Episode 45 sees us still in January 1923, but on the move...
First BBC Director of Programmes Arthur Burrows visits 5IT Birmingham and 2ZY Manchester to see the 2nd and 3rd BBC stations in action - so here's a podcast snapshot of what broadcasting was like in their makeshift studios in British broadcasting's earliest days.
Our guest is Jude Montague, whose grandfather Sydney Wright was an early on-air musician in the 2ZY Wireless Trio. And you'll hear the voices of those who were there: Kenneth Wright, Victor Smythe, Percy Edgar, A.E. Thompson...
Hear of singers toppling off platforms made of books, as they step back for the big final note. Hear of Manchester beating London to be first station to broadcast Big Ben. And hear of the Grenadier Guards Band, cramming 22 performers into a studio space fit for 3.
Next time: another grandchild of an early radio wonder: Justin Webb on his grandfather Leonard Crocombe, first editor of the Radio Times.
Thanks for listening!
#027 Season 2 Trailer (aka Season 1 Recap)
#026 Percy Edgar - BBC and the Midlands from Day 2 to 1948
#025 SPECIAL: Part 2 of 1922‘s Parliamentary Broadcasting Debates
#024 SPECIAL: Part 1 of 1922‘s Parliamentary Broadcasting Debates
#023 Gertrude Donisthorpe: Britain‘s 1st DJ?
#022 SPECIAL: Capt H.J. Round, a speech from Dec 1952
#021 Loose Ends (with Gareth Jones)
#020 The First BBC Christmas: From Carols to Kings
#019 Day 2 of the BBC: Our Friends in the North
#018 The First BBC Broadcast: "Hullo, Hullo!"
#017 The Eve of the BBC: A Partly Political Broadcast
#016 Live at the Apo2LO: Our 1st Broadcast Comedian
#015 John Reith: Mastermind
#014 1922's British Wireless Exhibition: Tomorrow's World
#013 Inform, Educate, Entertain: Have I Got News For You?
#012 The Pre-BBC 6/Music, part 2: 1 BBC
#011 The Pre-BBC 6/Music, part 1: 2 BBCs
#010 2ZY Manchester: Are You Sitting Comfortably? (with Chris Jarvis)
#009 2LO London Calling
#008 2MT Writtle: Radio Active
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