Lorimer, Hayden

Hunt, Rachel

Bell, Alistair

Plaine, Vicky

Fitzpatrick, Hannah

Kramber , Adele Liu

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

2026-05-19T12:22:11Z

2026-05-19

This thesis presents a historical-cultural geography of BBC schools radio broadcasting in Scotland. Through an interpretive engagement with mixed archival sources materials, it considers the ways in which the BBC researched, produced, and transmitted radio broadcasts to classrooms across the nation, positioning the medium centrally in children’s primary and secondary education. When tuning in to radio programmes, children were exposed to different voices and sounds from across the nation, and as such, were encouraged to understand Scotland’s past and present, and its place in the world, through differing subjects on the curriculum. By focusing on four different and interrelated themes for analysis, this thesis examines the regulation, production, transmission, and reception of BBC schools radio programmes across Scotland. First, it examines the new media landscape into which schools radio emerged, and the ways in which broadcasts were shaped and regulated by specialist councils and committees. Second, it explores how diverse lesson content was crafted for radio, and how producers incorporated various methods of audio production to engage listening children by bringing the outside world into the classroom. Third, it traces programme content from geography, and geography-adjacent, radio series to analyse the ways that lessons taught children about their country, thus constructing a unique geographical imagining of Scotland. Fourth, it investigates how classroom teachers and their pupils were intended to receive these lessons, absorb the material, and apply it to activities within and beyond the classroom. As an integrated piece, this thesis highlights the significance of listening and learning from radio as it distinctively engaged children with sound, simultaneously shaping new social imaginaries where radio directed pupils’ understanding of nationhood, citizenship, and geography.

https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/44717

https://doi.org/10.7488/era/7232

en

BBC schools radio broadcasting

Scottish education

classroom education

sound production

storytelling techniques

geography lessons

young radio listeners

Listen and learn: examining the role of schools radio broadcasting in Scotland's classrooms

Thesis

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy