BEGINNINGS OF BROADCASTING
In 1922 there occurred one of the outstanding events of the century—the birth of broadcasting in this country—and it was the research department at Trafford Park that transmitted the first B.B.C. programme in the north.

The American Westinghouse had sent out the first regular programmes of music and speech from East Pittsburgh in December 1920. In a few months radio became a craze, and as interest developed on this side A. P.M. Fleming crossed the Atlantic to see broadcasting in operation and gauge the public demand. On his return, the Company decided to set up a transmitting station in the research department at Trafford Park.

A conference room was fitted with a marquee-like arrangement to give the deadness then required of a studio and was connected by festoons of wire to a tiny transmitter room under a staircase; more wires led to a cage-type aerial slung between the tip of the water-tower and the top of the main buildings. A smaller transmitting and receiving station was set up six miles away, in Fleming's home at Hale, to receive the transmissions and to provide signals to check the Trafford Park receivers. Experimental transmissions were started on May 17, 1922, and continued throughout the summer and autumn.

A little earlier, on March 31, the Company had made formal application to the General Post Office for permission to "carry out the broadcasting of music and speech by wireless telephony". This historic letter proposed two stations, at Manchester and at Slough, to operate with an input of 3 kW and to broadcast regularly on a 375/435-metre waveband from 4 to 5 and 7.30 to 10 p.m.

At first the G.P.O. was not favourably inclined on the grounds that "the ether was already full", but when some twenty similar applications had been made it was suggested that an agreed scheme might be considered and eventually a British Broadcasting Company was formed. This first B.B.C. (which was replaced by the present Corporation five years later) comprised a group of manufacturers, M-V, B.T.H., G.E.C., Marconi, Radio Communication, and Western Electric. It proposed to operate eventually at least eight stations at London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Cardiff, Plymouth, Glasgow, and Aberdeen; the expense was to be borne partly by the manufacturers and partly by a proportion of the receiving licence fees. The Broadcasting Company with A. McKinstry as the M-V representative was registered on December 15, 1922, its licence to broadcast being made retrospective from November 1.

The experimental station in the research department became the first Manchester station of the B.B.C., working on a wavelength of 385 metres (778.7kHz) with the call-sign '2ZY'. Official operation started at 24 hours' notice on November 15, 1922, the day after the first broadcast from Savoy Hill (2LO). In addition to a lucky scoop in the form of General Election results, the first programme included children's stories, and music by Uncle Humpty Dumpty and the Lady of the Magic Carpet, music from gramophone records, humorous stories by Mr. X and others, and records of dance music continuing until 1.15 in the morning.