As a small person I asked my mum why Radio Luxembourg faded in and out. "It's the waves on the sea". That's a lovely answer and one that had me visualing the choppy English Channel everytime Barry Aldis disappeared and blasted back.
I wonder how often tropospheric lifts and sporadic-E would bring in stations from Continental Europe on VHF/FM back then? What was the band like on the Continent? At least there were plenty of empty frequencies available for DX back then!
I seem to remember reading that West Germany were one of the first, if not the first countries in Europe to broadcast services on FM.
It certainly looks like it. The internal FM aerial had a flat two-pin plug which is visible in one of the photos. There were speakers on the sides and I have a vague recollection of it being described as 3D (rather than stereo) because you could adjust the sound to get a fuller effect. In fact I think one of the piano keys controlled that. The two big control knobs had outer rings which had separate functions. It really was a very innovative design.
In fact looking at the photos I can see the tone controls which were below the main knobs and set so that the edges of the control wheels were horizontal; you just used your thumb to adjust the (separate) treble and bass and a little plastic indicator showed the settings, like a modern display but entirely mechanical.
I wonder how often tropospheric lifts and sporadic-E would bring in stations from Continental Europe on VHF/FM back then? What was the band like on the Continent? At least there were plenty of empty frequencies available for DX back then!
I seem to remember reading that West Germany were one of the first, if not the first countries in Europe to broadcast services on FM.
It must have happened, BBC1 television was often wiped out during the summer months. Only remember hearing RTE occasionally on FM at that time.
I didn't have a good FM tuner until 1975 and once picked up excellent stereo from "Stimme der DDR" (East Germany, Brocken transmitter). I wonder when FM started there?
The BBC Home Service was as posters have already said, regionalised. But within regions, there were sub-regions.
London was what the BBC termed the 'basic' Home Service and was broadcast on 330 and 202 and VHF from Wrotham and Dover
Midland was based in Birmingham on 276 but East Anglia had opt outs on VHF, including news, sport and features
West was, by 1963, the South and West region. Two wavelengths - 285 and 206. Brighton, Bexhill and Folkestone were on 206. News was split three ways on VHF - one bulletin for the south-west, one for the Bristol Channel area, and one from Southampton for the south. Very rarely, 285 and 206 would split for regional variations.
Wales was on 341 and North Wales had its own sports programme on VHF
The North of England had three wavelengths - 434, 261 and 202. Manchester provided the 434/202/VHF Home Moss programming, and Newcastle the 261/VHF Pontop Pike and Sandale
Northern Ireland was by now on 224 with no sub-opts. When 261 had to be shared by the North & N. Ireland Home Services, different local programmes were carried on Pontop Pike and Divis respectively for Newcastle and Belfast
Scotland was on 371 with separate local news and sports bulletins two or three times a week for the Aberdeen; Inverness and Borders areas.
And the BBC World Service for Europe could be heard on 232m
All that existed beyond that was Radio Luxembourg, AFN, and an hour or two of Medium Wave English Language services on Radio Sweden, Radio Moscow and ORTF (France)
The BBC Home Service was as posters have already said, regionalised. But within regions, there were sub-regions.
London was what the BBC termed the 'basic' Home Service and was broadcast on 330 and 202 and VHF from Wrotham and Dover
Midland was based in Birmingham on 276 but East Anglia had opt outs on VHF, including news, sport and features
West was, by 1963, the South and West region. Two wavelengths - 285 and 206. Brighton, Bexhill and Folkestone were on 206. News was split three ways on VHF - one bulletin for the south-west, one for the Bristol Channel area, and one from Southampton for the south. Very rarely, 285 and 206 would split for regional variations.
Wales was on 341 and North Wales had its own sports programme on VHF
The North of England had three wavelengths - 434, 261 and 202. Manchester provided the 434/202/VHF Home Moss programming, and Newcastle the 261/VHF Pontop Pike and Sandale
Northern Ireland was by now on 224 with no sub-opts. When 261 had to be shared by the North & N. Ireland Home Services, different local programmes were carried on Pontop Pike and Divis respectively for Newcastle and Belfast
Scotland was on 371 with separate local news and sports bulletins two or three times a week for the Aberdeen; Inverness and Borders areas.
And the BBC World Service for Europe could be heard on 232m
All that existed beyond that was Radio Luxembourg, AFN, and an hour or two of Medium Wave English Language services on Radio Sweden, Radio Moscow and ORTF (France)
Wasn't there another european service on 371? I remember hearing it under Scotland.
232 was also used by Manx Radio, it closed down at sunset when the BBC drowned it out. They also used 188 but neither signal was very powerful.
It must have happened, BBC1 television was often wiped out during the summer months. Only remember hearing RTE occasionally on FM at that time.
I didn't have a good FM tuner until 1975 and once picked up excellent stereo from "Stimme der DDR" (East Germany, Brocken transmitter). I wonder when FM started there?
It's probably RBB or MDR now.
FM started in Germany (then West Germany) in 1949. By 1952 there were 106 FM transmitters on air. More info here:
Brocken broadcasts the MDR region, as well as Radio SAW (Sachsen-Anhalt Welle?) on 101.4. The latter is the best indicator here of tropo in that direction.
It'd be fascinating if anyone can remember any tropo or Es from that era (early 1960s)!
Wasn't there another european service on 371? I remember hearing it under Scotland.
Yes, BBC External Services carried Londres Midi from Crowborough in the middle of the day -- better ground wave to Northern France than 232. It was a whopping signal in London.
They also had a 5kW relay in Berlin on 371 which carried its English and German output 24 hours a day.
Brocken broadcasts the MDR region, as well as Radio SAW (Sachsen-Anhalt Welle?) on 101.4. The latter is the best indicator here of tropo in that direction.
It'd be fascinating if anyone can remember any tropo or Es from that era (early 1960s)!
In the DDR era it was a restricted area, apparently used by the Stasi & KGB to monitor NATO and other radio traffic in the west. There was a programme about this site on MDR television, apparently the monitors could pick up signals as far as Frankfurt and Cologne.
Returning to the topic, RTE Athlone would have covered much of Britain although I don't recall listening very often.
West was, by 1963, the South and West region. Two wavelengths - 285 and 206. Brighton, Bexhill and Folkestone were on 206. News was split three ways on VHF - one bulletin for the south-west, one for the Bristol Channel area, and one from Southampton for the south. Very rarely, 285 and 206 would split for regional variations.
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've often wondered why Brighton, Bexhill and Folkestone were on the South and West Region. I have seen old frequency maps showing this but I have never been able to figure out why, does anyone have the answer?
Then there was the most interesting network of them all, Network Three, which incorporated the Third Programme( which most people still called Network Three after it was renamed). This had an interesting mix of weekend sport, test match cricket, classical music, educational programming, jazz, educational programmes, serious drama and talks.
my parents had an electric radio in the kitchen and I had a small Zenith transistor, I think a couple of years later but the Zenith was theirs from when they married in 1957 and was going strong til at least 1969
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've often wondered why Brighton, Bexhill and Folkestone were on the South and West Region. I have seen old frequency maps showing this but I have never been able to figure out why, does anyone have the answer?
My guess is that the decision was taken that it would be better to allocate them a wavelength OTHER than 330 m - which is what they "should" have been on to fit into the London Home region. Had they used 330 m they would have spoiled reception in the overlap "mush" zones where Brookmans Park gave an equally strong signal.
206 m was already something of a compromise with Clevedon and Bartley sharing; even with careful synchronisation there would have been some areas where fading was a problem. Given that this was the case, I imagine that the BBC felt that pools of very good reception on 206 m in Brighton Folkestone and Bexhill - with a non synchronous network 330 m being the alternative in the rural areas between those major towns - was a better alternative than trying to get the whole thing to work on 330 m. Although one wonders if say Bexhill couldn't have used 202 m for example, although then it would have had to carry London like Ramsgate did so there would have been a lot of region hopping as one went along the south coast!
But I agree it's not intuitive to tune a radio to "WEST" when one is in Folkestone.
Worst of it is that I can remember the 206 m signal as a child - came in fairly well near Guildford. And I also remember those 371 lunchtime French broadcasts from Crowborough, although I wonder how far they actually penetrated into France itself. Maybe there were more French listeners to that transmission in Britain than in France!
Yes, BBC External Services carried Londres Midi from Crowborough in the middle of the day -- better ground wave to Northern France than 232. It was a whopping signal in London.
They also had a 5kW relay in Berlin on 371 which carried its English and German output 24 hours a day.
Here in Tunbridge wells, you could see the tops of the Ariel array on Ashdown forest. 232,and especially 371 sprawled over large parts of the dial.
Yep, everyone's forgotten about RTE Radio from Athlone (then Radio Éireann )
I'm sure it was receivable in western parts of the UK, and definitely in NI.
There used to be stories of Irish people in London listening to RTE with their transistor radio held against a lamp-post - for the Gaelic Football or Hurling I think.
Did the BBC Light Programme carry the World Service overnight, just like Radio Four does nowadays ?
I could be wrong but no I don't think the BBC Light didn't carry any service over night, They closed down at 2.00am while 5.30am they did in 1966 because I have an old Radio Times for July that year when the World Cup had just started.
Also a factor in the growth of FM by BBC around this time was the use of it for schools radio ( I've bored everyone on this forum with details before... )
There is a really interesting PDF document about the development of BBC Schools broadcasting, both radio and TV - interesting because it also charts much of the overall development of radio and TV transmissions in general in the UK from the 1920 to the present day. If you have ten minutes, the document is at :
My father was a grammar school teacher, and like all other teachers of the time, used to record BBC schools broadcasts from FM to reel-to-reel, to play back to different classes. This was not only legal, but as part of the intended education of the children by the BBC and authorities: the BBC supplied booklets in bulk to go with the broadcasts. My dad's school, like many others, bought a new radio in 1960 deliberately with an FM band for these broadcasts. I later had to modify it to switch the speaker out so he could record in the classroom off-air whilst teaching other topics.
So yes - FM became important in the 1960s.
Probably a highly memorable thing about radio in 1963 was the announcement of Kennedy's death. We all remember where we were - I was at a friend's house, invited round for tea, when we heard the news on the light programme. I returned home to find my mother in tears - probably the only time - not because Kennedy had died, but because our next-door neighbour had had a heart attack and died too when the news was announced... Such is life !
It's good to read threads like this on this forum - brings back the memories ! What radio memories will be recalled in future years from 2013 ?...
Also a factor in the growth of FM by BBC around this time was the use of it for schools radio ( I've bored everyone on this forum with details before... )
There is a really interesting PDF document about the development of BBC Schools broadcasting, both radio and TV - interesting because it also charts much of the overall development of radio and TV transmissions in general in the UK from the 1920 to the present day. If you have ten minutes, the document is at :
My father was a grammar school teacher, and like all other teachers of the time, used to record BBC schools broadcasts from FM to reel-to-reel, to play back to different classes. This was not only legal, but as part of the intended education of the children by the BBC and authorities: the BBC supplied booklets in bulk to go with the broadcasts. My dad's school, like many others, bought a new radio in 1960 deliberately with an FM band for these broadcasts. I later had to modify it to switch the speaker out so he could record in the classroom off-air whilst teaching other topics.
So yes - FM became important in the 1960s.
Probably a highly memorable thing about radio in 1963 was the announcement of Kennedy's death. We all remember where we were - I was at a friend's house, invited round for tea, when we heard the news on the light programme. I returned home to find my mother in tears - probably the only time - not because Kennedy had died, but because our next-door neighbour had had a heart attack and died too when the news was announced... Such is life !
It's good to read threads like this on this forum - brings back the memories ! What radio memories will be recalled in future years from 2013 ?...
The earliest memory I have of using a radio is being shown by my mother how to tune into various stations, both on MW and FM back in the early 90's (I was a young child then).
I remember being confused about the tuning system, compared to the simpleness of television channels. But I remember there was a children's programme on Radio 4 at that time around 3 or 4 o'clock but can't remember what it was called.
I remember where I was on the night JFK was shot I didn't hear it on the radio I was only 8 years old at the time, I heard on on TV & wondered why the grown ups were so shocked? well at 8 years old you don't understand these things, I used to like Bonanza a western series on at the time on ITV but both BBC & ITV took all the programmes off the moment the news came through he had died shocking for the time, So I expect the three BBC networks did the same.
Was the Daily Mirror providing their news then, or did that arrangement come later?
Post WW2 on 208, Radio Luxembourg's English service did not have a news service until late in 1968(?) and I believe when it started the main source of the news was The Daily Mirror.
What happened with regards to news bulletins on the day of the Kennedy Assassination was a 'one off'.
On the night in question I remember tuning into AFN Europe for coverage of the event
Comments
I seem to remember reading that West Germany were one of the first, if not the first countries in Europe to broadcast services on FM.
It certainly looks like it. The internal FM aerial had a flat two-pin plug which is visible in one of the photos. There were speakers on the sides and I have a vague recollection of it being described as 3D (rather than stereo) because you could adjust the sound to get a fuller effect. In fact I think one of the piano keys controlled that. The two big control knobs had outer rings which had separate functions. It really was a very innovative design.
In fact looking at the photos I can see the tone controls which were below the main knobs and set so that the edges of the control wheels were horizontal; you just used your thumb to adjust the (separate) treble and bass and a little plastic indicator showed the settings, like a modern display but entirely mechanical.
It must have happened, BBC1 television was often wiped out during the summer months. Only remember hearing RTE occasionally on FM at that time.
I didn't have a good FM tuner until 1975 and once picked up excellent stereo from "Stimme der DDR" (East Germany, Brocken transmitter). I wonder when FM started there?
It's probably RBB or MDR now.
London was what the BBC termed the 'basic' Home Service and was broadcast on 330 and 202 and VHF from Wrotham and Dover
Midland was based in Birmingham on 276 but East Anglia had opt outs on VHF, including news, sport and features
West was, by 1963, the South and West region. Two wavelengths - 285 and 206. Brighton, Bexhill and Folkestone were on 206. News was split three ways on VHF - one bulletin for the south-west, one for the Bristol Channel area, and one from Southampton for the south. Very rarely, 285 and 206 would split for regional variations.
Wales was on 341 and North Wales had its own sports programme on VHF
The North of England had three wavelengths - 434, 261 and 202. Manchester provided the 434/202/VHF Home Moss programming, and Newcastle the 261/VHF Pontop Pike and Sandale
Northern Ireland was by now on 224 with no sub-opts. When 261 had to be shared by the North & N. Ireland Home Services, different local programmes were carried on Pontop Pike and Divis respectively for Newcastle and Belfast
Scotland was on 371 with separate local news and sports bulletins two or three times a week for the Aberdeen; Inverness and Borders areas.
And the BBC World Service for Europe could be heard on 232m
All that existed beyond that was Radio Luxembourg, AFN, and an hour or two of Medium Wave English Language services on Radio Sweden, Radio Moscow and ORTF (France)
Wasn't there another european service on 371? I remember hearing it under Scotland.
232 was also used by Manx Radio, it closed down at sunset when the BBC drowned it out. They also used 188 but neither signal was very powerful.
FM started in Germany (then West Germany) in 1949. By 1952 there were 106 FM transmitters on air. More info here:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FUKW-Rundfunk&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate
Brocken broadcasts the MDR region, as well as Radio SAW (Sachsen-Anhalt Welle?) on 101.4. The latter is the best indicator here of tropo in that direction.
It'd be fascinating if anyone can remember any tropo or Es from that era (early 1960s)!
Yes, BBC External Services carried Londres Midi from Crowborough in the middle of the day -- better ground wave to Northern France than 232. It was a whopping signal in London.
They also had a 5kW relay in Berlin on 371 which carried its English and German output 24 hours a day.
According to this http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken it's 1141m (about 3500ft) above sea leve, and
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sendeanlagen_auf_dem_Brocken
lists what it broadcasts now.
In the DDR era it was a restricted area, apparently used by the Stasi & KGB to monitor NATO and other radio traffic in the west. There was a programme about this site on MDR television, apparently the monitors could pick up signals as far as Frankfurt and Cologne.
Returning to the topic, RTE Athlone would have covered much of Britain although I don't recall listening very often.
Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've often wondered why Brighton, Bexhill and Folkestone were on the South and West Region. I have seen old frequency maps showing this but I have never been able to figure out why, does anyone have the answer?
My guess is that the decision was taken that it would be better to allocate them a wavelength OTHER than 330 m - which is what they "should" have been on to fit into the London Home region. Had they used 330 m they would have spoiled reception in the overlap "mush" zones where Brookmans Park gave an equally strong signal.
206 m was already something of a compromise with Clevedon and Bartley sharing; even with careful synchronisation there would have been some areas where fading was a problem. Given that this was the case, I imagine that the BBC felt that pools of very good reception on 206 m in Brighton Folkestone and Bexhill - with a non synchronous network 330 m being the alternative in the rural areas between those major towns - was a better alternative than trying to get the whole thing to work on 330 m. Although one wonders if say Bexhill couldn't have used 202 m for example, although then it would have had to carry London like Ramsgate did so there would have been a lot of region hopping as one went along the south coast!
But I agree it's not intuitive to tune a radio to "WEST" when one is in Folkestone.
Worst of it is that I can remember the 206 m signal as a child - came in fairly well near Guildford. And I also remember those 371 lunchtime French broadcasts from Crowborough, although I wonder how far they actually penetrated into France itself. Maybe there were more French listeners to that transmission in Britain than in France!
Here in Tunbridge wells, you could see the tops of the Ariel array on Ashdown forest. 232,and especially 371 sprawled over large parts of the dial.
Yep, everyone's forgotten about RTE Radio from Athlone (then Radio Éireann )
I'm sure it was receivable in western parts of the UK, and definitely in NI.
There used to be stories of Irish people in London listening to RTE with their transistor radio held against a lamp-post - for the Gaelic Football or Hurling I think.
I could be wrong but no I don't think the BBC Light didn't carry any service over night, They closed down at 2.00am while 5.30am they did in 1966 because I have an old Radio Times for July that year when the World Cup had just started.
There is a really interesting PDF document about the development of BBC Schools broadcasting, both radio and TV - interesting because it also charts much of the overall development of radio and TV transmissions in general in the UK from the 1920 to the present day. If you have ten minutes, the document is at :
http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/4658/1/Crook2007School_Broadcasting_in_the_United_Kingdom217.pdf
I found this document as a link from this short web page :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_School_Radio
My father was a grammar school teacher, and like all other teachers of the time, used to record BBC schools broadcasts from FM to reel-to-reel, to play back to different classes. This was not only legal, but as part of the intended education of the children by the BBC and authorities: the BBC supplied booklets in bulk to go with the broadcasts. My dad's school, like many others, bought a new radio in 1960 deliberately with an FM band for these broadcasts. I later had to modify it to switch the speaker out so he could record in the classroom off-air whilst teaching other topics.
So yes - FM became important in the 1960s.
Probably a highly memorable thing about radio in 1963 was the announcement of Kennedy's death. We all remember where we were - I was at a friend's house, invited round for tea, when we heard the news on the light programme. I returned home to find my mother in tears - probably the only time - not because Kennedy had died, but because our next-door neighbour had had a heart attack and died too when the news was announced... Such is life !
It's good to read threads like this on this forum - brings back the memories ! What radio memories will be recalled in future years from 2013 ?...
The earliest memory I have of using a radio is being shown by my mother how to tune into various stations, both on MW and FM back in the early 90's (I was a young child then).
I remember being confused about the tuning system, compared to the simpleness of television channels. But I remember there was a children's programme on Radio 4 at that time around 3 or 4 o'clock but can't remember what it was called.
From then on though, I was addicted.
Also was there any pre launch publicity for Caroline or did people only know about it after, when it was on the TV news?
They dropped their normal pop programming and played continuous classical music interspersed with news reports about the assassination.
Was the Daily Mirror providing their news then, or did that arrangement come later?
Post WW2 on 208, Radio Luxembourg's English service did not have a news service until late in 1968(?) and I believe when it started the main source of the news was The Daily Mirror.
What happened with regards to news bulletins on the day of the Kennedy Assassination was a 'one off'.
On the night in question I remember tuning into AFN Europe for coverage of the event