In 1920, what we now know the radio broadcast started. Radio pioneers at the Marconi works in Essex started the first broadcasts on station MZX in Chelmsford, and today marks the day that the first entertainment broadcast was made.
Few back in June 1920 had a radio set, but those that did were getting bored with the test messages being broadcast. The Daily Mail newspaper paid what was then a huge sum to secure the services of world-famous singer Dame Nellie Melba to perform the historic broadcast. The signals were heard as far away as Persia.
Ninety years later, in June 2010, a group of radio enthusiasts met in Chelmsford to remember this historic day, and Radio & Telly was there. We managed to secure an interview with John Bower, the chairman of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society, and asked John to explain just what happened all those years ago.
As well as discussing the history of radio, John shares his thoughts on today’s broadcasting, DAB, how to communicate with space, and what it means to be an amateur radio operator.
If you’re interested in radio, please take a listen to this illuminating 22 minute interview. You can download the interview for free, or listen online, at the following address:
http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/historyofradio.html
We wonder what Mr Marconi would make of the broadcasts filling our airwaves today…
