100 Years of British Broadcasting
To commemorate the centenary of the start of British broadcasting, a special one-hour show was created for broadcast on the 14th of February 2022.
For a limited time, this show is being repeated on Southend Hospital Radio at 5pm on a Wednesday.
What’s it all about?
Prior to the launch of the BBC in late 1922, a small experimental station, known as 2MT, started the first UK broadcasting service in Writtle, Essex. This was the forerunner to the first BBC radio station. In our special radio show, we look back at how it all started and pay tribute to some of the radio pioneers who led to the birth of broadcasting…. and it all happened here in Essex!
The show “100 Years of British Broadcasting” was timed for broadcast at the exact same time that 2MT started broadcasting in 1922.
The Marconi 2MT Hut in Writtle
What’s in the show?
The show features exclusive interviews with Jim Salmon, a local radio enthusiast, and Marconi historian Tim Wander, author of the booth “2MT Writtle, the Birth of British Broadcasting”, with anecdotes and extracts from the pioneering experimental broadcasts.
The show then takes a look at developments over the next 100 years, including wartime radio, pirate radio in the 1960s, the launch of BBC Radio 1 and the start of UK commercial radio. The show also includes an interview with Adrian Fox, one of the original presenters at Southend Hospital Radio recorded especially for the event, as well as extracts from the
station’s launch in 1977. The show concludes with a tribute to Marconi, the day that the
airwaves fell silent, and the revelation that Peter Eckersley, the pioneer behind 2MT in 1922, predicted how radio would be delivered in the 21st century.
Jim Salmon, interviewed on 100 Years of British Broadcasting
Historian Tim Wander, interviewed on 100 Years of British Broadcasting
Essex is regarded as the birthplace of broadcasting and local hospital patients will likely be aware of Essex’s radio heritage, the local Marconi and Ecko radio factories, and the fact that many of the 1960s pirates started from the Essex coast. The show aimed to capture the 100 years of local radio history, and that today’s broadcasting all started in a small wooden hut, 16 miles from our studios.
On the evening of broadcast, a group of radio enthusiasts took to the airwaves to have run on-air and support the centenary.
Radio Enthusiasts celebrating 100 years of broadcasting, in February 2022
“100 Years of British Broadcasting” is presented by Southend Hospital Radio member Pete Sipple, and it’s been nominated for an HBA Award (thanks!)
For a limited time, this show is being repeated on Southend Hospital Radio at 5pm on a Wednesday. Listen online at www.getshr.uk
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