2. Radio
Marconi's "Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company" was formed on 20 July
1897. The company opened the world's first radio factory on Hall Street in
Chelmsford in 1898 and was responsible for some of the most important
advances in radio and television:
Transatlantic radio broadcasting
High Frequency tuned broadcasting
Formation of the British Broadcasting Company (later to become the
independent BBC)
Formation of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America
Short wave beam broadcasting
3. Most famous radio stations in UK (national)
1. BBC Radio 2 (14.3m)
2. BBC Radio 1 (11.7m)
3. BBC Radio 4 (10.8m)
4. Heart (7.5m)
5. Capital (7.0m)
The top 5 radio stations with the highest amount of listeners in their area
1. Channel 103 (59% of people in their area tune in)
2. Manx Radio (58%)
3. Radio Borders (54%)
4. Moray Firth Radio (53%)
5. Radio Pembrokeshire (50%)
4. Television
The electromechanical system over the BBC radio transmitter in September 1929.
Baird provided a limited amount of programming five days a week by 1930.
Southampton first British television broadcast was made by Baird Television's
earned the distinction of broadcasting the first-ever live television interview.
TV broadcasts in London were on the air an average of four hours daily from 1936 to
1939. There were 12,000 to 15,000 receivers. Some sets in restaurants or bars might
have 100 viewers for sport events.
The outbreak of the Second World War caused the BBC service to be suspended
without warning on September 1, 1939, mid-way through a Mickey Mouse cartoon.
It resumed, again from Alexandra Palace, after the end of the war on June 7, 1946
showing the same cartoon.
5. At the end of 1947 there were 54,000 licensed television receivers, compared with
44,000 television sets in the United States at that time.
The first transatlantic television signal was sent in 1928 from London to New York
by the Baird Television Development Company/Cinema Television, although this
signal was not broadcast to the public. The first live satellite signal to Britain from
the United States was broadcast via the Telstar satellite on July 23, 1962.
Most famous TV channels:
1.- BBC 1
2.- BBC 2
3.- ITV 1
4.- CHANNEL 4
5.- CHANNEL 5
6. Newspapers
There were twelve London newspapers and 24 provincial papers by the 1720s.
The Daily Courant was the first daily newspaper in London. By the early 19th
century there were 52 London papers and over 100 other titles. . The Daily
Universal Register began life in 1785 and was later to become known as The
Times from 1788. By the 1930s, over two thirds of the population was
estimated to read a newspaper every day, with "almost everyone" taking one
on Sundays.
Traditionally, UK newspapers could be split into more serious-minded
newspapers, usually referred to as the broadsheets due to their large size, and
sometimes known collectively as "the quality press", and less serious
newspapers, generally known as tabloids, and collectively as "the popular
press", which have tended to focus more on celebrity coverage and human
interest stories rather than political reporting or overseas news.
7. National daily newspapers
1. The Sun (7,772,000 readers)
2. The Daily Mail (4,741,000)
3. The Daily Mirror (3,087,000)
4. Metro (3,287,000)
5. The Daily Telegraph (1,680,000)
Sunday newspapers
1. News of the World (7,537,000)
2. The Mail on Sunday (4,896,000)
3. Sunday Mirror (3,690,000)
4. The Sunday Times (2,952,000)
5. Sunday Express (1,466,000)
8. Internet
1973 - University College of London is one of the first international connections to ARPANET.
1976 - The Queen sends an email from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in Malvern.
1984 - Joint Academic Network (JANET) built to connect UK universities to each other over the
internet.
1989 - Tim Berners-Lee and the team at CERN invent the World Wide Web to make information
easier to publish and access on the internet.
1994 - Internet Magazine launches. It reports on London's first cybercafé and reviews 100
websites. It's billed as the 'most extensive' list of websites ever to appear in a magazine. A
28.8Kbps modem costs £399 (plus VAT).
2003 - Nearly half of us are connected: UK telecomms regulator Oftel reports that 47% of UK
homes have internet access and 58% have a PC. Of those online, 15% use broadband and 92%
are satisfied with their service.