The credit for "Sport: Reported by Alan Howland" first appeared in British Movietone News No.312A of May 1935, but within a few months he was almost exclusively employed on this work.

In March 1937, Howland commentated for "The Boat Race" in British Movietone News No.407A,[2] and a writer in the World Film News noted that when he viewed the story "in a tiny Lancashire village hall": "The event of the evening was the derisive roar that greeted the commentator's: 'Ah expect you reahlahs that ahm an Oxford man mahself'."

He made the request on BBC radio on 29 May 1940 for crew with mechanical skills to support the small ships assembled to help in the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940.

[4] In June 1942, he resigned from the BBC in protest at additional menial tasks announcers were called upon to undertake.

[5] He played a small part in a 1945 version of Agatha Christie's "Love from a Stranger" broadcast on the General Forces Programme on 9 May 1945, from 7.30pm to 8.30pm, which was produced by Martyn C. Webster.