Merry listening! Now, do you hear what I hear?
Join our sleigh ride back to Christmas 1922, and delve deep into our pod-sack to discover what the BBC was broadcasting in its first Christmas.
Includes: the first religious broadcast from Rev John Mayo, the first play written for radio in The Truth About Father Christmas, the BBC's first celebrity guest, the first radio talk ('Christmas among the Blind'), carols, Peter Pan, comedy from Fred Gibson and Helena Millais... and that's just from the London 2LO station.
Birmingham 5IT gives us Dickens, the Birmingham City Police Band and no-shows, so listeners rush to the studio to help out.
Manchester 2ZY brings ghost stories and Handel's Messiah.
And Newcastle 5NO launches; hear the first station boss on how he funded it from his own pocket.
Plus other radio Christmases: Carols from King's, the first royal Christmas broadcast, a Cornish play called Bethlehem, a wax cylinder recording from 1898...
Our guest is Xmas Xpert James Cooper from whychristmas.com - head there for all your online Christmas needs.
Paul reads from his festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas. Signed copies available from Paul; unsigned copies available from your friendly local bookshop.
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Thanks for supporting the podcast. Your kind donations at ko-fi.com/paulkerensa or patreon.com/paulkerensa have helped fund books, that fuel these episodes, or hosting, that keeps us online.
Your ratings/reviewings/sharings are equally welcome. Thanks!
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Paul's mailing list has more on his upcomings, inc. the next series of Not Going Out.
Be on the podcast next year: email us a 2min audio clip of an Airwave Memory, recorded as a Voice Memo - your earliest memories of radio or TV.
Clips are either public domain or the BBC's, to whom we doff our caps, and thank them.
We're unaffiliated with the BBC - we're just here to inform, educate, entertain and wish you a Merry Christmas.
www.paulkerensa.com
#087 The Cello and the Nightingale: A Centenary Celebration
#086 1932 Off-Air Radio Recordings by Mr F.O. Brown of Greenbank
#085 The Earliest BBC Recording and The First Monarch On Air
#084 Women's Hour on the BBC: 1923-24
#083 The Launch of Savoy Hill: The BBC's New Home, 1 May 1923
#082 The BBC at Marconi House: 14-11-1922 to 30-04-1923
#081 The Pips at 100! A Brief History of Time at the BBC
#080 SPECIAL: The First Religious Broadcast: Re-enacted
#079 Three More Authors: Doctor Who | R4 Sunday | Radio 1+2
#078 Three Authors on Broadcasting History: Love | Films | Education
#077 Loose Ends 2: 1920’s SS Victorian to 1980’s Tardis via Frank Milligan
#076 Radio Times at 100 - Part 2
#075 (The) Radio Times at 100 - Part 1
#074 The BBC and Music: from Percy Pitt to Johnny Beerling
#073 Comedy on Air: Hysterical History from The Co-Optimists to Bottom
#072 The First Radio Dramatist: The Truth about Phyllis Twigg
#071 Yesteryear in Parliament: The BBC vs The Government, April 1923
#070 The Press vs the BBC vs the Govt: 1923 + 2023
#069 Children’s Hour to Bedtime Hour: Uncles, Aunts and Iggle Piggle
#068 Major Arthur Corbett-Smith: Reith’s Rival
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