From 2LO to Today, a history of radio in the UK.

It was back in 1920 when the first experimental broadcasts were transmitted by the Marconi Company. Station 2LO, from London, first broadcast on 11 May 1922 from a 100 watt trasmitter contained in a teak cabinet in Marconi House. The following November transmitters in Birmingham (5IT) and Manchester (2ZY) were switched on, with Newcastle following on Christmas Day.

Transmissions from 2LO were then limited to one hour a day. There were no news broadcasts before 7pm, to avoid upsetting sales of newspapers!

On 18 October 1922, the British Broadcasting Company took over 2LO. There were then 50,000 listeners. The BBC also took over the transmitters in Birmingham and Manchester. The first BBC broadcast was on 14 November 1922. Some programmes in these early years received sponsorship, but this was later stopped.

The newspaper industry had refused to carry listings of radio programmes, in case their sales were affected, so in September 1923 the BBC started to publish the Radio Times, at just 2d a copy. In May 1926 the General Strike began, there were no newspapers so the BBC broadcast 5 news bulletins a day.

In February 1924 Big Ben and the Greenwich time 'pips' were first heard. A speech by King George V was relayed over the airwaves in April, as he opened the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley.

On 31 December 1926, the British Broadcasting Company was liquidated and on the following day, the British Broadcasting Corporation was constituted by Royal Charter. Royal Charter's are the means by which the BBC exists.

People listened on a crystal set, which worked by moving a fine wire (known as a 'Cats Whisker') to touch the crystal, which then relayed the sound to a pair of headphones. The set did not need batteries, it worked using galena (lead ore) with a very basic circuit that could 'tune in' to the transmitter. Of course, there were so few radio stations in the world that there was no need to actually tune the set beyond this crude method.

By 1926 there were two and a quarter million radio licenses, at ten shillings a time, increasing to eight and a half million by 1938 - by then 98% of the country could hear the BBC. By the thirties mains powered radios were being produced, in Bakelite (a hard brittle plastic) cases.

You may think that Children in Need is a fairly new idea? Well, the first BBC Christmas Fund for Children was broadcast in 1927! This was the same year as the first BBC Proms were heard, although the Promenade Concerts themselves had been going since 1895.

Broadcasting House was the new home of the BBC in 1932, still used by BBC radio in Portland Place and shaped like a luxury liner. By the late 30's a series of programmes were being aired to some 8,000 schools.

Television started in 1936, but the transmitters were closed down in September 1939, as war broke out. The nation returned to their radio sets until June 1946!

In the 40's Music While You Work, Mrs Dales Diary, Desert Island Discs, Housewives Choice and Workers Playtime were first heard, the Home Service was joined by the Light Programme in 1945. The Third Programme started in 1946.

In 1950 there were 12 million radio licenses, yet only 350,000 for TV. A sudden surge to 20 million TV viewers came about with the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953, the first time TV had beaten radio figures. There were only 3 million TV licenses, people watched the ceremony in TV shop windows, at the local pub or with friends.

BBC radio found itself with competition in the form of Radio Luxembourg, using a powerful transmitter from the Grand Duchy on 208 medium wave. In the late 50's and throughout the 60's, youngsters could be found huddled under their bedclothes listening to 'Big L', with it's pop music, 'soap operas', game shows and commercials.

During the 1960's many 'Pirate' radio stations took to the air, broadcasting 'Pop' music to the masses. These were banned by the UK parliment in 1967 and the BBC launched Radio One to appeal to the younger audience. The Light Programme became Radio Two, the Third became Radio Three and the Home Service was renamed Radio Four.

20 local BBC radio stations were launched in the late 60's, which were followed by the birth of local commercial radio in the mid 70's. By now the British Public were enjoying programmes in FM Stereo. Radio Two was extended to broadcast through the night, until this point most stations had closed down daily.

More and more stations took to the air, with the aim of providing local programming to local areas. In reality, to save money in the main, stations joined together to give a syndicated approach to programming in off-peak times. It was not uncommon to be able to find a couple of dozen radio stations just by turning the dial of the receiver, with several playing exactly the same thing!

The famous time Pips stopped being broadcast by the BBC in 1990. Radio 5 also started in 1990, the first new network for 23 years. 1992 saw the final BBC local radio station open in Berkshire. Digital radio started in 1995, via cable, satellite and the future DAB.

In 1997 several competitors for the local FM license took to the airwaves of Doncaster. First up was Doncaster FM, from studio's in the YMCA, in March/April 1997. During the early summer, Trax FM launched it's first trial from a temporary studio in Frenchgate. Don Valley Country followed a couple of months later, being based in an old Butchers shop in Wheatley Hills. Trax were back for Christmas, this time from a studio on South Parade and D106.6 Doncaster FM broadcast from next door to the Odeon in January 1998. Trax won the license and started broadcasting later that year.

In 2004 the airwaves were to be opened up even further, with the start of smaller scale Community Stations. It's this level that Thorne and Moorends Community Radio will operate in. A range of about 5 kilometres is designed to serve a community, not be a major transmission area. These stations exist to benefit the community, not to make a profit for those running them.

A full license lasts for 5 years, and there is no guarantee that another would be granted after that period. Only a certain amount of advertising and sponsorship is allowed, the remainder must come from other funding - even OfCom have the ability to provide towards this. Further information about OfCom and Community Radio can be found at OfCom's Website

It costs £600 just to apply for such a license, OfCom only intend to issue about 50 licenses per year, so it's not that easy to get one. To show that we have the support of the community, and local businesses, we operated a short-term station in the summer of 2005. Known as a RSL (Restricted Station License) this allowed us to broadcast for up to 28 days.

It's estimated that it costs about £30,000 to run a short term station like this, and the money had to come from somewhere. Several funding grants were applied for, one of which bought the station the studio equipment, another paid the rent, yet another covered the cost of electricity, telephone and so on. We also had to hire in the actual transmitter and associated equipment as we cannot buy our own until such time as we have the proper license, and know the frequency to set everything for.

But, the main part of starting up such a station is to involve the community, for the benefit of the community. It's not going to be a copy of Hallam FM, or any other station. It has to be a mixture of programming that will serve the community as a whole. If this means we have a Gardening Hour, followed by a pop music programme, then Country or Classical, with many other styles throughout the week, then this is the type of station we will have.

The public were invited to air their thoughts and ideas, either by filling in a survey form that was designed by Thorne Grammer School pupils, or by coming along to one of the regular meetings. We were listening to you so that you'll listen to us! Meetings are still being held if you want to come along and find out more, call us at the station to find out when the next is.

Elsewhere on this site you'll find much more information about our aims. The future of radio is with us, let's make it work for our community!.