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OTD in early British television: 10 March 1939

10th March 2025

John Wyver writes: Friday 10 March 1939 saw the publication of Radio Times issue no 806. Around one-third of the copies distributed in the south of England carried television listings and the ‘diary column written by ‘The Scanner’.

These ‘television editions’ are a key element of the pre-war medium, not least because they would have been seen more regularly by far more people than would have had domestic receivers, of which there were perhaps just 18,000 in spring 1939. For many people, these magazines defined what television was.

The 30-line trasnmissions were barely visible in Radio Times, with only short, generic listings included among the radio programmes. When transmissions began from Alexandra Palace, the magazine carried two television-focussed covers in successive weeks (celebrations of the new medium that were not to be repeated before the war), and then in January 1939, a substantial Television Supplement was produced by the magazine. This included features, full-page photographs and extensive listings.

But with sales of receivers slow to take off, this lavish attention did not last. Within three months most of the advertisements were gone, as were the full-page images, the cover was given over to ‘gossip column’-type text, and the pagination now numbered just eight with three dedicated to listings. Then in the final slimline Supplement published in mid-July, the three listings pages occupied all the space apart from the cover, which again was ‘News for televiewers’ text.

Following which, and once the summer break of the service was concluded, ‘Television of the Week’ featured from mid-August as just a single page with bare-bones listings and credits and a few paragraphs contributed by ‘The Scanner’. The page had been pulled up to near the front of the magazine, but the new medium’s presence was much diminished.

Only in spring 1938 was the single listings page regularly complemented by additional space, usually in the form of an additional two-column ‘Television news by “The Scanner”’ feature, and but on occasions a page of photographs and extended captions headed ’In television this week’. Occasional additional features began to appear as well, and the listings at times occupy an additional half-page, and sometimes a full spread, alongside additional copy from ‘The Scanner’, until the war.

By spring 1939, the magazine was a confident weekly, usually with a single monochrome image dominating the front cover (above), aligning it on the newstands with Picture Post and journals offering photojournalism. The entirely typical 10 March issue, which can be found in full here, carries 50 pages of National and Regional radio listings, 15 pages of features about radio as well as tips for the home, and 25 pages of advertisements. The one-and-a-bit Television listings feel distinctly marginal by comparison.

Compared with later Television listings, these carry minimal information, in some cases just a programme title and time, and in others basic credits and a cast list, usually including the name of the producer.

Alongside the Television listings is a 2/3s of a page column by ‘The Scanner’, who this week writes about an investigation into the main causes of television interference and the availability of suppressors, about Saturday’s sports OBs, which noticeably do not feature the Calcutta Cup rugby clash covered by radio, and about a couple of snippets of programme news. As in most weeks, the feature carries a small, somewhat muddy photograph, in this case of the Head of the River boat race.

The pseudonymous ‘The Scanner’, who can confidently be identified as Radio Times staff journalist Harold Rathbone, was the dominant voice about television in the pre-war magazine. Contributing to the majority of the issues, he trailed forthcoming programmes, provided biographical snippets about performers and producers, and wrote about changes in production processes. The latter elements mean that their columns, composed in an informed, relentlessly upbeat but drily witty voice, are an invaluable source for operation of the service.