page_title: History of broadcasting
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: History of broadcasting / Early broadcasting / United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: English: Sir John Reith Depicted person&#58; &#32;John Reith, 1st Baron Reith
context_page_description: It is generally recognized that the first radio transmission was made from a temporary station set up by Guglielmo Marconi in 1895 on the Isle of Wight. This followed on from pioneering work in the field by a number of people including Alessandro Volta, André-Marie Ampère, Georg Ohm and James Clerk Maxwell.
  The radio broadcasting of music and talk intended to reach a dispersed audience started experimentally around 1905–1906, and commercially around 1920 to 1923. VHF stations started 30 to 35 years later.
  In the early days, radio stations broadcast on the longwave, mediumwave and shortwave bands, and later on VHF and UHF. However, in the United Kingdom, Hungary, France and some other places, from as early as 1890 there was already a system whereby news, music, live theatre, music hall, fiction readings, religious broadcasts, etc., were available in private homes [and other places] via the conventional telephone line, with subscribers being supplied with a number of special, personalised headsets. In Britain this system was known as Electrophone, and was available as early as 1895 or 1899 [sources vary] and up until 1926.
context_section_description: The first experimental music broadcasts, from Marconi's factory in Chelmsford, began in 1920. Two years later, in October 1922, a consortium of radio manufacturers formed the British Broadcasting Company (BBC); they allowed some sponsored programs, although they were not what we would today consider a fully commercial station.  Meanwhile, the first radio stations in England were experimental station 2MT, located near Chelmsford, and station 2LO in London:  both were operated by the Marconi Company.  By late 1923, there were six stations broadcasting regularly in the United Kingdom: London's 2LO, Manchester's 2ZY, and stations in Birmingham (5IT), Cardiff, Newcastle, and Glasgow.  As for the consortium of radio manufacturers, it dissolved in 1926, when its license expired; it then became the British Broadcasting Corporation, a non-commercial organization. Its governors are appointed by the British government, but they do not answer to it. Lord Reith took a formative role in developing the BBC, especially in radio.  Working as its first manager and Director-General, he promoted the philosophy of public service broadcasting, firmly grounded in the moral benefits of education and of uplifting entertainment, eschewing commercial influence and maintaining a maximum of independence from political control.
  Commercial stations such as Radio Normandie and Radio Luxembourg broadcast into the UK from other European countries. This provided a very popular alternative to the rather austere BBC. These stations were closed during the War, and only Radio Luxembourg returned afterward. BBC television broadcasts in Britain began on November 2, 1936, and continued until wartime conditions closed the service in 1939.
caption: Caricature of Sir John Reith, by the artist, Wooding.
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