Happy Friday podcast loving friends. Edition no. 338 of Find That Pod is out! Discover 5 great podcasts: 🎙️ Deep Dream State 🎙️ The Last Invention 🎙️ Not Another Medical Podcast 🎙️ The British Broadcasting Century @bbcentury.bsky.social 🎙️ Havoc Town Till next week.

Happy 103rd birthday, BBC! (...well, I hope it's happy) Here are our podcasts on: 🎙️ How it began: tiny.cc/bbcentury037 📻 Its first day (inc re-enactment) - 14 Nov 1922: tiny.cc/bbcentury018 🔊100 years in 100 minutes: tiny.cc/bbcentury057 Thanks for so much, Beeb. Here's to the next, er, 103 years?

Had a lot of fun being a part of this, recorded in almost a single take.

This episode written (and recreated by @paulkerensa.bsky.social) directed and edited by me, all put together in just over a week! Have a listen, it’s lots of fun.

NEW PODCAST AHOY! A dramatic centenary re-enactment of an odd lost broadcast... On 12 Nov 1925, a celebrity panel tried to read the minds of BBC listeners. It was a disaster. On 12 Nov 2025, we dramatise it, based on newspaper articles. Enjoy! We did. Hic. bbcentury.podbean.com/e/108-mass-t...

Interesting nugget from BBC staff call this morning: Tim Davie said the biggest number of complaints the BBC is handling right now concern the corporation giving Nigel Farage's Reform too much airtime. bsky.app/profile/jake...

Latest @theguardian.com cartoon #BBC www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"No one, but no one, gives viewers and listeners a wider choice..."

Whether or not intended, there are layers of meaning in the hunting press pack being placed under George Orwell’s statue and quote at BBC Broadcasting House, London.

2000-now: Storyville, I May Destroy You, In Our Time, Springwatch, 6 Music, Happy Valley, RuPaul's Drag Race UK, Gardener's World, A House Through Time, Fleabag, WILTY, Top Gear, Gone Fishing, This Country, CBBC, Dr Who, The Office, Sherlock, Wolf Hall, Glastonbury, Only Connect, The Traitors.

A nice little mention of the podcast on Chortle - the dramatisation will be out tomorrow on the centenary of this odd old broadcast... www.chortle.co.uk/punching-ups....

In a tough week for BBC present, there's a centenary of BBC past on Wed. 12 Nov 1925 saw a bizarre broadcast: 'Mass Telepathy: An Experiment in Thought Reading In which every listener will be invited to assist' We're recreating it on the podcast. Subscribe to get it, free: podfollow.com/bbcentury

My latest Substack... Who Let the DGs Out? The 17 BBC Directors-General... (as Tim Davie prepares to regenerate into the 18th) Including the role of Panorama in making/breaking DGs... and a GREAT joke about the only joint Directors-General. Here for you: open.substack.com/pub/paulkere...

Great call for DG…

Alan Carr for DG.

OK FINE! I’ll be the next BBC Director General. Day 1: funnel the budgets into a load of new comedies, dramas & documentaries. New Play for Today / Screen One type strand, new Comedy Playhouse pilots series once or twice a year. Day 2: resign

Long live terrestrial TV! Mr Beast gives away $10m, no one’s really bothered. Celia Imrie farts and us Brits go bananas for it. An earned win on #celebritytraitors. Roll on next series, hopefully starring Lorraine Kelly, Guy Goma and Bob Carolgees & Spit the Dog (as separate players)

My BBC day - past and present: Morning at Broadcasting House with Scott Mills. Afternoon at Marconi House (well, next door) with the great-granddaughter & great-great-granddaughter of Phyllis Twigg, who wrote the first radio drama, broadcast live from the 7th floor, Dec 1922…

On my latest Patreon video, we look at John Reith's wedding, as told in 6 different books. From Allighan's 1938 hagiography 'Sir John Reith' to McIntyre's 1993 biography 'The Expense of Glory', from happy marriage to prayers of renunciation, they do vary: www.patreon.com/posts/vid-re...

Tomorrow - I'll be on the present-day Beeb at BH, then recreating some early Beeb at Marconi House. Then watching the Beeb's latest favourite site: Ardross Castle...

Life during wartime: a post that brings together early BBC television from Alexandra Palace with the National Portrait Gallery's 'Cecil Beaton's Fashionable World' through a striking image of announcer-turned-Air-Ministry-driver Elizabeth Cowell. www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/life-during-...

After a month-long hiatus imposed by the labours of proofing and indexing 'Magic Rays of Light', I have re-booted the Illuminations blog, to continue my notes about pre-war television but also to broaden the focus and interests. Do take a look: www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/otd-in-early...

Fancy your very own Delia Derbyshire and Radiophonic Workshop diorama? 😍 www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1...

PODCAST AHOY! Episode 107: On-Air Criticisms, Comedy, James Cary and Miranda Hart Meet the BBC's first on-air critics: books, music, film, drama... plus more recent insights on Miranda, Only Fools and old BBC promo ads Enjoy! If you like it, do share it. Hear here: pod.fo/e/349060

On this day in 1936: The start of the BBC’s regular TV service from Alexandra Palace. See programme archive, oral history interviews - and some amazing images from those pioneering days:

For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.

Next The British Broadcasting Century Podcast coming soon. Our latest covers the launch of the 8th BBC station in Oct 1923 + a chat with James Cridland, who launched the first phone app to stream a radio station AND UK radio's first daily podcast. Fancy! bbcentury.podbean.com/e/106-6bm-bo...

The desk at the end of the video below is the exact desk that I used for years at Pier Productions, old Radio Sussex building. Here’s a pic of it in its original location just before we decommissioned it. The amp that powered the speakers (Quad 306) now powers the centre speaker in my own studio.

Great to see Neil and his wonderful Radio Museum in Watchet featured in the latest Practical Wireless magazine. (He gave me a tour of the museum a while ago and I filmed it: youtu.be/ZjDXKQ63RaI?...)

I wouldn’t expect much - there is simply too much ground to cover. There are times where it’s felt too brisk and I have to remind myself that there’s 100 years to get through. And I’ve been listening to @bbcentury.bsky.social, which takes a far slower, detailed approach!

In Turkey on holiday. Poolside reading? John Reith’s diary (loaded onto Kindle) - all of it. It may take several holidays, as may I. (He’s just got married and he’s not very happy)

NEW PODCAST AHOY! The British Broadcasting Century ep 106 6BM Bournemouth: The End of the Beginning at the BBC On its 102nd birthday, the tale + voices of 8th BBC station 6BM Bournemouth, thanks to @seanstreet.bsky.social + the future with radio futurologist @james.crid.land. Enjoy! pod.fo/e/33efe8

Next month on the podcast, something different: an audio drama. Re-enacting the BBC’s bizarre mass telepathy experiment, 100 years on. So next month’s £Patreon will help fund a guest producer. Fancy helping fund it? If goes well, may do more. So now’s a good time to join us: Patreon.com/paulkerensa

A new addition to my collection of podcasts to follow (yes, a bit late to the party…). Apparently, all it needed was to get @james.crid.land on air (!) for me to notice. Radio lovers unite 📻

NEW PODCAST AHOY! The British Broadcasting Century ep 106 6BM Bournemouth: The End of the Beginning at the BBC On its 102nd birthday, the tale + voices of 8th BBC station 6BM Bournemouth, thanks to @seanstreet.bsky.social + the future with radio futurologist @james.crid.land. Enjoy! pod.fo/e/33efe8

Next podcast - on the launch of the BBC's 8th station, 6BM Bournemouth - lands tomorrow, on its 102nd birthday. Previous podcast - on the launch of the BBC's 7th station, 2BD Aberdeen - is here if yaven't heard it yet: pod.fo/e/336731

I + 872,700 others let the BBC know our thoughts this year in a survey. The results are in: www.bbc.co.uk/ourbbcourfut... We'll digest it a little on our next podcast, out tomorrow. The headlines: - Reithian principles endure! 83% agree the BBC should inform, educate & entertain. (1/5)

Last month, something unusual happened in TV - none of the main channels got a million viewers at 9pm. The bigger problem was it happened a 2nd & 3rd time soon after. Another unwelcome landmark for linear TV & our shrinking shared TV experience. Does it matter? www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

Today I was on 2025’s BBC - while on the way there I wrote about 1925’s BBC, and on the way back I edited a podcast about 1923’s BBC. And this is my day off.

I've just read this strange, fascinating novel: "A Voice Like Velvet" by Donald Henderson. First published in 1944 as "The Announcer", it's about a BBC announcer who is also a jewel thief. Ideal if you're interested in radio, the BBC & wartime Britain - and for listeners to @bbcentury.bsky.social

No new podcast this weekend... Your previous episode (105) is on the BBC's 7th station, 2BD Aberdeen Your next episode(106) will be on the BBC's 8th station, 6BM Bournemouth Find 'em where you find podcasts. Meanwhile, have you completed our brief survey yet? Here if not, ta! tiny.cc/bbcenturysurvey

Last night's show at Petersfield Museum was lovely - and the last 'An Evening of (Very) Old Radio' of 2025. More next year! Here's a short write-up and a less short interview, with Mike Waddington for Petersfield's very own @shineradio.bsky.social: shineradio.uk/2025/10/paul...

I've just updated the An Evening of (Very) Old Radio tour page - now with added Chelmsford, Hemel Hempstead, Eltham and Weston-super-Mare, all in 2026... Know any folks near? Do send 'em. paulkerensa.com/tour I'd love to tour it further. If you have links to a venue + want the show near you, say.

My last 'An Evening of (Very) Old Radio' show of 2025 will be tomorrow (Wed 8th Oct) at Petersfield Museum: www.petersfieldmuseum.co.uk/events/eveni... Thanks if you've come to any of the shows this year. More next, inc. Chelmsford, Weston-s-Mare, Eltham, Hemel Hempstead... others on request!

Our latest podcast (episode 104 of The British Broadcasting Century) is on the launch of the BBC's Aberdeen station 2BD, in Oct 1923. Our guest expert is Gordon Bathgate, whose books include Aberdeen Calling: 100 Years of the BBC in Aberdeen. Here tis: amzn.to/4mRewYo

I love the tale of the BBC's first OB drama - Bethlehem, from St Hilary church, Cornwall, 1926-35. I've just enjoyed this recent film/talk by the church's current priest Father Jeff Risbridger talking about his predecessor, the writer Father Bernard Walke: youtu.be/p7R-oMsOthc?...

NEW PODCAST AHOY! The British Broadcasting Century ep 105: 2BD Aberdeen + R.E. Jeffrey: From First Gaelic Broadcast to First Sci-Fi On a blustery October evening in 1923, the BBC's 7th station opened, its first since London could broadcast nationally... pod.fo/e/336731

Treat yourself to a browse through 1934 Wills's cigarette card album Radio Celebrities... without having to buy any ciggies: archive.org/details/radi...