British Bouquet

For six weeks Maurice Winnick, one of Britain's top bandmen and radio producers (e.g., Ignorance Is Bliss, British version of It Pays to Be Ignorant), had been in the U.S., lining up British rights to U.S. radio shows. By the time he sailed for home last week, he had also lined up some decided views on the differences between state-monopoly (British) and private-enterprise (U.S.) broadcasting systems:

"All in all, British broadcasting isn't in it with you Americans. Here you've made a great study of radio. In England it's very amateur. Our apparatus, compared to yours, is quaint, and we have almost no good producers or writers. There are all sorts of reasons. . . .

"First, there is no training ground for radio producers, writers, or engineers in Britain such as your hundreds of small-town stations. In all Britain there is only one station, the BBC. Second, since there's only one station, nobody vies with anybody to produce better shows. Here you have. . . .rehearsals before a show goes on. In Britain there is generally none. . . . "It's really very bad for the individual artist, too. To begin with, the BBC is raddled with nepotism. You just can't get on the air without knowing someone. Well, think how it would be here if there were only one station. And once you're on, you have to be continually currying favor to stay on. Just when your show gets going, they're very likely to drop you. And by the time you get back everyone has forgotten you. And, of course, there's no money in it. It's just a way to keep your name before the public so you can make money on other engagements. . . . "That isn't to say that everything is bad about British broadcasting. We do give a good bit more attention to the cultural side. ... There is a whole wavelength, called the Third Program, for just that sort of thing (TIME, Nov. 4). Here, the only cultural programs I heard were broadcast after everyone had gone to bed. "And, of course, on the BBC there are none of those frightful commercials. . . . If the British public had any idea of changing to commercial broadcasting, and then heard one of your 'plugs,' that would finish it."

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