Radio Luxembourg and the Eurodollar Market Are Both Offshore Stations

Abstract

Radio Luxembourg developed in the late 1940s as a commercial broadcasting station that would supply its programs to more than 100 million potential listeners in two markets, Britain and France. At the time neither the British Government nor the French Government permitted commercial broadcasting. Broadcasting was a government monopoly and the programs in each country reflected what the producers — the bureaucrats at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and at Radio Diffusion Française (RDF) — felt their listening publics should have. Perhaps these government officials had correctly gauged their public’s wants and needs. Perhaps, but unlikely. If they had, they would not have needed monopoly power to limit the public’s choice of programs.