The British Broadcasting Century podcast

@bbcentury

Informing, educating + entertaining re British broadcasting's origin story: the first firsts of radio, early BBC, interwar bits & pieces + occasional pictures of Reith looking grumpy. By paulkerensa.bsky.social Podcast/tour/book: paulkerensa.com/oldradio

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The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· 21d

Tomorrow - Westbury, near Bath/Swindon/Frome. www.westburyfestival.org.uk/events/an-ev...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jul 9

The British Broadcasting Century episode 124 has landed - a tribute to and tour of 1932's Broadcasting House - with 'Palace of the Ether' author Dr Elizabeth Darling. Links below, enjoy, and do share if you like it! Next time: Sheffield 6FL, the first relay station in Nov 1923 pod.fo/e/445a4d

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jul 4

On the latest British Broadcasting Century podcast - The Archers Live at 75, now on tour hosted by comedian Angela Barnes. How many episodes have there been? Has anyone heard them all? Too late to start? Hear the podcast + catch the show. Next ep? 1932's vast and glamorous Broadcasting House...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jul 3

I had a blast as ever at that palace o' research, the British Library. Here's: 1) me lost amid the Radio Timeses 2) the BVWS mags 3) Reith, Marconi and co 4) Cecil Lewis: 1922's 1st BBC Deputy Director of Progs, who on 1991's Desert Island Discs asked Sue Lawley if she'd ever made love in a hammock

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jun 25

NEW POD EP AHOY! ep 123: A chat with comic Angela Barnes, who hosts a live show in celebration of The Archers: the ?th oldest BBC programme still on the air... Find out on the podcast! Plus BBC cuts - ideas from you good folks. Link in comments. Next time: an audio tour of Broadcasting House, 1932.

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jun 20

You're BBC DG. What do YOU cut? Dozens have their say, as we try and save half a billion pounds. On Substack, for the readers... paulkerensa.substack.com/p/youre-bbc-...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jun 17

The first four employees of the BBC: Burrows, Lewis, Anderson, Reith. Others were offered jobs - eg RH White as Engineer, turning it down as he thought broadcasting was going nowhere. Reith was at least 3rd choice, with a journalist + business leader offered it first, saying no for similar reasons.

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jun 15

Some nice BBC metaphors (as church + coral), 1959 Encounter mag article: "...the BBC was itself part of the ceremony: that crozier, a microphone... beneath that rich cope, Richard Dimbleby..." & "...like a coral reef, cells multiplying until it was a vast structure..." archive.org/details/dli....

"...The BBC was creating its own ritual... A monarch has a birthday, the national anthem is played before the news; one monarch dies, the loudspeakers go silent; another monarch dies, they relay only solemn music... Occasionally the liturgy is altered... as if the BBC was itself part of the ceremony: that crozier, really a microphone; the censer boys, attendant producers; and, beneath that rich cope, Richard Dimbleby himself..."
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"The BBC 'came to pass silently, invisibly; like a coral reef, cells multiplying until it was a vast structure, a conglomeration of studios, offices, cool passages along which many passed to and fro; a society, with its king, lords and commoners, its laws and dossiers and revenue and easily suppressed insurrection.' By the time a new idea has received the benediction of each order of the hierarchy, it has usually ceased to be an idea and become a piece of case-law, binding rather than freeing. It is a wonder, indeed, that in such circumstances the producers at the BBC should ever achieve anything of enterprise or moment..."

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Jun 9

Over in our Facebook group, I've been listing the longest-running BBC progs still on today. A few in the 1920s (inc some cheats: annuals eg The Boat Race + some name-changers eg The Week's Good Cause), hardly anything in the 1930s (odd!), then some 1940s faves. Join! www.facebook.com/groups/bbcen...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· May 19

Weston-super-Mariners! Apologies. I've had to postpone An Evening of (Very) Old Radio from 4 June to new date Wed 29 July. f you have a ticket, have a chat with the Blakehay Theatre... and I really hope if you bought a ticket, you can do the new date. Apols! Can't wait/will wait.

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· May 17

The Guardian's 100 Greatest Novels of All Time left out some big players...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· May 1

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Apr 28

I've been preparing the next podcast on the BBC + the General Strike, for its centenary on Sunday. Boy has this one been a behemoth. For most podcast episodes, I write 1k-2k words of notes before recording. This time? 12k! I won't say all of 'em - don't worry. Some of the books that have helped:

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Apr 23

The BBC's first year in 3 minutes... From first news bulletin to its first birthday show, the BBC's first year (14 November 1922-23) packed in a lot. More on The British Broadcasting Century Podcast episode 116, and do subscribe - plenty more to come. podfollow.com/bbcentury

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Apr 16

In Chelmsford - birthplace of radio - for An Evening of (Very) Old Radio tonight. Marconi himself is gladly pointing the way to the theatre…

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Apr 9

Gertrude Donisthorpe: UK's first woman on air in 1917 "A German Zeppelin on a night cruise picked up her message. It puzzled them greatly. They went to great lengths to de-code it, and eventually shrugged it off as one more incomprehensible English eccentricity." (Yesterday's Witness, J Cameron)

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Apr 6

…The first text from 1917, the second from 1941. I think they were time travellers. Read more and subscribe at paulkerensa.substack.com

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Apr 3

This one is from 17 July 1934 (thanks BBC Programme Index)

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Apr 3

Some pics of pics from the lobby of BBC Broadcasting House (the old part, obvs - the best part)

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 27

From 1947's Radio Who's Who - Landmarks in the History of the BBC...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 26

Ah, wonderful - I saw the script of the 1997 version last week in their collection. And it's great that Ted Gundry's doc is now on Youtube. What a treat eh.

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 25

...Grateful to Fr Jeff Risbridger, St Hilary's incumbent priest, and organist David Ball, for giving me a fantastic tour. I look forward to retelling this tale on the podcast later this year, and maybe via other means too. What a place, and what people. Cheers Ber, cheers FY.

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 25

...It was a joy to spend time at this pilgrimage site for both sacred + secular reasons. Many artworks survive, inc Joan of Arc by Ber's wife Annie Walke. Also note the difference between the elaborate 1920s altar display in the black-and-white pic (pre-ransacking) and today's barer equivalent...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 25

...St Hilary's broadcast plays stopped. End of an era - when Cornish villagers could become radio stars. In 1934, Bethlehem's final broadcast coincided with the BBC's first LP recording kit: its landmark archive label 'LP001'... (Hear a bit on episode 95 of my podcast - and more later this year)

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 25

...Some Anglican extremists (yes, there is such a thing!) took against the 'idolatrous' artwork and Catholicism. Down with this sort of thing (careful now). In 1932, a mob ransacked the church, tied up the priest and destroyed what they could. Ber never recovered, and soon hung up his cassock...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 25

...On 22 December 1926, the first broadcast of Bethlehem wowed listeners, including the Prime Minister who was dining with Reith. It was restaged for the next nine Christmases. Ber's confidence grew - and filled the church with works by artists inc his wife Annie Walke, Ernest and Dod Procter...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 25

...Filson Young, wannabe Radio Times columnist and BBC producer, stumbled upon the church's homegrown Nativity pageant: 'Bethlehem', written by the priest Father Bernard Walke, performed by locals - in Cornish dialect. Filson ('FY') asked Fr Walke ('Ber') if they could broadcast it to the nation...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 25

Last week I took a trip to St Hilary church, far west Cornwall: site of radio's earliest known outside broadcast drama in December 1926. We mentioned it on ep 95 of The British Broadcasting Century podcast, and will revisit it more fully for its centenary this December. It's an incredible tale...

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 7

The RMS Victorian, 'pon which Arthur Burrows: - received music in its lounge, from Chelmsford 1,500 miles away; dancing ensued - received news from mainland, sold onboard as The North Atlantic Times - played request records for other mid-Atlantic ships. Most popular? Harry Lauder's I Love A Lassie

The British Broadcasting Century podcast@bbcentury· Mar 4

I had need to look at this again today - Philips' Wireless Map of Great Britain. Estimated summer 1923. Isn't she a beaut? (Random bits zoomed in on in t'other pics)