English: Next Monday is the hundredth anniversary of radio broadcasting from Wales. It was launched in Cardiff from a room above a music shop on Castle Street and it was the first broadcasting venture outside London. Astonishingly, people from Pontypridd, Rhymney, Newport and Gwent all managed to tune into radio 5WA's inaugural broadcast. Astonishing, because, unless you could afford the equivalent of two weeks' wages to buy a wireless, you had to rely on some polymath amateur who'd mastered adapting upside down telephone microphones to build a crystal wireless, or perhaps you could have attended a listening party, such as the one that was held in City Hall in Cardiff. The wireless orchestra, all seven of them, had a repertoire that included contemporary favourites like Ivor Novello's My Life Belongs to You and Dafydd y Garreg Wen. The latter, sung by Mostyn Thomas from Blaenau Gwent, fresh from his 1922 Eisteddfod win, was historic because it was the first time ever that the Welsh language had ever been broadcast. Now, these amateurs - they were all amateurs initially - burnt through five station managers in the first six weeks on air. The pioneer uncle Fred lasted all of two days. Uncle Arthur, on the other hand, had staying power. Arthur Corbett-Smith was very keen to ensure that the BBC for Wales and the west country was going to have a much more relaxed tone than what was broadcast from London. Though he fully subscribed to the Reithian principles of 'educate, entertain and inform,' he wanted them to take place in the same programme, not in silos. So, talks were billed as chats; London had Children's Hour, but Wales had The Hour of the 'Kiddiewinks'. If you want to learn more about this, hear the concert that's going to be broadcast on Monday, which I attended last Sunday when it was recorded. Equally, you can listen to the BBC's The Ministry of Happiness, a sitcom that's being broadcast at the moment that was launched in memory of these pioneering broadcasters.
Welsh: Ddydd Llun nesaf yw canmlwyddiant darlledu radio o Gymru. Cafodd ei lansio yng Nghaerdydd o ystafell uwchben siop gerddoriaeth ar Stryd y Castell a dyma'r fenter ddarlledu gyntaf y tu allan i Lundain. Yn syfrdanol, llwyddodd pobl o Bontypridd, Rhymni, Casnewydd a Gwent i wrando ar ddarllediad agoriadol radio 5WA. Syfrdanol, oherwydd, oni bai eich bod yn gallu fforddio'r hyn sy'n cyfateb i gyflog pythefnos i brynu radio, roedd yn rhaid ichi ddibynnu ar ryw amatur galluog a oedd wedi meistroli'r gwaith o addasu meicroffonau ffôn wyneb i waered i adeiladu radio grisial, neu efallai y gallech fod wedi mynychu parti gwrando, fel yr un a gynhaliwyd yn Neuadd y Ddinas yng Nghaerdydd. Roedd repertoire y gerddorfa radio, y saith ohonynt, yn cynnwys ffefrynnau cyfoes fel My Life Belongs to You Ivor Novello a Dafydd y Garreg Wen. Roedd yr olaf, a gâi ei chanu gan Mostyn Thomas o Flaenau Gwent yn ffres o'i fuddugoliaeth yn yr Eisteddfod yn 1922, yn hanesyddol gan mai dyna'r tro cyntaf erioed i'r Gymraeg gael ei darlledu. Nawr, aeth yr amaturiaid hyn - roeddent i gyd yn amaturiaid ar y dechrau - drwy bum rheolwr gorsaf yn y chwe wythnos gyntaf ar yr awyr. Am ddau ddiwrnod yn unig y parhaodd yr 'uncle' cyntaf, uncle Fred. Roedd uncle Arthur, ar y llaw arall, yno i aros. Roedd Arthur Corbett-Smith yn awyddus iawn i sicrhau bod y BBC ar gyfer Cymru a gorllewin Lloegr yn mynd i gael naws lawer mwy hamddenol na'r hyn a gâi ei ddarlledu o Lundain. Er ei fod yn cydymffurfio'n llawn â'r egwyddorion Reithaidd, 'addysgu, diddanu a hysbysu,' roedd am iddynt ddigwydd yn yr un rhaglen, nid mewn seilos. Felly, cafodd anerchiadau eu galw'n sgyrsiau; roedd gan Lundain eu Children's Hour, ond roedd gan Gymru awr y 'Kiddiewinks'. Os ydych chi am ddysgu mwy am hyn, gwrandewch ar y cyngerdd a gaiff ei ddarlledu ddydd Llun, cyngerdd a fynychais ddydd Sul diwethaf pan gafodd ei recordio. Yn yr un modd, gallwch wrando ar The Ministry of Happiness y BBC, comedi sefyllfa sy'n cael ei darlledu ar hyn o bryd ac a gafodd ei lansio er cof am y darlledwyr arloesol hyn.