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The history of radio in the United Kingdom is the history of the invention of radio, the pioneering radio stations and broadcasting equipment and its growth and development for the entertainment and source of information for people within the UK.

Invention
Main article: Invention of radio

James clef Maxwell, a Scottish physicist predicted radio waves in the 1860s and in 1866 German physicist Heinrich Rudholph Hertz compared radio waves to light and heat in its similarity of projecting into space via rapid vibrations.

Successfully demonstrating “wireless telegraphy”, Mahlon Loomis caused a kite to move by connecting a meter to another kite accomplishing the first known occurrence of wireless arial communication in 1866.

Proving the feasibility of radio communication, Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi transmitted and received his first radio signal in 1895. By 1899 he flashed the first wireless signal across the English Channel and two years later received the letter "S", telegraphed from England to Newfoundland. This was the first successful transatlantic radiotelegraph message in 1902.

Hertzian Waves
The first spark gap oscillator built by German scientist Heinrich Hertz around 1886, the first radio transmitter, with which Hertz discovered radio waves. It was comprised of two 1 meters copper wires and held up on wax insulators, a 7.5mm gap amidst the inner ends, with 30cm zinc balls on the outer ends. Utilising various sized balls to alter the capacitance, thus changing the frequency. To create sparks between the small balls at the centre, he used an induction coil to apply a high voltage of about 20,000 volts. Approximately the frequency of modern television broadcasting transmitters (50 MHz), the sparks resulted oscillating standing waves of radio current in the antenna.

Marconi
Marconi and his mother arrived in England in 1896 and quickly found interested backers, including the British Post Office. Applying for his first patents within a year, Marconi was broadcasting with an extension of 12 miles. A year later, he set up a wireless station on the Isle of Wight that allowed Queen Victoria to send messages to her son Prince Edward aboard the royal yacht. By 1899 Marconi’s signals had crossed the English Channel.

Early British Broadcasting
Radio broadcasts in Britain began in 1922 with the British Broadcasting Company, or BBC, in London (this includes General Electric and the Marconi Company, which had developed the first experimental radio station, 2MT, in 1920). These services rapidly spread across the United Kingdom but was unsuccessful in displacing newspapers until 1926, when the newspapers went on strike. Onwards, the radio and the BBC inclined to the leading source of information for the public. Becoming a common occurrence in every household, the radio also provided entertainment for consumers in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

20th Century
Radio broadcasting within the United Kingdom was initiated in 1920 via experimental station ‘2MT’ in Writtle, Essex by Marconi. On the 15th of June at 7.10pm, Dame Nellie Melba fashioned one of the first broadcasts from 2MT involving opera music to entertain listeners. The broadcast opened with a recital of ‘Home Sweet Home’ and concluded with the national anthem.

On April 14th- 15th 1912, the famous RMS Titanic’s wireless operators John ‘Jack’ George Philips and Harold Bride (employed by Marconi Telegraph Company), sent signals using Morse code via a spark gap transmitter. The Titanic was able to send a distress call to its sister ship saving an estimated 745 lives. This occurrence re-established the significance of wireless transmission to the government.

Origins of the BBC
The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was formed on October 18th 1922 with authorisation from the government granting them a license to operate, despite their efforts to hinder Marconi’s attempts to found a public radio. The 14th of November marked the first national radio broadcast from radio station 2LO situated on the seventh floor of the Marconi House on Strand. The transmission was constructed by a 1.5kW transmitter, built from metal, wood and glass. The transmitter is now located at the Information Age gallery in London’s Science Museum.

To listen to the radio, a licence was required that costed 10 shillings. Therefore, a small audience of approximately 30,000 licensees. By the mid 1920’s programmes from the BBC were received by the majority of the population. John Charles Walsham Reith became General Manager of the BBC on 14 December 1922.

In September 1923, the first edition of the Radio Times listed the several programmes offered.

To mark the precise start of every hour on BBC radio, the ‘pips’; the six short ‘pips’ were designed in February 1924. They were played at the begin of every hour and denoted the Greenwich Time Signal (GTS).

In January 1927, following the royal charter, the British Broadcasting Company re-established into the British Broadcasting Corporation.

UK’s forst long wave transmitter, called the Daventry transmitter opened in 1929. The location was preferred due to its maximum land coverage.

In September 1932, the BBC moves to Broadcasting House in Central London. The Empire Service was launched in December (known as World Service). King George VI debuted as the first British monarch to make a radio broadcast on this day.

The BBC became the first broadcaster in the world to provide a regular ‘high definition’ television service in November 1936. On September 1st 1939, it was broadcasted that Britain was at war with Germany by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Followed by a broadcast from King George VI on September 3rd, the first evening of the war.

Until this point there had been two radio services: the BBC National Programme and BBC Regional Programme, which included broadcasts from the regions. At the start of World War 2 they merged to prevent enemy aircraft using the transmitter for navigation.

In 1945, for light entertainment, the Light Programme launched and afterwards trailed by the BBC Third Programme in 1946.

By 1950, radio licenses peaked to approximately 11.8 million.

FM (frequency modulation) broadcasting by the BBC emerged in 1955, a development that is superior to AM (amplitude modulation) broadcasting, which is liable to tampering in changes in weather.

In 1954 The Regency TR-1, the first transistor radio in the world was revealed. In a great success, the first portable radio changed the way people listened to it. Manufacturers included the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation (later Sony).