1922 - 1966

14.01.22

First BBC radio broadcast from station 2LO London. 

By 1924 nine other regional stations had been opened at Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Cardiff,   Glasgow, Bournemouth, Sheffield, Plymouth and  Belfast.

100W 2LO transmitter masts on Selfridge's roof, Oxford Street, 1922.

23.10.36

Regular BBC TV broadcasts begin from London (2hrs per day  but not on Sunday).

01.09.39

Creation of one BBC Home Service to replace regional broadcasts during wartime to prevent Germans using the transmissions for aiding aeroplane direction finding.

29.07.45

BBC Light Programme launched on 1500 m LW & also MW. Home service regionalized again, and later (1967) renamed BBC Radio 4, Midlands, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

Light Programme first day programmes

including, of course, Sandy Macpherson!

02.05.55.

First  VHF/FM radio service; broadcasting the Light Programme, Third Programme and Home Service to London and parts of the South East from a transmitter sited at Wrotham in Kent. much of the UK was covered in a plan over the following 5 years.

28.03.64

Radio Caroline broadcasts off the Essex coast with continuous pop music linked with disc jockeys', who  included Dave Lee Travis, Simon Dee and Rosko.

Within three years, nine ships or forts were broadcasting to highly populated coastal areas of the UK. The 'Pirates' took advantage of a legal loophole. They created or revealed a demand for continuous music linked by D.J.'s based on the American format.

Their fate was sealed within three and a half years - see 1967.

August 1966

Daily Mail report unveiled a plan for Radio 1; the BBC's new Popular music Service.

December 1966

The Postmaster General said that the style of the new station would not be all pop but also not all 'Well Gather Lilacs'.