Today in History: The BBC transmits its first radio broadcast, 1922 (United Kingdom)
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.
Speaking clearly, with the authoritative intonation that would become iconic, he opened the transmission at 18.00 with:
This is 2LO, Marconi House, London calling.
In the years following the First World War, many former military radio operators became amateur radio enthusiasts, tinkering with their home-made sets to pick up transmissions, and transmitting their own talks or music. They used radio to share their discoveries, forming a community of fellow experimenters.
My main hobby in my schooldays was, as with many other boys of my generation, the making of radio receiving sets.... It was... as near magic as anyone could conceive, in that with a few mainly home-made components simply connected together one could conjure speech and music out of the air.
R V Jones, physicist and intelligence expert (1978)
This community was delighted when the Marconi Company began to broadcast from a high-powered transmitter at its research station in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1920. It became a challenge to see how far from the transmitter you could receive the signal. To make life more interesting, the Marconi engineers began to broadcast music and entertainment rather than simple, dull test messages.
[snip]
For listeners, radio broadcasts were a novelty at first. The GPO had issued only around 30,000 licences for radio receivers by the time of the first BBC transmission. The amateur community continued to flourish, friends clustering round the inconsistent and unamplified crystal sets using headphones to listen.
However, as commercial radio sets became available, homes began to feel unfurnished if they did not have one.
Speaking clearly, with the authoritative intonation that would become iconic, he opened the transmission at 18.00 with:
This is 2LO, Marconi House, London calling.
In the years following the First World War, many former military radio operators became amateur radio enthusiasts, tinkering with their home-made sets to pick up transmissions, and transmitting their own talks or music. They used radio to share their discoveries, forming a community of fellow experimenters.
My main hobby in my schooldays was, as with many other boys of my generation, the making of radio receiving sets.... It was... as near magic as anyone could conceive, in that with a few mainly home-made components simply connected together one could conjure speech and music out of the air.
R V Jones, physicist and intelligence expert (1978)
This community was delighted when the Marconi Company began to broadcast from a high-powered transmitter at its research station in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1920. It became a challenge to see how far from the transmitter you could receive the signal. To make life more interesting, the Marconi engineers began to broadcast music and entertainment rather than simple, dull test messages.
[snip]
For listeners, radio broadcasts were a novelty at first. The GPO had issued only around 30,000 licences for radio receivers by the time of the first BBC transmission. The amateur community continued to flourish, friends clustering round the inconsistent and unamplified crystal sets using headphones to listen.
However, as commercial radio sets became available, homes began to feel unfurnished if they did not have one.
Comments
Post a Comment