BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts, 1939-2001 This link opens in a new windowSearch this primary source database for a window into radio broadcasts happening in the second half of the 20th century. At the start of WWII, trained specialists listened to radio broadcasts from around the world to help Britain and its allies gather open-source intelligence. Over the next 60 years, BBC expanded its scope and listened to radio broadcasts of all sorts of events. Transcripts were created, then translated into English, then read by experts, who then selected the critical content and compiled it into the daily reports that comprise this database. (Newsbank/Readex)