Description: This paper focuses on historical dimensions of knowledge transformation by university academics, in particular the role of academics in radio broadcasting. For more than fifty years, academics have been involved in various forms of knowledge creation and transformation in the cultural setting of the broadcasting media; academics and other educators have used radio (and more recently television) to spread their own knowledge outside the educational environment, directly into the homes of their audience. The most obvious implementation of this is, of course, the Open University and its counterparts across Europe and the world. There have, however, been other examples including schools broadcasting, armed forces programmes and study circles. Less didactic in approach but nonetheless effective have been a whole range of documentaries, talks, and discussion programmes. We argue that this form of engagement, between academic expert and listener via the medium of radio, represents a significant form of knowledge transformation. Using examples from the broadcast output of BBC radio during the two decades after the Second World War, the paper considers how knowledge was shaped and reshaped for the different radio audiences and the diverse forms of programming devised to meet their educational needs. It engages with various forms of programming, from regional and national to international, with particular reference to the role of discussion and talk programmes as early manifestations of distance education. It considers the relationship between knowledge production and transformation by academic 'producers' and broadcasters into forms conducive to informal learning; the transformation of knowledge into an accessible format which in turn could have a transformative effect on its listeners. Methodology: The approach used is research based, drawing on traditional historical research methods. It includes literature search and archive work with primary source material and seeks to locate the analysis within contemporary theoretical and policy perspectives on the role of universities in knowledge generation and exchange. The most important sources of information are the extensive archives on radio programmes, policy and audience appreciation indices held by the BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC), Reading, UK. Conclusions: The paper attempts to draw conclusions about the relationship between knowledge experts and expert knowledge. It provides new historical evidence on recent international debates about the relevance of universities to their social, economic or cultural communities. The main outcome of the paper is a call for contemporary views on academic engagement between universities and society to be reconsidered, both within the UK and Europe. Far from 'some imagined past in which universities and their employees were little concerned with the needs of society or the economy,' (Bond and Paterson 2005) university academics have long been closely involved in educational and cultural encounters via radio broadcasting.