Podcasts about wireless a history

When Dr Kate Murphy became a BBC's Woman's Hour producer in 1993, the received wisdom was that women's programming began in 1946, when Woman's Hour launched.  Kate did some digging in the archives, and discovered the long lost tale of the early BBC's Women's Hour (rather than Woman's Hour), which ran from 1923-24. Why so brief? What impact did it make? Which listeners did it cater for? She's here to tell us everything. Hear the topics, the tales, some of the voices, how the regional stations nipped in first, how Men's Talk didn't last quite as long, and how it Women's Hour had one of the first examples of listener feedback.  Next time: The earliest BBC recording, as we leap forward a year for one episode, for the centenary of King George V's landmark broadcast - plus the bizarre tale of how we now get to hear it.    SHOWNOTES: Dr Kate Murphy's books are a must if you're interested in this area (and if you're reading this, sorry to break it to you, but you're interested). Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Women at the BBC and Hilda Matheson: A Life of Secrets and Broadcasts. Buy them both - I did.  This is an independent podcast, nothing to do with the BBC. Any BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Original music is by Will Farmer. Support us on Patreon (£5/mth), and bonus bits include this video meander around (the outside of) Savoy Hill: patreon.com/posts/patron-vid-savoy-75950901 ...Interested in joining a live actual walking tour around those first BBC landmarks? I'm thinking of running one, early 2024. Email paul at paulkerensa dot com for details of when. These recently uploaded plans of Savoy Hill show you everything from Reith's Thames view to the office of Women's Hour boss Ella Fitzgerald: https://www.facebook.com/groups/bbcentury/posts/932696548301466/   Catch Paul on tour with An Evening of (Very) Old Radio - for where/when, see www.paulkerensa.com/tour Find us on Facebook or Twitter, or Ex-Twitter. Your ratings/reviewings of this podcast REALLY help get the podcast noticed. It's solo-run, so thanks! More info on this radio history project at:  paulkerensa.com/oldradio Thanks for listening (-in).

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin...   Episode 69 of our deep dive into British broadcasting's back-story brings us to 5th April 1923, and the hiring of Ella Fitzgerald (not that one), to organise and centralise Children's Hour.   That leads us to a packed episode with both academic insight and tales from those who were there, whether listening or programme-making.   We have more guests than you could fit on Auntie Bronwen's magic carpet - including authors and academics: Dr Amy Holdsworth (author of On Living with Television) Dr Kate Murphy (author of Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Women at the BBC) Graham Stewart (author of Scotland On Air) Programme-makers and listeners: Nick Wilson (producer, Wide Awake Club) Chris Jarvis (presenter, Show Me Show Me) David Jervis (grandson of Capt H.J. Round) Andrew Barker (Newspaper Detective) Charles Huff (producer, The Great Egg Race) And early uncles and aunts:  Uncle Arthur (Burrows) Uncle (A.E.) Thompson Auntie Bronwen (Davies) Auntie Cyclone (Kathleen Garscadden) Dinko, the Foreman of the Pixies (Reginald Jordan) Uncle Humpty Dumpty (Kenneth Wright) We cover programmes including Children's Hour, Watch with Mother, Playschool, Wide Awake Club, Sooty, Teletubbies, In the Night Garden, Old Jack's Boat, Bedtime Hour, and many more.     FURTHER READING, LINKS ETC: On Living with Television by Dr Amy Holdsworth is available here: https://amzn.to/3C3wt0F Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Woman at the BBC by Dr Kate Murphy is available here: https://amzn.to/3BX12oR  Scotland On Air by Graham Stewart will be out later this year. Details here: https://wiki.scotlandonair.com/wiki/Main_Page Read more of Arthur Corbett-Smith's 1924 notes on Children's Hour on Dr Zara Healy's brilliant blog post: https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbchistoryresearch/entries/cf4a5612-fdd9-47ec-88c8-a576e4bf7bd0 (we hope to have her on the podcast soon!) Listen to my CBeebies Radio series Granny Anne's Joke World, starring Maureen Lipman, written by me - 8 episodes are here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/curations/radio-granny-annes-joke-world My new book, out some time, is Auntie and Uncles: The Bizarre Birth of the BBC - details here: https://paulkerensa.com/book My live tour, 'An Evening of (Very) Early Radio' (or sometimes it's an afternoon...) visits Guildford, Romsey, Chelmsford, Kettering, Turnham Green and maybe more (it's very bookable, portable, and affordable!) - details here: https://paulkerensa.com/tour Original music is by Will Farmer. A reminder that this podcast is nothing to do with the BBC. We're talking about them, not via them. Broadcasts more than 50 years old are generally out of copyright. Any BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. Thanks for supporting on patreon.com/paulkerensa if you do - videos and writings await you there. Or one-off tips are much appreciated too! ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. Support us for free by sharing this podcast. Or rating + reviewing where you found us. The more stars, the better... It helps our (ready for a terrible word?) discoverability. Cheers! Next time: The Press vs BBC vs Govt: 1923 and 2023 - with Prof Patrick Barwise and Peter York. Be afraid, be very afraid... https://www.paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

For Ellie Wilson, now 25, it's been a year since the man she once called her boyfriend was convicted of raping her and sentenced to five years in prison. Research shows that one in four women have been raped or sexually assaulted as adults, but it is estimated that only one in six will report it with less than 1% of reported cases ending in a conviction. Ellie speaks to Nuala to explain why she chose to waive her right to anonymity and what propels her to continue to campaign for reform of the justice system in light of her experience. Plans for Britain's first women's-only tower block, to be built in Ealing, west London, have been approved. The brainchild of the housing association Women's Pioneer Housing, it will be a 15-storey tower containing 102 flats to be rented to single women, in particular women who are disadvantaged in the housing market. Nuala is joined by the Chief Executive, Tracey Downie, and Vicky Spratt, the Housing Correspondent for the i newspaper, to discuss its potential social impact. Why does rejection hurt so much? And what are some coping mechanisms can people use? Nuala discusses with the Chartered psychologist Fiona Murden, and Kate Wills who describes her fear of rejection, how it has held her back in life, and an experiment she undertook to try and cure it. Many listeners will know that Radio 4's Woman's Hour has been broadcast for more than 75 years – since October 1946. But far less well known is an earlier programme called Women's Hour, which first appeared 100 years ago, in early May 1923. To find about more Nuala speaks to Dr Kate Murphy, Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University - and author of the book Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Women at the BBC. Presented by Nuala McGovern Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Beverley Purcell

Episode 41 (aka Season 3 episode 2): On January 2nd 1923, John Reith interviewed Miss Frances Isobel Shields for a job at the BBC, to be his secretary. At the time the BBC had four or five male staff members. Miss Shields started work on January 8th, instantly making the BBC a 20% female organisation. It's been greater than that ever since. This episode's fab guest is Dr Kate Murphy: academic, former producer of BBC's Woman's Hour and author of Behind the Wireless: A History of Early Women at the BBC. Her book is brilliant and highly recommended for a deep dive into the subject. Hear Isobel Shields' tale, plus the women who broadcast before her: Britain's first DJ Gertrude Donisthorpe, 2LO's first children's presenter Vivienne Chatterton, and one of our first broadcast comedians Helena Millais. (You can hear their fuller tales if you go back to the earlier episodes on this podcast.) And hear about some of the women who joined the BBC soon after Miss Shields, like telephonist Olive May and women's staff supervisor Caroline Banks. Plus hear about some of John Reith's unusual management practices, from taking his secretaries to the cinema to his brutal firing criteria. But we dwell on his hiring not firing, as well tell the origin story of British broadcasting.  And Dr Murphy will return on future episodes! With tales of the first Women's Hour (not Woman's Hour) in May 1923, and the early female managers, like Mary Somerville and Hilda Matheson. To catch those episodes, you'll have to stay subscribed to this podcast.  While you're there, would you give us a review where you found this podcast? It all helps bring new listeners on board. And that helps grow the project. If you'd consider sharing what we do too, please do tell anyone who might like this - either on social media or in a real-world conversation! Just drop us in. You never know, next time you meet, you could be discussing the inner workings of Marconi House. If you REALLY like what we do, please consider supporting us on patreon.com/paulkerensa or ko-fi.com/paulkerensa. It all helps equip us with books and web hosting and trips to the amazing BBC Written Archives Centre. In this podcast I mention my latest Patreon video, going behind-the-scenes of my broadcasting history trawl, inc. a glimpse at my new (old) crystal set radio, 'on this day' on the 1923 BBC (with a nice surprise), and a reading about Reith. This video's available to all Patreon folks whatever their 'level' - www.patreon.com/posts/60853999 - so if you like, join, watch, then cancel. Or stick around for more videos and writings each month. You can follow us on Twitter or our Facebook page or join our Facebook group, and say hi, or share anything of broadcasting history. Paul's one-man play The First Broadcast tours the UK in 2022. There's now an official trailer you can watch here. The first date's in Surbiton on Feb 2nd, then Leicester Comedy Festival on Feb 3rd, Banbury on March 3rd, Barnes on March 25th, London's Museum of Comedy on April 21st AND Nov 14th, plus Bristol, Bath, Blandford Forum, Kettering, Guildford... and your place? Got a venue? Get in touch. We also mention the BBC 100 website - inc. the 100 Objects, Faces and Voices. Who's missing? Let us know!   OTHER THINGS: Original music is by Will Farmer. Many of our archive clips are old enough to be public domain. BBC content is used with kind permission, BBC copyright content reproduced courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved. This podcast is 100% unofficial and NOTHING to do with the present-day BBC - it's entirely run, researched, presented and dogsbodied by Paul Kerensa. Be on the show! Email me a written ‘Firsthand Memory' (FM) about a time you've seen radio or TV in action. Or record a voice memo of your ‘Airwave Memories' (AM), 1-2mins of your earliest memories of radio/TV. Get in touch! Next time: All change! Mics, Callsigns and Phone-in Requests - we race through week 1 of 1923 as the BBC prepares for the first Outside Broadcast...   More details on this whole project at paulkerensa.com/oldradio  

From the early days of the BBC in 1922, women were everywhere in the broadcasting company’s offices. They were absent, however, argues Dr. Kate Murphy from most of the historiography devoted to this illustrious institution. In this vibrant monograph, Murphy sets out to find these hidden female figures. A former producer of the long-running program Woman’s Hour and currently a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, Murphy is cognizant both of women’s contribution to the BBC and of the challenges they face working there. In Behind the Wireless: A History of Women at the BBC (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Murphy delivers on the titles promises. First, she offers a detailed portrait of the BBC in the interwar period as a unique workplace complete with medical services, a subsidized canteen, and a country-club for its workers. She demonstrates why the fact that the company was created around on a new technology made it especially suitable for women in general, and ambitious ones in particular. Second, she illuminates the daily routines, challenges and opportunities for the scores of female typists, secretaries, clerks and telephone-operators who labored for the company. Murphy supplements this institutional history with four case studies of outstanding women, who rose to the top echelons of the organization. These three components make for a fascinating read. The book will complement the scholarship about the BBC but also add to the current exploration of the participation of women in the workforce in the interwar period. I expect that the book will be of great interest for scholars of media, gender, modern Britain and labor relations. It is a wonderful example of how to bring all these concerns into conversation. Tal Zalmanovich is a historian of modern Britain and media. She’s currently researching the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, and the impact its activists had on domestic politics in Britain. Prior to being an academic, Tal was a journalist. Podcasting is the fruitful convergence of the two. You can contact Tal at tal.zalmanovich@mail.huji.ac.il   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the early days of the BBC in 1922, women were everywhere in the broadcasting company’s offices. They were absent, however, argues Dr. Kate Murphy from most of the historiography devoted to this illustrious institution. In this vibrant monograph, Murphy sets out to find these hidden female figures. A former producer of the long-running program Woman’s Hour and currently a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, Murphy is cognizant both of women’s contribution to the BBC and of the challenges they face working there. In Behind the Wireless: A History of Women at the BBC (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Murphy delivers on the titles promises. First, she offers a detailed portrait of the BBC in the interwar period as a unique workplace complete with medical services, a subsidized canteen, and a country-club for its workers. She demonstrates why the fact that the company was created around on a new technology made it especially suitable for women in general, and ambitious ones in particular. Second, she illuminates the daily routines, challenges and opportunities for the scores of female typists, secretaries, clerks and telephone-operators who labored for the company. Murphy supplements this institutional history with four case studies of outstanding women, who rose to the top echelons of the organization. These three components make for a fascinating read. The book will complement the scholarship about the BBC but also add to the current exploration of the participation of women in the workforce in the interwar period. I expect that the book will be of great interest for scholars of media, gender, modern Britain and labor relations. It is a wonderful example of how to bring all these concerns into conversation. Tal Zalmanovich is a historian of modern Britain and media. She’s currently researching the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, and the impact its activists had on domestic politics in Britain. Prior to being an academic, Tal was a journalist. Podcasting is the fruitful convergence of the two. You can contact Tal at tal.zalmanovich@mail.huji.ac.il   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the early days of the BBC in 1922, women were everywhere in the broadcasting company’s offices. They were absent, however, argues Dr. Kate Murphy from most of the historiography devoted to this illustrious institution. In this vibrant monograph, Murphy sets out to find these hidden female figures. A former producer of the long-running program Woman’s Hour and currently a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, Murphy is cognizant both of women’s contribution to the BBC and of the challenges they face working there. In Behind the Wireless: A History of Women at the BBC (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Murphy delivers on the titles promises. First, she offers a detailed portrait of the BBC in the interwar period as a unique workplace complete with medical services, a subsidized canteen, and a country-club for its workers. She demonstrates why the fact that the company was created around on a new technology made it especially suitable for women in general, and ambitious ones in particular. Second, she illuminates the daily routines, challenges and opportunities for the scores of female typists, secretaries, clerks and telephone-operators who labored for the company. Murphy supplements this institutional history with four case studies of outstanding women, who rose to the top echelons of the organization. These three components make for a fascinating read. The book will complement the scholarship about the BBC but also add to the current exploration of the participation of women in the workforce in the interwar period. I expect that the book will be of great interest for scholars of media, gender, modern Britain and labor relations. It is a wonderful example of how to bring all these concerns into conversation. Tal Zalmanovich is a historian of modern Britain and media. She’s currently researching the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, and the impact its activists had on domestic politics in Britain. Prior to being an academic, Tal was a journalist. Podcasting is the fruitful convergence of the two. You can contact Tal at tal.zalmanovich@mail.huji.ac.il   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the early days of the BBC in 1922, women were everywhere in the broadcasting company’s offices. They were absent, however, argues Dr. Kate Murphy from most of the historiography devoted to this illustrious institution. In this vibrant monograph, Murphy sets out to find these hidden female figures. A former producer of the long-running program Woman’s Hour and currently a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, Murphy is cognizant both of women’s contribution to the BBC and of the challenges they face working there. In Behind the Wireless: A History of Women at the BBC (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Murphy delivers on the titles promises. First, she offers a detailed portrait of the BBC in the interwar period as a unique workplace complete with medical services, a subsidized canteen, and a country-club for its workers. She demonstrates why the fact that the company was created around on a new technology made it especially suitable for women in general, and ambitious ones in particular. Second, she illuminates the daily routines, challenges and opportunities for the scores of female typists, secretaries, clerks and telephone-operators who labored for the company. Murphy supplements this institutional history with four case studies of outstanding women, who rose to the top echelons of the organization. These three components make for a fascinating read. The book will complement the scholarship about the BBC but also add to the current exploration of the participation of women in the workforce in the interwar period. I expect that the book will be of great interest for scholars of media, gender, modern Britain and labor relations. It is a wonderful example of how to bring all these concerns into conversation. Tal Zalmanovich is a historian of modern Britain and media. She’s currently researching the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, and the impact its activists had on domestic politics in Britain. Prior to being an academic, Tal was a journalist. Podcasting is the fruitful convergence of the two. You can contact Tal at tal.zalmanovich@mail.huji.ac.il   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the early days of the BBC in 1922, women were everywhere in the broadcasting company’s offices. They were absent, however, argues Dr. Kate Murphy from most of the historiography devoted to this illustrious institution. In this vibrant monograph, Murphy sets out to find these hidden female figures. A former producer of the long-running program Woman’s Hour and currently a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, Murphy is cognizant both of women’s contribution to the BBC and of the challenges they face working there. In Behind the Wireless: A History of Women at the BBC (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Murphy delivers on the titles promises. First, she offers a detailed portrait of the BBC in the interwar period as a unique workplace complete with medical services, a subsidized canteen, and a country-club for its workers. She demonstrates why the fact that the company was created around on a new technology made it especially suitable for women in general, and ambitious ones in particular. Second, she illuminates the daily routines, challenges and opportunities for the scores of female typists, secretaries, clerks and telephone-operators who labored for the company. Murphy supplements this institutional history with four case studies of outstanding women, who rose to the top echelons of the organization. These three components make for a fascinating read. The book will complement the scholarship about the BBC but also add to the current exploration of the participation of women in the workforce in the interwar period. I expect that the book will be of great interest for scholars of media, gender, modern Britain and labor relations. It is a wonderful example of how to bring all these concerns into conversation. Tal Zalmanovich is a historian of modern Britain and media. She’s currently researching the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, and the impact its activists had on domestic politics in Britain. Prior to being an academic, Tal was a journalist. Podcasting is the fruitful convergence of the two. You can contact Tal at tal.zalmanovich@mail.huji.ac.il   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the early days of the BBC in 1922, women were everywhere in the broadcasting company’s offices. They were absent, however, argues Dr. Kate Murphy from most of the historiography devoted to this illustrious institution. In this vibrant monograph, Murphy sets out to find these hidden female figures. A former producer of the long-running program Woman’s Hour and currently a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, Murphy is cognizant both of women’s contribution to the BBC and of the challenges they face working there. In Behind the Wireless: A History of Women at the BBC (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Murphy delivers on the titles promises. First, she offers a detailed portrait of the BBC in the interwar period as a unique workplace complete with medical services, a subsidized canteen, and a country-club for its workers. She demonstrates why the fact that the company was created around on a new technology made it especially suitable for women in general, and ambitious ones in particular. Second, she illuminates the daily routines, challenges and opportunities for the scores of female typists, secretaries, clerks and telephone-operators who labored for the company. Murphy supplements this institutional history with four case studies of outstanding women, who rose to the top echelons of the organization. These three components make for a fascinating read. The book will complement the scholarship about the BBC but also add to the current exploration of the participation of women in the workforce in the interwar period. I expect that the book will be of great interest for scholars of media, gender, modern Britain and labor relations. It is a wonderful example of how to bring all these concerns into conversation. Tal Zalmanovich is a historian of modern Britain and media. She’s currently researching the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, and the impact its activists had on domestic politics in Britain. Prior to being an academic, Tal was a journalist. Podcasting is the fruitful convergence of the two. You can contact Tal at tal.zalmanovich@mail.huji.ac.il   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the early days of the BBC in 1922, women were everywhere in the broadcasting company's offices. They were absent, however, argues Dr. Kate Murphy from most of the historiography devoted to this illustrious institution. In this vibrant monograph, Murphy sets out to find these hidden female figures. A former producer of the long-running program Woman's Hour and currently a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, Murphy is cognizant both of women's contribution to the BBC and of the challenges they face working there. In Behind the Wireless: A History of Women at the BBC (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Murphy delivers on the titles promises. First, she offers a detailed portrait of the BBC in the interwar period as a unique workplace complete with medical services, a subsidized canteen, and a country-club for its workers. She demonstrates why the fact that the company was created around on a new technology made it especially suitable for women in general, and ambitious ones in particular. Second, she illuminates the daily routines, challenges and opportunities for the scores of female typists, secretaries, clerks and telephone-operators who labored for the company. Murphy supplements this institutional history with four case studies of outstanding women, who rose to the top echelons of the organization. These three components make for a fascinating read. The book will complement the scholarship about the BBC but also add to the current exploration of the participation of women in the workforce in the interwar period. I expect that the book will be of great interest for scholars of media, gender, modern Britain and labor relations. It is a wonderful example of how to bring all these concerns into conversation. Tal Zalmanovich is a historian of modern Britain and media. She's currently researching the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain, and the impact its activists had on domestic politics in Britain. Prior to being an academic, Tal was a journalist. Podcasting is the fruitful convergence of the two. You can contact Tal at tal.zalmanovich@mail.huji.ac.il   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices