-from-the-bunkers

Hack Green Nuclear bunker that has a preserved BBC studio (as seen in our episode cover) https://www.hackgreen.co.uk/

0:00 Introduction to the episode and the BBC wartime broadcasting service

2:05 Introduction of the guest, Ian Benson

3:04 Ian's fascination with the WTS and his experiences at the BBC

8:27 The evolution of the WTS with the onset of the Cold War

13:12 The change in broadcasting plans with the advent of transistor radios

15:33 The BBC's emergency broadcasting facility and its myths

20:01 Changes in television and radio broadcasts during emergencies

25:26 Launch and activation of the Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS)

30:33 The dilemma of duty versus family for BBC staff during emergencies

35:59 Regular exercises and resistance from BBC staff towards emergency broadcasting

44:36 Conclusion and wrap-up of the episode

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Extra videos and photos here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode297/

Previous UK Civil Defence episodes

How Cold War Britain Prepared for Nuclear War https://coldwarconversations.com/episode285/

Cold War leaflets and documents https://coldwarconversations.com/episode112/

Assigned to a government bunker https://coldwarconversations.com/episode107/

Visit to a Royal Observer Corps monitoring post and interview with the Chief Observer who served in the post https://coldwarconversations.com/episode30/

Alistair McCann has preserved a Royal Observer Corps monitoring post as a museum in Northern Ireland. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode11/

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