IMPERIAL WIRELESS COMMITTEE (1920). During World War I, it became clear that wireless was an important form of strategic communication. Even prior to this the use of the telegraph had been recognized for business and government (See also TELEGRAPH ACTS). After the war, it became increasingly clear that there was an immediate priority to extend this new medium for the uses of business, governmental concerns, and journalism as widely as possible. It was also becoming clear that there was a potential for home entertainment inherent within the medium, which was highly significant, but which relied on the spread of receiver-ownership. In May 1920, Sir Henry Norman was appointed chairman of a committee to examine the possibilities for the creation of an imperial wireless network. Among its findings, the committee stated: “that an Imperial wireless scheme . . . would afford reliable, expeditious and economical communication for commercial, social and press purposes throughout the Empire. . . .” Thus, it might be seen that the concept of an Empire Service, later to become the BBC’s World Service, was present in legislative thinking even prior to the establishment of a domestic broadcasting service.
I’M SORRY I’LL READ THAT AGAIN. This comedy show broadcast on Radio 2 from 1964–1968 epitomized a sea-change in British humor following the boom in satire in the early part of the decade, in particular, Beyond the Fringe. Previously, much radio comedy had grown out of the music-hall tradition and wartime conventions. Coming largely from an Oxbridge review background, notably the Cambridge Footlights, the main cast members of I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again purveyed a themeless, anarchic silliness in their quick-fire presentation that caught the mood of the time and even turned its satire onto the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) itself. The program helped to launch many successful media careers, among them those of John Cleese, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jo Kendall, Graham Garden, Bill Oddie, and a future Radio 2 and Radio 4 controller, David Hatch.
I’M SORRY I HAVEN’T A CLUE. Subtitled, “The antidote to panel games,” I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, devised by Graeme Garden, grew out of the comedy show, I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again, with all the original panel members—Garden, Bill Oddie, Jo Kendall, and Tim Brooke-Taylor—coming from the latter program. Later, Kendall and Oddie were replaced by Barry Cryer and Willie Rushton. After Rushton’s death, the program continued with a variety of guests joining the regulars. Hosted by Humphrey Lyttelton, it was first broadcast on 11 April 1972 and has been heard on both Radio 2 and Radio 4. Its appeal is based largely on word play and punning, and the popularity of the program has increased over its existence of more than 30 years. One of its most enduring components is a parody of a board game, “Mornington Crescent,” the humor of which is in its impenetrably complex rules. Originally recorded in front of an invited audience in a number of London venues, such as the Playhouse and Westminster Theatres, and the Paris Studios in Lower Regent Street, more recently the program has been taken on the road and tours to regional venues.
INDEPENDENT BROADCASTING AUTHORITY (IBA). When legalized commercial radio began in Britain in 1973, regulatory responsibility was placed in the hands of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, a body developed from the Independent Television Authority (ITA). In 1990, it was dissolved, and a radio-specific regulator, the Radio Authority, was established in its place. The IBA had two directors of radio: John Thompson from 1973–1987 and Peter Baldwin from 1987–1990, when he became the chief executive of the new authority. The IBA was criticized by many commercial operators for what was seen as the overstringency of its regulatory powers, which at first threatened to stifle development of the new sector. At the same time, this same regulatory rigor produced much imaginative programming on Independent Local Radio (ILR) in its first 17 years.
INDEPENDENT LOCAL RADIO (ILR). See COMMERCIAL RADIO.
INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION. In 1994, BBC Radio initiated a commitment to commission a minimum level of 10% of nonnews programs from the independent production sector. Certain networks, such as Radio 4, controlled this by setting up an approved supplier list, in order to ensure that only companies with appropriate skills and a known track record of production could offer program ideas at commissioning rounds. The policy of having in-house and independent program makers providing content for British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) networks is one that had previously been introduced in television. Since its inception, the amount of independently produced content on BBC Radio has grown across all networks.
INDEPENDENT RADIO DRAMA PRODUCTIONS (IRDP). Independent Radio Drama Productions, a non-profit-making company formed with the intention of promoting radio drama to expand opportunities for writers coming to the medium for the first time, started in 1987. Run by Tim Crook, Richard Shannon, and Marja Giejgo, the company ran festivals and competitions resulting in the production and broadcast of writers who otherwise would not have had the chance to hear their work on air. IRDP’s work was frequently heard in the United States via the National Public Radio (NPR) network, and NPR commissioned a number of original productions, including The Sherlock Holmes Stories.
IRDP had a theater subsidiary, On Air Theatre Company, that mounted a number of stage productions in and around London during the 1990s, as well as a U.S. sister organization, the Anglo-American Radio Drama Company, run by Charles Potter, with Crook and Shannon as vice-presidents. Like IRDP, this company has achieved a number of prestigious commissions from NPR, and continues to develop. Independent Radio Drama Productions supplied a season of drama to Oneword Radio in 2003 but subsequently ceased trading in the UK. It has developed the Internet as a means of disseminating its work globally.
INDEPENDENT RADIO NEWS (IRN). Independent Radio News began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, the day that commercial radio was officially launched in the United Kingdom. The first bulletins came from basement studios in Gough Square, just off Fleet Street in London, at that time the center of the British national newspaper industry, and IRN’s first client was the London Broadcasting Company (LBC). IRN’s role, then as now, was to provide a 24-hour service of national and international news to the UK commercial radio network. Initially, it was funded by cash payments from the stations receiving the service, and material was distributed by landline and teleprinter.
The method of funding changed in 1987, when Newslink was introduced. This was a system whereby advertising airtime replaced cash payments from stations, thus making the service free to companies receiving it. By the early 1990s, the Newslink scheme was so successful that IRN was able to pay its client stations an annual loyalty bonus.
Other innovative developments that have contributed to IRN becoming one of the world’s most successful radio news providers have been the introduction of computer technology (in 1985, the switching of distribution from landline to satellite (in 1989), and the introduction of Internet distribution (in 2001).
By 2005, the number of stations taking the IRN service in the UK had risen to almost 300, with a total audience of 26 million listeners.
INMAN, PHILIP (1892–1979). Philip Albert Inman, Lord Inman of Knaresborough, held the post of chairman of the British Broadcastin Corporation (BBC) for just four months in 1947. Involved with both the medical profession and the church, he was also a member of the Labour Party and resigned shortly after his appointment to take up the post of Lord Privy Seal in the Labour government of Clement Attlee.
INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY (IBC). The purpose of the IBC, established by Leonard Plugge in March 1930, was to sell and broadcast sponsored programming to Great Britain from transmission sites on the Continent, thus breaking the BBC’s monopoly. This began with Radio Normandy in 1931, and the company applied its principles of buying airtime to resell to clients on other stations, including Radio Paris, Radio Rome, Radio Toulouse, Radio Ljubljana, and Radio Côte d’Azur. Initially, headquarters were at 11 Hallam Street, London, adjacent to Broadcasting House, but as the Company gained in financial strength it moved to larger premises in Portland Place. Program information was carried by only one national newspaper, the Sunday Referee, due to a boycott of commercial radio stations by the British newspaper industry. This was countered by the establishment of the IBC Program Sheet in 1933, and subsequently by the establishment of the more sophisticated Radio Pictorial from August 1934 until the outbreak of World War II.
During its existence, the IBC instigated a series of initiatives to develop listenership and create a sense of itself as a truly international organization. Among these was the IBC Club, advertised in June 1933 in the newspaper the Sunday Referee and—according to its own publicity—attracting a nationwide membership. Other uses of the IBC brand included the “IBC Empire Transmission” from Spain, shortwave transmissions sponsored by Philco All-Wave Radios (see EAQ MADRID), and the I. B. C. Yankee Network, a series of transcription programs from WNAC, Boston, and WEAN, Providence. These ran from December 1934–September 1935.
After World War II, despite strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to reestablish its flagship station, Radio Normandy, the IBC was unable to operate as it had previously, but it remained in existence as a production house in one form or another into the 1970s.
IN TOUCH. This weekly Radio 4 program for the visually impaired began in 1961, and was believed to be the world’s only national radio series for the blind. The show’s presenters have always been blind themselves, from its first, David Scott Blackhall, to Peter White, who also became disability affairs correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The aim of the program is to bring news, issues, and current affairs topics relating to the blind to as wide an audience as possible. One of the program’s great strengths has long been the fact that there is a strong interactive spirit between the production team and the audience, from whom many of the issues that make up the content arise.
IN TOWN TODAY. This program, broadcast on Saturday lunchtimes on the BBC Light Programme, was an attempt at preserving the formula that had sustained In Town Tonight since 1933 in the face of changing listener habits brought about by the coming of television. The first edition, on 24 September 1960, came exactly one week after its predecessor’s final broadcast. A blend of interviews with current personalities and celebrities presented by Nan Winton, Michael Smee, and Tony Bilbow, it ran for more than five years, finally ending in December 1965.
IN TOWN TONIGHT. The program was a significant development in popular UK radio entertainment and broke new ground in its reflection of the “working-class” voice juxtaposed with “star” names of the day. The first edition was broadcast on 18 November 1933 and featured, among many others, Bette Davis. The last program was broadcast on 17 September 1960. One of the key features was its use of outside broadcasting as an integral part of its content. It became a key part of UK Saturday evening radio entertainment for 30 years, with its iconic opening announcement—“Once again we stop the mighty roar of London’s traffic”—and its signature tune, “The Knightsbridge March” by Eric Coates.
IPOD. The computer company Apple launched the iPod MP3 player in 2002. The device quickly became a style icon for the young, at the same time becoming a key part of the download revolution that began to change the music industry significantly. The capability to download songs cheaply, create playlists (effectively the listener’s own schedules), and gain control of music consumption forced new thinking among music stations globally. In an extremely short time, executives perceived that programming had the potential to move from a “push” culture (output determined by radio stations and sent to a largely passive audience) to a “pull” culture, whereby listeners selected what they wanted to listen to, and with the aid of such devices as the iPod, could choose to listen when and where they wanted to. See also PODCASTING.
IT’S THAT MAN AGAIN (ITMA). It’s That Man Again was the most popular and well-known radio comedy program of the World War II years and, some would argue, of all time. Created by Ted Kavanagh and starring Tommy Handley, it took its title from a Daily Express headline on Adolf Hitler. It ran for 310 episodes, through many series from July 1939 to January 1949, and captured the heart of the nation with its blend of quick-fire humor and zany characters who became familiar through their regular appearances.