The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

Join Christmas expert James Cooper, founder of whychristmas.com, as he jingle-bells back to 1922, uncovering the BBC's inaugural festive broadcasts. Discover the first-ever religious broadcast featuring Rev John Mayo, delightful radio plays like 'The Truth About Father Christmas', and laugh along with comedy from Fred Gibson. Listen in as stations across the UK bring holiday cheer with unique broadcasts, including ghost stories and Handel's Messiah, showcasing how Christmas on the radio created a sense of community and joy.

...and the Midlands, as Birmingham and Manchester join the party. We revisit the second day of the BBC: November 15th 1922. Also, how Manchester launched the first BBC children's programmes, how Birmingham had the BBC's first live music, and how London needed to tweak their microphone. All on election day, so just before the first Election Night Special. You'll also hear of the bizarre Birmingham fog that delayed launch - and bizarrer still, how ANOTHER Birmingham fog delayed The Settlers from reaching a studio, 40 years later. From that band, Cindy Kent is our guest, recalling being at the BBC as the Light Programme became Radio 1 in 1967.  You'll also hear playwright David Edgar reading from the memoirs of his grandfather Percy Edgar, the founding manager of Birmingham 5IT. (For the full reading of that, just wait 3 episodes...) From the archives, we've also got the voices of Kenneth Wright and Hugh Bell of 2ZY Manchester, both there on that launch day in 1922. Plus Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker returns with what the printed press thought about this two-day-old upstart... broadcasting. ----- 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! Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Paul's mailing list has more on his upcomings, inc. the next series of Not Going Out. Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is in audiobook (Listen free via an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before). If you'd like to order a signed paperback copy, email Paul. You can also use that to send us a 2min audio clip of an Airwave Memory to include on the show. 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 and entertain about its wondrous origins. Happy listening!

"You know, this broadcasting is going to be jolly good fun." ...That adlib ended the very first BBC broadcast, given by Arthur Burrows on November 14th, 1922 - and re-enacted on this special birthday episode.  Yes we've made it! After 17 episodes building up to the big launch, the BBC is on air. This episode lands on the Beeb's 98th birthday - and to celebrate, we've done something that we THINK is a first: a complete reconstruction of the very first BBC broadcast. Well, not a complete reconstruction... because Arthur Burrows read the news bulletin twice, once at a normal speed, and once slow. We've spared you the slow version - because the normal speed was slow enough. Just listen back to it again straight away after, on 0.5x speed setting. We include the precise news items in the right order - weather first, shutdown after 7 minutes - so it's as accurate as can be, thanks to Andrew Barker (who excellently researched and wrote the bulletin), Will Farmer (who gave us the tuning organ and tubular bells, plus the original podcast music) and Tim Wander (who checked for errors and has written many marvellous books about all this). After that re-enactment, we dissect, fill in the gaps, and generally inform, educate and entertain about day 1 of Auntie Beeb. Plus more from the mighty Emperor Rosko. That full 10min re-enactment is also on Youtube here, or an edited, more palatable 2min version is here. Feel free to share, broadcast and do as you wish with them - get the story out there by all means. Speaking of which, Tim Wander's plays, on some earlier parts of broadcasting history, can be watched online here: - The Power Behind the Microphone: A centenary celebration of Dame Nellie Melba's historic broadcast from Chelmsford - Voices over Passchendaele: Peter Eckersley's war years - The Man Behind the Microphone: Peter Eckersley's Writtle/BBC years This podcast continues thanks to your support - it's bought us books that have spawned entire episodes. So thank you if you've visited ko-fi.com/paulkerensa and tipped £3 or more, or patreon.com/paulkerensa and helped us with £5 or more a month (with perks in return). If you've not, you know where they are. We're on Facebook and Twitter with accompanying pics and other details. If you'd rate and review this podcast wherever you found it, that helps others find it too. Thanks! Do subscribe to get future episodes direct to your device. Join Paul's mailing list for more info on his goings-on.  Clips are public domain as far as we know. They're old. We're happy to be corrected on that. We're nothing to do with the BBC - we're just here to talk about their origins and wish them happy birthday. Here's to the next 98!  

We're nearly there! Episode 17 zooms in on the pre-BBC fortnight. You'd have thought everything's in place by now, right? Not quite - just the tiny non-controversial matters of the licence fee and allegations of bias to deal with first. Good job they're all sorted now... We've got archive reminiscences from pioneer Peter Eckersley and the return of Newspaper Detective Andrew Barker, who also gives us an Airwave Memory (email a clip of yours for next season: paul@paulkerensa.com) We mention CenturiesofSound.com - try their 1922 mix for starters. We also mention Tim Wander's search for Melba's voice - read the Times article here. We're on Facebook and Twitter, with lots more supporting pics and links there. Support the show at patreon.com/paulkerensa has regular perks, advance things - not all to do with the podcast, but some. There's also advance writing and videos from Paul. ...or support the show by sharing/rating/reviewing the show. Thanks! Join Paul's mailing list for updates on his writing, gigs, podcasts, videos etc. Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is now in audiobook form. Get it for free via an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before. Thanks to Will Farmer for composing the original music. Archive clips are either public domain or private domain from long enough ago... but if you own a clip, say and we'll remove it. We're just here to inform, educate and entertain. This podcast is in no way affiliated with the BBC. You knew that. We say it every time. Next time, the launch of the BBC! Including a re-enactment of the very first broadcast. It'll land on November 14th, the 98th anniversary of the BBC, so listen on the day of release. The day of the podcast's release, that is, not the day of your release. Although this episode's recorded during a lockdown, so... anyway, happy listening. www.paulkerensa.com

The first drama, the first comedian... Journey with us to October 1922 for the rarely told tale radio's first play (Cyrano de Bergerac, courtesy of Peter Eckersley) and British broadcasting's first comedian. Helena Millais played Cockney character Our Lizzie - and you'll even hear a bit of her act. We'll look at the few before her too - entertainers and storytellers - and those who came after. Cultural historian and comedy writer Alan Stafford is your guide, and his fab books It's Friday, It's Crackerjack and Wilson, Keppel and Betty: Too Naked for the Nazis are available now. Also available is Lorne Clark's book Shareholders of the British Broadcasting Company, plus explore his amazing Early Wireless museum - and he's sent us a marvellous clip of his wax cylinder: recorded in 1890, trumpeter Martin Lanfried plays the bugle he sounded at The Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854. Wow. That makes the 1920s sound modern. You'll also hear our regular broadcasting historian Tim Wander, and his fab books include the brilliant From Marconi to Melba. Find us on Facebook and Twitter, and please support the show if you can via ko-fi.com/paulkerensa for one-off £, or patreon.com/paulkerensa for regular perks - including advance writing and things from Paul. Your host Paul Kerensa's mailing list has monthly updates of his writing, gigs, podcasts, etc. Sign up! Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is now in audiobook form. There's an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before - so you can get Hark! for free, then cancel, and pay nowt. Paul's Facebook Live show is at PK's Uplift Live, every Tuesday from 8pm.  Thanks to Will Farmer for composing the original music. Archive clips are either public domain or we don't know whose domain. If you think a clip is yours, apologies/thanks - everything's takedownable. We're unaffiliated with the BBC... ...but Paul is writing a TV drama script (and novel) based on all this, so if you're a drama producer or commissioner... Well don't you look lovely today? Email me. Let's make the BBC history. So to speak.

For ep 15, our story of broadcasting reaches one John Reith, who spots a job advertisement in the Morning Post. He's never heard of broadcasting. But what led him to that point? Revisiting landmark moments of our story so far, we'll trace Reith's unusual, unorthodox, unexpected life. From son of the manse to voice of the nation, via love, friendship, war... and all three of those are somehow mixed up together in Reith's beloved: Charlie. It's quite a story, and we're indebted to Ian McIntyre's The Expense of Glory, Garry Allighan's Sir John Reith, Marista Leishman's My Father: Reith of the BBC and Charles Stuart's edited The Reith Diaries. Most quotations are from the latter. I recommend all four books for a deep-dive into this. Plus an Airwave Memory from Cole Moreton, whose marvellous book is The Light Keeper - also recommended. For pictures, discussion and other bits and pieces, join us on Facebook and Twitter and 'like' or 'follow' or whatever they call it now there. You can support the show via ko-fi.com/paulkerensa for one-off £, or patreon.com/paulkerensa for regular perks - including advance writing and things from Paul. Paul's mailing list is very much joinable, for a monthly update of this, that and the other (writing, gigs, podcasts, etc). As mentioned on the podcast, Paul's festive history book Hark! The Biography of Christmas is now in audiobook form. There's an Audible free trial here if you've not had one before - so you can get Hark! for free, then cancel, and pay nowt. (Full disclosure - I get a couple of quids if you click and activate that, even if you only ever do the free trial.) (Oh and another full disclosure - I'm happy to take a few quid from Amazon, but I'd rather not line Jeff Bezos' pockets much further, so if you're going to buy Hark! The Biography of Christmas, this link takes you to Hive, which supports local independent bookshops - or just ask yours direct. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.) Paul's Facebook Live show is PK's Uplift Live, every Tuesday from 8pm. Do join. Occasionally he talks about broadcasting history there too. There's also a quiz, some comedy, and an attempt at normality. Thanks to Will Farmer for composing the original music. Archive clips are either public domain or private domain from so long ago, it's nigh-on-impossible to trace... but if you own a clip and want it removed, we'd be happy to oblige. We're just here to inform, educate and entertain - thanks for helping us do so. (This podcast is not affiliated with the BBC. Unless they'd like it to be. But as it stands, this entire operation is just one bloke shouting into his wardrobe. Thanks for listening. Otherwise it's just the shirts.)

We're back, and we're a little muffled. (I'll be hitting my microphone with hammers, promise.) As I struggle with 2020 tech, the Great British public were struggling with theirs, getting to know their first radio sets in Sept/Oct 1922, at the First All-British Wireless Exhibition and Convention (FABWEAC, for short). So this time, hear the sights, smell the sounds and meet the artistes, such as singer and future radio boss Rex Faithful, first pianist of the BBC Maurice Cole and first broadcast royal, the Prince of Wales (before he regenerated into Edward VIII). Oh and the BBC is formed. No biggie. But did you know that Hotpoint and Siemens had their bosses on the first board of BBC directors? No, me neither. Radio's just another household appliance to some people... but come on, how many podcasts devoted to dishwashers? [checks] Wow, loads. Plus an Airwave Memory from Philip Rowe of the History of European Theatre Podcast - give 'em a listen! There are pics to go with this episode on our Facebook and Twitter pages, including a fuller line-up of FABWEAC's artistes. There's also a nice silent video of 1922's King's Cup Air Race, that we mention in this episode, here. Support the show at ko-fi.com/paulkerensa or patreon.com/paulkerensa for perks and things - thanks! More details on Paul's next Writing Course here or on Paul's mailing list. Paul's Tuesday evening Facebook Live show is called PK's Uplift Live. Do join. Occasionally he talks about broadcasting history there too. Thanks to Will Farmer for the original music. Older music is either public domain or private domain but we're not sure whose. If you have any copyright issues with the attached audio, do let us know and we'll remove if you'd rather. We're just here to inform, educate and entertain - thanks for helping us do so. (Oh and we're nothing to do with the BBC. Never heard of them.)

In episode 13, we're in August/Sept 1922, which means: - Manchester's first broadcast concert - The pre-BBC battles the printed press. Has the BBC got news for us? Erm... Not yet, and not easily. - The Reithian values arrive - 'to inform, educate & entertain' - except somehow they're knocking about before John Reith's even heard of broadcasting. Our guest is Andrew Barker, a former BBC producer and radio history enthusiast, who's been delving into the newspaper archives to bring us fascinating clippings from 1922. Hear how the Manchester Guardian told its readers what a radio tuner was... how Caruso, Gilbert & Sullivan and a racist song all came to the wireless that summer... and how impatient the listeners were getting for the Postmaster General to pull his finger out and press 'go' on the BBC. Plus an excerpt from a 1937 Radio Pictorial magazine courtesy of Stewart Henderson. See many such excerpts in photo form, shared to our @bbcentury pages on Facebook and Twitter. Support the show at patreon.com/paulkerensa and get advance bits of Paul's writing - thanks! Paul's running a Writing Course (on Zoom) this Sept-Nov. Do join, if you want to write anything and want to include things like 'a story' or 'character'. More details here. Hear Paul on BBC Radios Sussex & Surrey here, and on BBC Radio 2's Pause For Thought here (find his face, like Guess Who). Hurrah for Will Farmer's original music. Buy Paul's Books; join his Mailing list. This podcast is unaffiliated to the BBC. We're talking about them, not with them. 

Part 2 of the pre-BBC's summer of music covers June and July 1922. As The Spice Girls once nearly sang, tonight (this episode) is the night (the episode) when 2 (BBCs) become 1 (BBC). Hear the voices of those who weren't just there - they were pushing the buttons. This episode includes: - How we got the licence fee! - Garden party demonstrations - Elstree - the arrival of Cecil Lewis Plus an Airwave Memory from Pete Hawkins (twitter.com/fictoids1) and Firsthand Memories from covering I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and the World Service. ====== This podcast is unaffiliated to the mighty BBC. We just like talking about them. Support the show at patreon.com/paulkerensa or ko-fi.com/paulkerensa - thanks! Thanks Will Farmer for the original music. We're on Facebook and Twitter - do join us there. Paul on BBC Radios Sussex & Surrey can be heard here. Paul's appearances on BBC Radio 2's Pause For Thought can be heard here (with others). Paul's Mailing list Paul's Books  Closedown (Please stand for the National Anthem)

Two British Broadcasting Companies! That's the result of the negotiations of summer 1922. Part one of this two-parter brings us two parallel storylines: boardroom debates (a la The Apprentice) and studio sing-songs (a la Top of the Pops). In this exciting episode, hear the voices and reminiscences of John Reith, Peter Eckersley, Arthur Burrows, Lord Gainford - those who were there as the BBC finally got its name. ====== This podcast is unaffiliated to the mighty BBC. We just like talking about them, and how they came into being. ...So your licence fee is not supporting this project! If you'd like to help keep us on air: ko-fi.com/paulkerensa chips in £3 or patreon.com/paulkerensa at £5+/mth gets you exclusive benefits and things. Thanks those who've joined! Thanks Will Farmer for the original music. Thanks for sharing us and liking us on Facebook and Twitter, and for rating & reviewing us. It's been all 5 stars so far and we love you for it - it helps get more ears on the podcast. Get your voice on the podcast by emailing a clip of your AM - Airwave Memories - 1-2min of you telling us your favourite early broadcasting memories. Or email us some words some FM - First-hand Memories - of times you saw radio or TV in action. What surprised you about it? Do tell. On this ep we mentioned Eddie Bohan's book: 'Rebel Radio: Ireland's First International Radio Station 1916'. More info on the book here. Your host Paul is on Facebook Live every Tuesday 8pm for PK's Uplift Live: a show of fun and games, unrelated to this podcast, but often with a broadcast history reading, because he can't resist. Paul on BBC Radios Sussex & Surrey can be heard here. Paul's appearances on BBC Radio 2's Pause For Thought can be heard here (find Paul's face. He has glasses. It's a bit like playing Guess Who...) Paul's Mailing list Paul's Books  Pip pip