2 LO

2LO was the UK's second 'proper' radio station. 11th May 1922 saw it take to the air at low power for the first time. It then broadcast just an hour a day from its home at Marconi House on the Strand in London, from the roof of which loomed its aerial. The station, alongside others, was then transferred as 'the mother station' to the new British Broadcasting Company, as the Government sought to bring the various radio manufacturers together rather than face the 'chaos' which America had seemingly witnessed. 

The first voice as the station then launched properly in November 1922 belonged to its programme director, Arthur Burrows. Its style was formal and the seed of that BBC Home Service/Radio 4 'sound' could be heard; unlike the station which preceded it, 5MT from Writtle, near Chelmsford, which had been much chattier, maybe the forerunner of Radio 2. Having said that, 2LO grew quickly and ambitiously into a full service of news and live musical entertainment. Material for the very first news bulletins was phoned in, and transcribed from a dictaphone. The station also boasted a time signal, thanks to the bongs of some tubular bells. 2LO was to last around three years.