6ST - Stoke's first station - documentary

In the 1920s, a chain of stations were established in key cities, supplemented by smaller relays carrying some opt-out programming.

One of the last was in Stoke on Trent, launched on the 21st October 1924; it lasted until 16th May 1931. This was 6ST, on 301.1m medium wave. The format was a serious, yet comfortable mix of music, news and chat, and the appearance of a few ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ uttering homely words for the children, as was common in that era.

Here’s a lovely 1968 documentary of that first Stoke station, made by its distant cousin, BBC Radio Stoke, in its own early days. ‘This is your station, just as much as it is ours’.