It's been remiss of me not to mention this sooner, but there's a superb Twitter feed if you like this sort of thing called "The BBC, 100 years ago today" which is charting the BBC's origins in a compelling fine grain detail with contemporary news articles and elements of the schedule. Follow here.
Back in 1925, the transmitter at Daventry opens providing signals to a much wider area of the country. It also, amazingly, sets the stage for the first experiments with stereo sound as a contemporary article from Wireless Weekly will explain. The listing from that week's Radio Times is also worth a read.
The lady above is Madame Luisa Tetrazzini, the Italian coloratura soprano. There's a silent clip of her below, but the Internet Archive has a wax cylinder recording of her singing (as well as numerous 78s) and a copy of her memoir, also published in 1922, too early to mention this radio appearance.
Daventry Opens
Amateur Wireless: Daventry: Official Opening, July 27, 1925
Contemporary news article about the opening of the transmitter.
[World Radio History]
Contemporary news article about the opening of the transmitter.
[World Radio History]
"The visuals in this Topical Budget newsreel item certainly pack a punch. The futuristic valves inside Daventry's broadcast station, and its impressively tall masts outside, made the 5XX long-wave radio facility 'space age' for 1925. Located on Borough Hill on the outskirts of Daventry, it reached 94% of the population, and still has a single mast to transmit the BBC's DAB signal."
[BFI]
"From its inception in the days of 2LO during the 1920s until its final demise in 1992, Daventry Wireless Transmission Station and its well remembered host of aerial masts became much more than a Northampton landmark. The name itself was known world-wide to crystal set owners and wireless listeners."
[World Radio History]
"In the distance lofty "2LO". Shot of rooftops, building with two radio masts on top. Tilt down to show the two masts. Views of the transmitting room - engineers, changing valves, overhauling panels etc. On location, engineers wiring up special lines needed for the outside broadcast. Inside a London Cinema Theatre the curtains open and we see a large seated audience singing a song."
[Pathe]
Behind The Scenes
Article about early experiments in stereo sound conducted through BBC Radio. Two microphones were set up at a concert with each being sent to broadcast through a different LW radio station with the result that rudimentary stereo could be heard with the right equipment (two radios, basically).
[World Radio History][BBC Programme Index]
"Madame Tetrazzini Broadcasts - The golden voice of the prima donna carried by wireless waves from 2L0 to all the world."
[Pathe][BBC Programme Index]
"Illustration for 100 Years in Pictures with text by DC Somervell (Odhams, c 1950)."
[Look and Learn History Picture Archive]
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