The British Broadcasting Century with Paul Kerensa Podcast
1) #110 GK Chesterton, 75 Years of R2's God Slot + The Truth About Father Christmas
As this podcast lands, it's 75 years to the day since the first 'God slot' on the BBC Light Programme. It was first called Five to Ten, and is now Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2. Podcast host Paul h...Show More
2) #109 Reith to Davie: 17 BBC Directors General - with Dr Tom Mills
In October 1923, first BBC General Manager John Reith wrote to both 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, inviting the Prime Minister and the King to broadcast on the near year-old BBC. Both refuse...Show More
3) #108 Mass Telepathy: Re-enacted - A Centenary Dramatisation of a BBC Broadcast
On 12 November 1925, the BBC broadcast one of its most bizarre programmes yet: 'MASS TELEPATHY: An Experiment in Thought Reading in which every Listener will be invited to assist' On 12 November 2025,...Show More
4) #107 On-Air Criticisms, Comedy, James Cary and Miranda Hart
October 1923: The BBC's on-air critics go national... These aren't critics OFÂ the BBC (there were - and are - plenty of those), but critics ON the BBC - a literary critic, a music critic, a drama crit...Show More
5) #106 6BM Bournemouth: The End of the Beginning at the BBC... and James Cridland
"6BM Bournemouth sends hearty greetings to the world... We do hope you can smell the pines!" Â On 17 October 1923 (oh and look at the date this podcast landed - 102 years apart), the BBC opened its ei...Show More
6) #105 2BD Aberdeen and R.E. Jeffrey: From First Gaelic Broadcast to First Sci-Fi
"Aberdeen Calling!"  On 10 October 1923, the BBC opened its seventh station: 2BD Aberdeen.  Its station director R.E. Jeffrey was fresh from the success of Rob Roy - a drama he'd produced and starr...Show More
7) #104 The Radio Times is Launched! A Browse Through Issue 1
On 28 September 1923, a new magazine hit news-stands. Â The Radio Times was a BBC publication, born out of a listings ban seven months earlier, when the press tried to charge the Beeb advertising rate...Show More
8) #103 Sept 1923 on the BBC, Rob Roy and Gavin Sutherland
Back in 1923, between SB and RT - that's 'Simultaneous Broadcasting' (networking nationally via landline) and The Radio Times (the BBC listings mag still had the 'The' back then), a month went by... ....Show More
9) #102 SB: Simultaneous Broadcasting... and Mary English
On 29 August 1923, the BBC officially launched SB: Simultaneous Broadcasting. They'd been testing SB for months, via crossed lines and cross conversations with the General Post Office. It would drama...Show More
10) #101 The Sykes Report + Early Recordings Association
Episode 101 finds us in late August 1923... The first government inquiry into the BBC has just finished four months of interviewing dozens of interested parties about what the Beeb should/would/could...Show More