World Radio Day 2023 - A Unique Irish Radio Centenary

 

To celebrate UNESCO’s WorldRadio Day 2023, I am delighted to announce that in August we will be celebrating the Centenary of the launch of Ireland’s first licensed radio station 2BP. Broadcasting from studios and a transmitter in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, their first broadcast was on Tuesday August 14^th 1923. Just after 11a.m., a voice, ‘clear and distinct’ greeted listeners,

‘2BP speaking.’

A series of well known Dublin musicians and singers travelled to Dun Laoghaire to perform in front of a microphone for the first time in Ireland. The station was on in conjunction with the annual Dublin Horse Show at the RDS. Once the announcer, Louis Wilson from the Marconi Company had greeted listeners with ‘2BP speaking’, he introduced the first act.

‘The next item on the programme will be a piano forte solo by Miss Clarke Barry’.

 

This August a special commemorative night will be held in the Royal Marine Hotel on Saturday August 12^th, when a book on the history of the station will be launched and you can tune into a tribute radio station that will transport you back to the 1920’s. Further details of how to tune in, where to buy a signed copy of the book and how to get a ticket to attend the event in the Royal Marine Hotel will be published later in the year.

 

As we conclude The Decade of Centenaries and as a nation we emerged from the trials and tribulations of war, in 1923 we were about to embrace the new medium of radio.