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So began the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s first ever broadcast, 90 years ago, on 14 November 1922.

In those days, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ was the , founded by radio manufacturers to ensure there was something for their customers to listen to. Its first station was 2LO, in London, which broadcast via a on the top floor of Marconi House on the Strand for one hour a day. At the time, just 30,000 people held .

The news was read by Programme Director Arthur Burrows, who at first read each bulletin twice, once quickly and once slowly, and asked listeners which they preferred. Typical schedules in the 1920s included , the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Dance Orchestra, Children's Hour, and documentaries about subjects such as dressing the waxwork models at Madame Tussaud's.

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ soon launched more stations: 5IT in Birmingham and 2ZY in Manchester launched the next day, followed by 5NO in Newcastle, 5WA in Cardiff, 5SC in Glasgow, 2BD in Aberdeen, 6BM in Bournemouth, plus a number of ‘relays’ to other cities. The stations were connected to London by telephone lines for some ‘simultaneous broadcasting’, but tended to showcase local talent.

It would be cheaper, and possibly easier, to set up your own internet radio station today than it was to set up a ‘valve’ radio set with speakers in your home in 1922. Instead, most listeners used ‘crystal’ sets, and listened through headphones. These sets were so simple that many people made their own. However, even a very slight vibration (which could be caused by a door slamming) would de-tune the set, and listeners would have to carefully adjust their set to bring the programme back.

By 1926, more than 2 million radio licences were held. But when the European ‘Geneva Frequency Plan’ halved the number of medium wave frequencies available to broadcasters, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ began replacing original local transmitters and relays with six high-power ‘regional’ medium-wave transmitters (each with regional ‘opt-outs’) and one .

Commercial competition arrived as early as the 1930s, in the form of overseas long-wave commercial stations, including and Radio Normandy. These were particularly popular on Sundays: an alternative to the serious and religious programming insisted upon by the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s Director-General Lord Reith.

During the Second World War, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ ceased all regional programmes, concerned that German aircraft might use them to find their way around Britain. Instead, one schedule was broadcast across the country – the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Service. Soldiers in barracks found its output rather heavy, so a lighter service – the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Forces Programme – was devised for their benefit.

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After the war, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ reorganised its radio services. The Â鶹ԼÅÄ Service (which retained its wartime name, but saw a return of regional ‘opt-outs’) focused on news, drama and talk. picked up where the Forces Programme left off, with popular tunes and light entertainment. promoted serious classical and contemporary music, the arts and highbrow discussions.

In the early 1960s, ‘pirate’ radio stations such as Ìýand Radio London began to broadcast. Based in international waters (on ships, or old sea forts), these stations were not at that time illegal, and they attracted large audiences who wanted to hear pop and rock music, a style rarely played on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ at the time.

In response, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Ìýin 1967, employing several former pirate DJs. At the same time, the Light Programme, the Third Programme and the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Service were rebranded becoming Radios 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

Meanwhile, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ began to launch local radio stations, starting with Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio Leicester and spreading across England and the Channel Islands. Today, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ has 40 such local stations.

In 1972, the government allowed commercial radio stations to operate in the UK for the first time. The first of these ‘independent local radio stations’ was LBC in London, quickly followed by Capital Radio and a number of other stations that became legendary in the cities they served: Radio Clyde, BRMB, Piccadilly Radio, Metro Radio, Swansea Sound, Radio Hallam, Radio City, Radio Forth and so on.

In the mid to late 1970s, the Radio 4 ‘opt-outs’ for the nations were replaced by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radios Ulster, Foyle, Wales, Scotland, Shetland and Orkney. Stations were created to serve Welsh-speaking audiences (Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio Cymru) and Scottish Gaelic-speaking audiences (now called Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio nan Gàidheal).

The Â鶹ԼÅÄ had begun FM radio broadcasts in 1955, and in the late 1980s the national Â鶹ԼÅÄ stations were broadcast on both medium-wave and FM, but certain programmes were carried on only one or the other. When it was decided that the national Â鶹ԼÅÄ stations should move away from medium-wave to free up broadcast space, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ wanted to find a home for these programmes, so in 1990 it launched its first new national radio service since the 1960s: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 5. Radio 5 used the medium-wave frequencies vacated by Radio 2, and carried the sports that had been on Radio 2 medium-wave, the schools and children’s programmes that had been on Radio 4 FM, and the Open University content that had been on Radio 3 FM. This format was not a success, and in 1994 (following the success of Radio 4’s rolling news output during the 1991 Gulf War, nicknamed ‘’) it was replaced by Radio 5 Live, focusing on news and sport.

The Broadcasting Act 1990 allowed for three commercial national stations: two using medium wave frequencies vacated by the Â鶹ԼÅÄ, and one using FM frequencies previously used by the emergency services. The FM service had to be ‘non-pop’, and was awarded to Classic FM; one of the medium-wave services had to be speech-based, and was awarded to Talk Radio UK (now talkSPORT); and the other medium-wave service was open to all-comers, and was awarded to Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio).

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) radio began in the late 1990s, allowing far more radio stations to be carried on the available spectrum. The Â鶹ԼÅÄ launched a number of digital-only services in 2002, which are now known as Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 1Xtra, Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 4 Extra, Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 5live Sports Extra and Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 6 Music, while Â鶹ԼÅÄ Asian Network gained national DAB coverage to augment its regional MW coverage. Dozens of brand-new commercial stations were also born, and some stations that had been local reached near-national coverage.

From 2002, not-for-profit local stations were added to the FM dial, and they continue to launch at an impressive rate.

Today, Ìýof the UK population listen to the radio at least once a week, and they do so for an average of 22 hours. Almost a third of radio listening is through digital platforms. DAB delivers the lion’s share of digital listening; for the Â鶹ԼÅÄ, it delivers approximately a quarter of total Â鶹ԼÅÄ radio listening. Meanwhile the internet and digital TV offer additional choice and convenience to listeners.

Over the next ten years, we can expect the trend towards digital to increase, and UK radio might celebrate its 100^th birthday as a digital-only medium. One thing is certain: we’ll keep tuning in.

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Alix Pryde is Director, Â鶹ԼÅÄ Distribution

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OnÌýWednesday 14 November, Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio marks 90 years of broadcasting by hosting a global simulcast across its radio networks – including every UK station (local, network and national) and many World Service outlets.Ìý The simultaneous broadcast has been curated by Damon Albarn and will take place at 17:33 GMT.Ìý More details at about this and all of our 90th programming at Ìýand on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ's .Ìý

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The clip is taken from , a selection of short features marking some memorable radio moments.