The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940
This article explores how the reception of early Arabic radio broadcasts throughout the Arabian Peninsula was connected to global media markets and geopolitics leading up to the Second World War. Specifically, it uses British efforts to establish the BBC Arabic service to investigate the various rad...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Arabian Humanities |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/arabianhumanities/9746 |
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| author | Gabriel Lavin |
| author_facet | Gabriel Lavin |
| author_sort | Gabriel Lavin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores how the reception of early Arabic radio broadcasts throughout the Arabian Peninsula was connected to global media markets and geopolitics leading up to the Second World War. Specifically, it uses British efforts to establish the BBC Arabic service to investigate the various radio stations and other technologies that defined the region’s global media landscape during the 1930s. It argues that, while the BBC broadcasts pushed colonial territories in Arabian Peninsula away from British India into the fold of Britain's Middle East administration, colonial officials had to acknowledge Arabia’s social, economic, and cultural ties to the Indian Ocean region in order to have the BBC successfully compete with German and Italian broadcasts among Arab and Muslim audiences worldwide. As such, the article also suggests that the Arabian Peninsula’s role in the history of early Arabic broadcasting is significantly more important than previously assumed in scholarship. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1fb9deb64f77450fa94ce8f61ae771fa |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2308-6122 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Centre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de Sanaa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arabian Humanities |
| spelling | doaj-art-1fb9deb64f77450fa94ce8f61ae771fa2025-08-20T01:52:31ZengCentre Français d’Archéologie et de Sciences Sociales de SanaaArabian Humanities2308-61222023-07-011710.4000/cy.9746The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940Gabriel LavinThis article explores how the reception of early Arabic radio broadcasts throughout the Arabian Peninsula was connected to global media markets and geopolitics leading up to the Second World War. Specifically, it uses British efforts to establish the BBC Arabic service to investigate the various radio stations and other technologies that defined the region’s global media landscape during the 1930s. It argues that, while the BBC broadcasts pushed colonial territories in Arabian Peninsula away from British India into the fold of Britain's Middle East administration, colonial officials had to acknowledge Arabia’s social, economic, and cultural ties to the Indian Ocean region in order to have the BBC successfully compete with German and Italian broadcasts among Arab and Muslim audiences worldwide. As such, the article also suggests that the Arabian Peninsula’s role in the history of early Arabic broadcasting is significantly more important than previously assumed in scholarship.https://journals.openedition.org/arabianhumanities/9746mediaIslamArabian PeninsulaIndian Oceanmusicradio |
| spellingShingle | Gabriel Lavin The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940 Arabian Humanities media Islam Arabian Peninsula Indian Ocean music radio |
| title | The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940 |
| title_full | The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940 |
| title_fullStr | The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940 |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940 |
| title_short | The Airwaves in Arabia: BBC Arabic, British Imperialism, and the Arabian Peninsula’s Global Listenership, c. 1933-1940 |
| title_sort | airwaves in arabia bbc arabic british imperialism and the arabian peninsula s global listenership c 1933 1940 |
| topic | media Islam Arabian Peninsula Indian Ocean music radio |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/arabianhumanities/9746 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gabriellavin theairwavesinarabiabbcarabicbritishimperialismandthearabianpeninsulasgloballistenershipc19331940 AT gabriellavin airwavesinarabiabbcarabicbritishimperialismandthearabianpeninsulasgloballistenershipc19331940 |