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The BBC Arabic service started in 1938 as 65 minute broadcasts. In 1940 the broadcasts had grown to 1 hour and 25 minutes, and close to two hours by 1942.[6] By the end of World War II, the Arabic-language program was three hours. [6]
The first broadcasts in 1938 featured one news bulletin. Later, by 1940, a second news bulletin followed the morning reading of the Quran.[6]In 1942 a third news bulletin was broadcast at “midday” at 1045 GMT, 1245 local time in the Levant. While the news bulletins were essentially translations of the BBC’s English-language Empire Service, BBC London was in direct contact with the Foreign Office’s diplomatic posts abroad as a source if local news.[6] In 1943 the Arabic Service established a Cairo Office, enabling direct news gathering in the Middle East.