Object of the Month 

BBC Radio Brighton broadcast

Perspective, 28 February 1971

RBM79

Although the BBC began broadcasting nationally from the 1920s, it was not until the 1960s that the Corporation made plans to introduce local radio. In the latter part of the decade the government asked the BBC to open nine experimental stations, of which Brighton was to be one. While the home of the new station would soon be the old Blenheim Hotel (now the St. Giles Language School) on Marlborough Place, the first broadcast was actually made from the Royal Pavilion during the snow storm of 8 December 1967. The station was to open officially on 14 February 1968 at 6pm.

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery holds an extensive BBC Radio Brighton archive, and this particular broadcast with Gavin Henderson on 28 February 1971 uses the Museum’s collection of musical objects to present an illustrated historical tour of wind and brass instruments. Beginning with the ‘post-horn’, the narrator follows the development of the instruments, pausing to make note of those such as the interesting ‘serpent’ and the popular ‘bassoon’ before finally detailing the introduction of valves and the ‘saxhorn’.

It is interesting to note the influence that these objects had on the narrator in his youth, and can perhaps help to inform us of the power of museum collections. Objects can be a great way to illustrate and assist in the development of information. This broadcast is an unusual insight into a museum collection, and is an example of how one collection can tell us a great deal about another. Listening to this broadcast brings to life a currently unanimated group of objects. What other information can the BBC Radio Brighton archive give us?

Back to top