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Old 14th Feb 2020, 9:39 pm   #107
Paul_RK
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Fakenham, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 4,246
Default Re: Favourite Radio Stations past and present.

I'm the happy owner of a vintage copy of the BBC Variety Programmes Policy Guide, a gem of a volume outlining the standards to be observed : "'When in doubt, leave it out' is the wisest maxim".

"Well-known vulgar jokes (e.g. the Brass Monkey) 'cleaned up', are not normally admissible since the humour in such cases is almost invariably evident only if the vulgar version is known."

"There is an absolute ban upon the following:_...
Suggestive references to -
Fig leaves
Ladies' underwear, e.g. winter draws on
Animal habits, e.g. rabbits
Lodgers
Commercial travellers..."

"Extreme care should be taken in dealing with references to or jokes about-
Pre-natal influences (e.g. 'His mother was frightened by a donkey')"

"American idiom and slang, for instance, frequently find their way quite inappropriately into scripts, and dance-band singers for the most part elect to adopt pseudo-American accents. The BBC believes that this spurious Americanisation of programmes - whether in the writing or the interpretation - is unwelcome to the great majority of listeners and, incidentally, seldom complimentary to the Americans."

"The jazzing by dance bands of classical tunes or the borrowing and adaptation of them is normally unacceptable".

"Avoid any reference to 'The MacGillicuddy of the Reeks'..."

"Jokes like 'enough to make a Maltese Cross' are of doubtful value".

And so on, together with a prohibition on derogatory references to Bakelite, Nylon or Spam, and a list of the seven living artists who had notified the Corporation that they must not be impersonated on air without their prior permission. Presumably there's a, rather different, little booklet in current circulation still aiming to maintain "a standard that will be acceptable by most rational people".

Paul
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