Stereophony

The BBC began experiments in stereo broadcasting in 1958. Many of the early tests were the Stereophony programmes that aired on Saturday mornings. To get the desired stereo effect, listeners had to tune into Network 3 for the left-hand channel and BBC tv for the right-hand channel. These broadcasts generally consisted of music, either specially recorded by the BBC or from gramophone records, but occasionally featured comedy and drama.

In this boo, after the intro to the much-sampled Journey into Stereo Sound LP (the voice of actor Geoffrey Sumner), you’ll hear clips from programmes that feature the Rolling Stones, Stanley Unwin, Michael Bentine and The Archers. The announcers are Robin Boyle, Jimmy Kingsbury and Tim Gudgin.