THE ROYAL CHARTER  -  Company becomes Corporation

The BBC's licence expired 31st December 1926 and a government committee recommended that the British Broadcasting Company should be replaced with a public authority.  The first  Royal Charter was agreed upon and the company was to be nationalized and therefore to become the British Broadcasting Corporation with the granting of the first 10 year Royal Charter.

While the BBC was no longer an independent commercial company, the aim of the charter was that it would remain independent of central government interference as the corporation would, from there on, be overseen by an appointed Board of Governors, John Reith being the first Director General (DG) who was also knighted in 1927. In 1929, the rather puritanical, John Reith felt that he had to sack Peter Eckersley, the original engineer at 2MT, for having an extra-marital affair and for subsequently getting divorced.

Under Reith's leadership the BBC continued its mission to "inform, educate and entertain" and contained broadcasts of talks, variety and concerts. However, due to pressure from the newspaper industry the BBC was not allowed to transmit its news bulletins, assembled by the news agencies, until after 7pm - after the newspapers had been printed, distributed and sold! This was a measure taken so that newspaper sales would not be lost to a BBC radio news service. Popular entertainment programmes broadcast by the BBC in the 1930's included "ITMA" - It's That Man Again and "Band Wagon".

In 21st August 1927 the BBC opened the new 5GB station at the Daventry transmitting site using medium waves, this brought a new Regional Programme as an alternative to the long wave National Programme to the Midland Region. The original low power local stations closed and were replaced by the two BBC radio services; National and Regional.

With the successful establishment of 5GB at Daventry there followed the establishment of seven regional services across the UK, each broadcasting programmes from its own local studio - The regions covered were Midlands, West, North, South East, Scottish, Welsh and N Ireland.

This new Regional Scheme required the BBC to build new, more powerful, transmitting stations that could carry both the National Programme and the Regional Programme services to the whole country.  The first was Brookmans Park in Hertfordshire opening in 1929. The BBC ensured that the new transmission arrangements would provide robust reception for listeners with both valved radios and humble crystal sets which were still being used.

John Reith had been keen to provide an overseas radio service since 1924 and eventually after technical and financial delays, a licence to broadcast on short wave was obtained from the Post Office in 1926. This led to the establishment of a permanent Empire Station at Daventry and the first programmes from the BBC Empire Service being broadcast on 19th December 1932. King George V made the first Round-the-Empire broadcast and the Christmas Day broadcast on December 25th 1932.

NORMANDIE CALLING While the BBC was expanding its transmission facilities it continued providing quality programming of great broadcasting worth.  However some listeners began to find this type of programming a little dull and when Radio Normandie commenced programmes in English from France in 1931 many British listeners tuned in to the commercial station established in 1929 and based at Villa Vincelli la Grandier in Fécamp.  The English programmes were broadcast after the French programmes had gone off the air and were supplied to the station by the International Broadcasting Company (IBC), an organization that had been setup by Philco radio salesman Captain Leonard F Plugge in 1930.  On Sundays, when the BBC was concentrating on religious output, Radio Normandie was said to command 80% of the British radio audience.

The programmes were comparatively lively and fun, and financed by advertising, Philco being an early sponsor.  Henleys, a car sales company, successfully launched the SS1 motor car on the station.  This proved to skeptics that radio advertising really worked.  Henley's went on to become a chain of car showrooms and repair garages from which later Jaguars, Rovers, Land-Rovers, etc, were sold, while SS Cars (aka Swallow Sidecars) went on to become Jaguar Cars! Radio Normandie could be heard across Southern England and beyond and proved to be such a success with the audience that programmes were expanded in 1932 and ran from 6pm to 3am.