transmitters for Finland, Sweden and Rumania. At home, the Radio Exhibition
at Olympia, ‘Radiolympia’, coincided with the testing period and manufacturers were able to display their new receivers with ‘Droitwich’ marked on the
tuning dials alongside the more exotic Moscow, Luxembourg, Warsaw and
Radio Paris etc. Concern was expressed that some of the older radio sets would
have such poor selectivity that their owners would be unable to tune to stations
other than the strong Droitwich signal. Some of the radio journals began to
publish articles on the construction of simple technical fixes to help overcome
this problem, although manufacturers hoped for a boom in sales of new sets of
the ‘super-heterodyne’ type with their superior selectivity.
On Thursday 06 September 1934, a party of 150 pressmen from all over the
country were taken from Droitwich railway station to the transmitting station
by Midland Red bus. Together with B.B.C engineers, Regional Directors and
representatives of overseas broadcasting undertakings, they formed the audience
for the opening ceremony. At 3.45 pm 5XX went on air replacing the transmission from Daventry with a radiated power of 150 kW. The audience heard a
programme from London by the B.B.C. Orchestra, conducted by Aylmer
Buest. It began with the overture from ‘The Merry-makers’ by Eric Coates
followed by three English dances in the old style. The newsmen and guests were
then given an extensive tour of the station and equipment. Locally, the 08
September edition of the Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch Weekly
Messenger gave a full-page report with pictures of the new installation, whilst
nationally, on the morning of the opening, The Times devoted two columns to
the event together with a full radio programme for the day. For the first month
after the opening, Droitwich replaced Daventry only during the mornings and
evenings. The official changeover took place on 07 October 1934 with Daventry
closing down after nine years of transmitting the National Programme,
Droitwich taking over the full service. The change was chosen to coincide with
the end of British Summer Time and, to quote the Bromsgrove Droitwich and
Redditch Weekly Messenger, ‘the return of normal time, that harbinger of the
long winter evenings, when the wireless is especially welcome in the home’ In
those early days the programme began with the Daily Service at 10.15 am and
ended at midnight with dance music. Such was the interest shown in the new
revolutionary high-power transmitter that technical visitors from all over the
world came to inspect it. In time, some ‘teething troubles’ naturally emerged at
Droitwich long wave. By June 1935, a report by the research department
identified electrolysis of the water in the cooling systems leading to the oxygen
product dissolving in the water and causing excessive aeration. Longer lengths of
rubber hose or smaller diameter hose were recommended as a solution, both of
which reduced leakage of current by increasing resistance. Some criticism the
394
D. Sheppard
at Olympia, ‘Radiolympia’, coincided with the testing period and manufacturers were able to display their new receivers with ‘Droitwich’ marked on the
tuning dials alongside the more exotic Moscow, Luxembourg, Warsaw and
Radio Paris etc. Concern was expressed that some of the older radio sets would
have such poor selectivity that their owners would be unable to tune to stations
other than the strong Droitwich signal. Some of the radio journals began to
publish articles on the construction of simple technical fixes to help overcome
this problem, although manufacturers hoped for a boom in sales of new sets of
the ‘super-heterodyne’ type with their superior selectivity.
On Thursday 06 September 1934, a party of 150 pressmen from all over the
country were taken from Droitwich railway station to the transmitting station
by Midland Red bus. Together with B.B.C engineers, Regional Directors and
representatives of overseas broadcasting undertakings, they formed the audience
for the opening ceremony. At 3.45 pm 5XX went on air replacing the transmission from Daventry with a radiated power of 150 kW. The audience heard a
programme from London by the B.B.C. Orchestra, conducted by Aylmer
Buest. It began with the overture from ‘The Merry-makers’ by Eric Coates
followed by three English dances in the old style. The newsmen and guests were
then given an extensive tour of the station and equipment. Locally, the 08
September edition of the Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch Weekly
Messenger gave a full-page report with pictures of the new installation, whilst
nationally, on the morning of the opening, The Times devoted two columns to
the event together with a full radio programme for the day. For the first month
after the opening, Droitwich replaced Daventry only during the mornings and
evenings. The official changeover took place on 07 October 1934 with Daventry
closing down after nine years of transmitting the National Programme,
Droitwich taking over the full service. The change was chosen to coincide with
the end of British Summer Time and, to quote the Bromsgrove Droitwich and
Redditch Weekly Messenger, ‘the return of normal time, that harbinger of the
long winter evenings, when the wireless is especially welcome in the home’ In
those early days the programme began with the Daily Service at 10.15 am and
ended at midnight with dance music. Such was the interest shown in the new
revolutionary high-power transmitter that technical visitors from all over the
world came to inspect it. In time, some ‘teething troubles’ naturally emerged at
Droitwich long wave. By June 1935, a report by the research department
identified electrolysis of the water in the cooling systems leading to the oxygen
product dissolving in the water and causing excessive aeration. Longer lengths of
rubber hose or smaller diameter hose were recommended as a solution, both of
which reduced leakage of current by increasing resistance. Some criticism the
394
D. Sheppard