It's 1922, and significant events are happening all around the world. Ivy Williams makes history by becoming the first woman to be called to the English bar, Howard Carter discovers Tutankhamun's tomb, and TS Eliot's iconic poem, The Waste Land, is published. At the same time, Branston Pickle enters production at the Cross & Blackwell factory in Staffordshire.
Also in 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is founded. One of its earliest components is 2LO, the second London radio station, which becomes the home of the BBC's first radio broadcasts. Despite the lack of a full schedule, the station quickly proves popular, and its first radio transmissions are produced from a small hut. Today, the BBC remains a national institution, and we are still uncovering the schedule and history of those earliest broadcasts.
Before 2LO
"The UK’s first weekly radio show was broadcast on 14 February 1922 from a former military hut in Writtle, using the call sign 2MT or ‘Two Emma Toc’. The experimental, irreverent shows proved to be so popular with audiences that they led to the creation of the BBC on 18 October 1922."
Interactive website which includes digital recreation of the hut, which is in Chelmsford Museum's collection and connected documents. More information here.
[Chelmsford Museum]
"The third episode of A Century Remembered, presented by Robert Kee, about the birth of the BBC."
[BBC Clips][BBC Programme Index]
"The press fulminated, the enthusiasts were frustrated, and the radio manufacturers fumed. Despite the fact that Marconi had invented radio before Queen Victoria had celebrated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897, radio in Britain took another 25 years to begin an official service to listeners. But when, on November 14th 1922 the British Broadcasting Company's station at Marconi House radiated to an awaiting nation "This is 2LO calling" for the first time under the company's name, it marked the start of the first and most distinguished public-service radio station in the world."
[BBC Sounds][BBC Programme Index]
2LO
"In 1922 the BBC transmitted its first radio programme, marking the beginnings of official state broadcasting and a new era for listeners at home. On 14 November 1922, Arthur Burrows, Director of Programmes at the British Broadcasting Company, launched Britain’s first national radio broadcasting service from Marconi House in the Strand, London."
[Science Museum]
"This is a presentation about 2LO, the BBC's first transmitter, given by Martin Ellen on 14th November 2002 (the BBC's 80th birthday)."
[Science Museum]
"Marconi 1.5kW transmitter, Marconi Company Limited, Chelmsford, 1922. Used by the BBC London station 2LO between 1922 and 1925, as rebuilt c.1954 incorporating some non-original but contemporary components."
[Science Museum]
"Main part of Marconi 1.5kW transmitter (minus central rack), 1922, used by the BBC London station 2LO between 1922 and 1925, as rebuilt c.1954."
[Science Museum]
"A century ago, a group of idealistic radio pioneers launched one of Britain’s most famous institutions: the BBC. In the first instalment of our new 13-part series charting how the corporation shaped the nation, David Hendy looks back at its earliest days."
[History Extra]
Marconi
"'The birth of the wireless'. Profile of radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, with contributions from his daughter Degna Marconi, second wife Maria and radio specialist Dexter Smith."
[BBC Sounds][BBC Programme Index]
"A visitor to the site, John A. Strubbe, who was the architect responsible for the internal reconstruction of Marconi House in 1950-53 when English Electric aquired the Marconi company along with their building, has very kindly sent in a great deal of information and images on Marconi House, formerly the Gaiety Restaurant."
[arthurlloyd.co.uk]
"Shots of Marconi testing radio device. Shots of technicians working on radio transmitter. CU Newspaper 'Wireless For All". CU top of Marconi House early home of BBC. Arthur Burrows broadcasting. Technicians work machinery. VS radio masts and machines and performers. Shots of people listening to radio in various ways. (Radio garter included). Pan up radio mast."
[Pathe]
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