Principio y finalidad de la gestión de almacén

This thesis draws upon a number of works which describe the conditions of the 1920s and 1930s, in particular Branson’s two studies (1971, 1975; the 1971 work is with Heinemann) of the economic and employment conditions of the 1920s and 1930s, which so vividly brought to life the harsh conditions of the period. Mowat describes the increasing leisure hours the working class came to have, and how they spent this new-found leisure (1966). Carey’s (1992) thought-provoking work opened up considerable insights into the attitudes prevailing between the classes, in particular the response of distaste exhibited by the intelligentsia to the growth of the mass culture enjoyed by the working classes. Todd’s extensive studies (2003, 2004, 2005 and 2009) of the conditions of working-class women provided the background into the class relations of the period, and added insights into the human stories behind the statistics. These social and cultural histories are important in providing the backdrop to the developments of broadcasting. This would necessarily have been different if it had come at another moment in history, when the lower classes had less leisure time and fewer aspirations, or when society had not been so profoundly shaken by the impact of the First World War.

Conclusion

There have been studies of magazines in the past, but none have dealt specifically with broadcasting magazines, apart from the subject of the wireless press, which has attracted a degree of attention. However, even studies on the wireless press have not set the magazines against the context of the contemporary wider magazines market. This is an important exercise because the comparison reveals aspects of this sector of the magazine market which

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were unusual or even unique. The readers’ letters, section of a publication, mostly in newspapers, is another area which has received considerable attention and these studies have been very useful in identifying firstly that readers who have chosen to air their views cannot necessarily be regarded as representing the opinion of the rest of the readership, and secondly that editors apply filters which fit their agenda when deciding which letters to publish. These are important qualifications to understand when analysing the meaning and significance of the letters.

There is a body of literature to be found around the subject of broadcasting, which is concerned with the technology itself and how the wireless was assimilated into the home. But none of these texts make the link with the magazine market, which is the subject of this research. The accounts on the development of broadcasting by contemporary figures of the have assisted in the recreating the impact of early broadcasting, and some recollections, such as those of the Radio Times editor Gorham, have provided critical information which could not have been found elsewhere. Post Second World War histories, notably Briggs’ work on the BBC and Street’s work on commercial competition, have provided information on the construction of the broadcasting “machine” in the UK; social and cultural histories of the period have provided the context to complete the picture.

Reviewing the literature on or around the subject of broadcasting, the contribution which broadcasting magazines made to the creation and support of the industry represents a gap in collective knowledge. Moreover, studying the magazines through this lens highlights the cultural contribution which the magazines were making to society at the time, and have left to posterity. Since no previous studies exist on this specific area of research, investigation was required using the primary material of the BBC’s own documents, held at the BBC Written Archives at Caversham, much of which has only been recently released. In addition, the magazines themselves have represented a most important primary resource. For the first time, this thesis integrates the themes of the magazines, the commercial competition of the 1930s and the BBC’s reaction to it and the response of the British listening public, as indicated in their letters to the magazines.

35 Chapter Two

An Explanation of Methods and Methodology

Magazines can be studied as shapers, reflectors, cultural crucibles, agenda setters, power brokers, historical entities, community builders, framers, feminist manifestos, economic commodities, advocates, post-modern documents, and more. How do we tackle magazines and their meanings? What kinds of methodologies should we use? Should our approach be quantitative, qualitative, historical, descriptive, Marxist, literary, feminist, post-modern, or economic?¹⁹

Overview of Methodology

The first task was to determine what constitutes a broadcasting magazine and to gather the titles together into a bibliography. From this list it would then be possible to group the magazines together, identify different types in order to select suitable material for closer analysis. It was necessary to identify effective methods for accomplishing the following:

1. Compiling a broadcasting magazine bibliography 2. Categorising broadcasting magazine titles into types

3. Positioning the magazines in the context of their own medium 4. Narrowing the selection of individual titles

5. Selecting component sections of the magazines

6. Selecting specific weekly numbers for comparative analysis

7. Identifying a methodology for examining readers’ letters in individual numbers   Of all the studies of magazines examined there was one which offered a methodology for categorising material which can serve as a model. The aim of White’s (1970) work was:

To analyse the modern women’s periodicals against their historical background, relating the development of the industry to social, economic and technical change, and showing how these three sets of factors have affected the its structure and evolution, and influenced the scope and character of magazine content.²⁰

White’s work has some similarities with aspects of the present study, and she meticulously explains the method employed to examine such a broad spread of titles. Her initial task was to compile a list of the magazines published within the specified period. She then examined

19 Johnson, 2007, p.524.

20 White, 1970, p.18.

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an example of each title, and compiled a brief record of its “characteristics”, devising a general description of the typical contents, classifying each title according to a type, and assigning a class and age group to establish the probable targeted market. Such classification was necessarily subjective.

Drawing a sample from the list, White selected 42 titles for analysis, attempting to provide a

“representative, chronological coverage of all women’s magazines published between 1800 and 1968” (White, 1970, p.18). White proceeded to examine an extant example of each of her chosen titles, initially at 25-yearly intervals in the Nineteenth Century, 10-yearly intervals between 1900 and the Second World War, and 5-yearly intervals in the Post-War period; the intervals were progressively compressed to allow for the accelerating pace of social change.

She then constructed a list of generic content categories, and assessed “the cumulative composition” (White, 1970, p.19) of an entire year’s worth of issues against this list.

Crucially, she too felt it necessary to undertake a survey of the changing social situation over the past two centuries, particularly with regard to the changing position of women.

White’s work has been useful in suggesting a structured, methodical framework for categorising a sub-genre of magazines and for selecting material study, and the methodology for this study drew upon White’s techniques for categorising the titles.