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An Unusual Man - Live
BBC Symphony Orchestra
,
Jules Buckley
,
Public Service Broadcasting
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Now come two important dates in that eventful year of 1922
November 14th, the official start of the
Company's broadcasting service from station 2LO
December 14th, the appointment of the company's
General manager, John Charles Walsham Reith
Here was someone markedly and patently not of the common run
Someone one couldn't have invented, an original
Was it not he who gave its shape to the public service institution
Who secured its political independence
Who fought for and maintained its total
Freedom from the commercial pressures
That stalk broadcasting in many other countries?
Of course it was
His fame is safe for the history books
Only a very unusual man could have built up from the beginning
So unusual and vast an enterprise
High courage, wide vision, the power of rapid decisions
A broad span of knowledge and sympathy
Great energy and drive, political prudence
A sound judgment of character and exact administrative memory
And that measure of technical and engineering knowledge
Which was necessary to command the
Respect of a great engineering staff
All these qualities were desirable
And all were found in Sir John Reith