{"id":37090,"date":"2023-09-20T16:29:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T14:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1893155"},"modified":"2023-09-20T21:53:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T19:53:42","slug":"justin-webb-on-how-his-grandfather-became-the-first-radio-times-editor","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/justin-webb-on-how-his-grandfather-became-the-first-radio-times-editor\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Webb on how his grandfather became the first Radio Times editor"},"content":{"rendered":"

“When Reith asked Leonard Crocombe to set up The Radio Times he was making quite a statement.” <\/p>

By Justin Webb\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 20 September 2023 at 14:29 PM<\/p>

\n\n

This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

He is one of the forgotten characters of British journalism.<\/p>\n

In his day he was a power in the nation, a fan of new media and a manipulator of the old. A friend of the BBC general manager John Reith (until the boss fired him) but a friend mostly of the reader, the listener, the folks at home. He was a popular journalist in the days when most journalism was still stuffy. In that respect, he set us all free.<\/p>\n

When Reith asked Leonard Crocombe to set up The Radio Times<\/strong>, he was making quite a statement. Crocombe was already a hugely successful editor of an outlet he was turning into one of the most recognisable brands on any pre-war news stand.<\/p>

Tit-Bits dealt in titbits; competitions, slices of life and contributions from readers for which they could be paid. There were adverts for life insurance, biscuits in those tins we now regard as collectors\u2019 items and tonics with various supposed but unproven benefits.<\/p>\n

Crocombe brought this zest for real life and real people\u2019s concerns to the new magazine for radio listeners \u2013 from the outset, Radio Times was about you, the listener.<\/p>\n

He would have loved the magazine\u2019s adaptation to TV<\/a>, just as he would have welcomed digital TV, podcasts and whatever comes next. In the photograph he might look a tad fusty for modern tastes, but that\u2019s how cutting-edge chaps dressed then.<\/p>\n

And he really was at the forefront of any innovation going. In October 1922, he became the first Fleet Street editor to make a gramophone record \u2013 as a stand-up comedian. To Make You Smile cost three shillings and sixpence. In March of the following year, he was the first editor to make a radio broadcast, from the London station of the Marconi Company.<\/p>\n

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