UHER. For more than 30 years—until the advent of high-quality cassette recording and subsequently of digital recording—the German Uher portable tape machine was the mainstay of professional radio interviewing and news reporting. Strong, robust, and simple to use, the Report series had a number of tape speeds, although for professionals 7.5 inches per second was the preferred speed for broadcast quality. Set to this speed, the 5-inch tape reels produced 15 minutes of recording. The machine was standard issue when British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) local radio began and developed, from 1967.
ULLSWATER REPORT. The purpose of this committee, under the chairmanship of Lord Ullswater, appointed in 1935, was “to consider the constitution, control and finance of the broadcasting service in this country and advise generally on the conditions under which the service, including broadcasting to the Empire, television broadcasting and the system of wireless exchanges, should be conducted after the 31st December 1936.” The significance of the date was the expiry of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) charter, and it came at a crucial time, given the competition from commercial interests in the form of populist programming from such organizations as Radio Luxembourg and the International Broadcasting Company (IBC). Ullswater mostly ratified and confirmed the previous status of issues relating to the BBC’s structure and character, renewing the charter for a further 10 years. It did however criticize the Corporation for its program content in certain areas, notably its heavy Sunday program policy, and concerns were voiced that the BBC did not consult the political parties on major issues as much as it should and that there were signs that the Corporation was beginning to usurp certain areas of political patronage.
“UNCLE CARACTACUS.” See LEWIS, CECIL.
“UNCLE MAC.” See MCCULLOCH, DEREK.
UNDER MILK WOOD. This “play for voices” by Dylan Thomas was produced first by Douglas Cleverdon for the BBC Third Programme in January 1954. Thomas himself had died two months earlier. Had he lived, he would have played the part of First Voice himself. Instead, the part was given to Richard Burton, whose performance in the role has become legendary. The play—which runs for 90 minutes—grew out of a 1945 radio talk Thomas had given on the Welsh Regional Home Service entitled Quite Early One Morning, which begins: “Quite early one morning in the winter in Wales, by the sea that was lying down still and green as grass after a night of tar-black howling and rolling. . . .” Many of the characters in his talk find their way ultimately into the finished work. In his play, which evolved tortuously over a period of years and which owed its existence almost entirely to Cleverdon’s persuadings, Thomas created a work that is at once a poem and a definition of the radio listening experience. Taking place over one day in a fictional Welsh village, the piece was commissioned not by the Radio Drama Department of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) but by the Features Department. The music was created by Thomas’ boyhood friend, the composer Daniel Jones.
UNIQUE BROADCASTING COMPANY/UBC MEDIA GROUP. Formed in 1989, Unique was a pioneer of sponsored programs for Independent Local Radio. Founded by Noel Edmonds, Simon Cole, and Tim Blackmore, the company was to grow and expand over subsequent years, eventually—as UBC Media—becoming the leading independent production company in the UK. In 1992, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began experimenting with independent production for radio, and Unique soon won contracts with all five networks. In 1999, the company floated on the UK stock market as UBC Media Group plc, and used the investment to expand into digital broadcasting through Oneword and Classic Gold Digital. In August 2005, Edmonds cashed in his stake in the company for £1.35 million.
UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMES COMPANY (UPC). This was the production wing of the International Broadcasting Company (IBC), and its role was to package sponsored programs in Britain, for transmission from the IBC’s continental stations. UPC was based at 37 Portland Place—just 200 yards from Broadcasting House— during the 1930s.
UNIVERSAL RADIO PUBLICITY. Formerly known as Radio Publicity, Ltd., this pioneering independent producer of sponsored programs is known to have been active as early as 1929, when it produced a program of dance music on Radio Paris, sponsored by Revelation Suitcases. After the company’s name change, in October 1930, it also broadcast nightly sponsored shows on Irish radio.