On 23 April 1924, a landmark broadcast took place - the biggest so far. And on day of podcast release, it's the centenary!
100 years ago at time of writing, King George V opened the Empire Exhibition at Wembley, becoming the first monarch to broadcast.
It also stands as the oldest surviving recording of a BBC broadcast - and the only excerpt of the BBC from the 1920s.
The BBC couldn't record anything until 1932, when the Blattnerphone came along. So how did this 1924 broadcast manage to be retained?
For decades, it wasn't. A 1964 episode of Desert Island Discs tells the tale, of how their 1936/1955 Scrapbook for 1924 programme aired without the recording, but with a sad admission that there was none... till a listener got in touch. Dorothy Jones' husband had recorded the king off-air via a home-made device. Thanks to him, and her, and Scrapbook producer Leslie Baily, we have this sole recording of the 20s' Beeb.
It's quite a tale. The broadcast alone was revolutionary - with 10 million people listening via loudspeakers on street corners, brand new radio sets for their homes... even Downton Abbey hired in its first wireless set (but will Lord Grantham keep it? Oh go on then...)
Hear all about the momentous exhibition, the broadcast, the recording, and a rundown of royals who ruled the airwaves - and it goes back further than you might think.
Hear too of brand new research into an unheralded royal radio encounter from 1906 - before even 'the world's first broadcast' took place, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (Palace) were enjoying a 'radio' whistling solo and a personalised greeting.
Thanks for listening.
Do share, rate, review, rant, rave, tell people about the podcast. It's a solo operation - not made by the BBC, just by comedian & writer Paul Kerensa. So thanks!
SHOWNOTES:
More info on this radio history project at:
paulkerensa.com/oldradio
#067 SPECIAL: A Brief History of Coronation Broadcasts
#066 The BBC’s News, Weather and SOS Broadcasts of March 1923
#065 A Brief History of the BBC’s Archives
#064 Farewell Magnet House, Hello... Laundry Baskets? + Jeffrey Holland
#063 Glasgow 5SC: The BBC Launches in Scotland
#062 Radio’s First Political Debate... and Reeta Chakrabarti
#061 The BBC’s Listings Ban... and Gareth Gwynn’s Ministry of Happiness
#060 A History of Religious Broadcasting: 100 Years of God on the Beeb
#059 100 Years in 100 Minutes, part 3 (1988-2022)
#058 100 Years in 100 Minutes, part 2 (1955-87)
#057 100 Years in 100 Minutes, part 1 (1922-54)
#056 BBC100, Poetry Please?... and Roger Bolton
#055 The First Shakespeare on the BBC (pt 1) + Happy BBCentenary! (also pt1)
#054 The First Welsh Broadcast... and The Exhibitionists!
#053 SPECIAL: Radio as Propaganda in WW2... plus Peter Eckersley & Hilda Matheson
#052 SPECIAL: Auntie’s War - with Edward Stourton
#051 SPECIAL: Early Black British Broadcasters - with Stephen Bourne
#050 Hilda Matheson and the Radio Girls of Savoy Hill - with Sarah-Jane Stratford
#049 It’s That Man Again! Peter Eckersley - 1st BBC Chief Engineer
#048 Daimler, 5MG and 2BP: The In-Car Radios of 1923
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