The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa

#048 Daimler, 5MG and 2BP: The In-Car Radios of 1923

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"There's not a lot written about 2BP," says our guest Tony Currie, radio historian, author and presenter. And yet for episode 48, we've wrung a whole 40mins out of it!

In January 1923, the BBC had sole right to broadcast in Britain, and yet a couple of experimental radio stations existed in Glasgow. 5MG had been on the air since October, operated by shop-owners Frank Milligan and George Garscadden, just to sell some wireless sets. And Daimler wanted to sell something too - in-car radios. So they set up a temporary station, 2BP, at the Glasgow Motor Show.

Pull over and hear all about it. Plus from Scotland to Somerset: hear Neil Wilson's tour of his wonderful Radio Museum in Watchet.

  • See the full 20mins Radio Museum tour here: https://youtu.be/ZjDXKQ63RaI
  • Visit the Radio Museum in Watchet - details here: https://www.radiomuseum.uk
  • Come and see my show The First Broadcast, in Watchet, in conjunction with the Radio Museum - or in Ludlow, Bedford, Tunbridge Walls, Guildford, Salford, Chelmsford, London, Isle of Wight... paulkerensa.com/tour
  • Thanks Tony Currie for the expert knowledge and loan of his documentary on Scotland's Radio. Tony's books include The Radio Times Story - and his radio station is Radio Six: https://www.radiosix.com
  • Find us on Twitter: twitter.com/bbcentury
  • Or Facebook: Facebook.com/bbcentury
  • Help us on Patreon - thanks if you do! patreon.com/paulkerensa 
  • Thanks to Will Farmer for the original music.
  • We're nothing to do with the present-day BBC - it's entirely a solo-run operation.
  • Archive clips are either public domain due to age, or some rights may belong to owners we know not whom. BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
  • Subscribe, share, rate, review us - it all helps!

    • Next time: Peter Eckersley joins the BBC as its first Chief Engineer... and Professor David Hendy joins us for a chat.

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