Horlicks Cardboard Shop Advertising Display

Advertising display board for 'Horlicks Picture House', a sponsored radio show that was broadcast on Radio Luxembourg, Radio Normandie and Paris Radio. The display lists the radio stations on which the adverts could be heard.

Broadcasting from the Continent these stations were not limited by the same restrictions placed on the BBC, where carrying any form of advertising is forbidden. Signals were beamed towards Britain and received mainly in the South of England.

Horlicks sponsored a daily radio show, 'Horlicks Tea Time Hour' and 'Horlicks Picture House' on Sundays, when the BBC were usually broadcasting religious programmes. The shop display board advertises the stations on which the programme could be heard.

Debroy Somers advertised here is typical of the popular dance bands played on the stations. Somers had appeared on BBC radio and was a regular on Radio Luxembourg, where he performed on other sponsored programmes.

Commercial broadcasts were stopped following the outbreak of the Second World War. Returning post-war, by the 1960s the impact of popular music played on ‘pirate radio’ stations Radio Luxembourg and Radio Caroline led to the creation of BBC Radio 1 and the reorganisation of BBC radio to cater for younger musical tastes.