2MT

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2MT was the first British radio station to make regular entertainment broadcasts.

Transmissions began on February 14, 1922 from an ex-Army hut next to the Marconi laboratories at Writtle, near Chelmsford in Essex. Initially the station only had 200 watts of power, and transmitted on 700m (428kc.) on Tuesdays from 2000 to 2030.

Two Emma Toc, in the spelling alphabet of the day, was a surprising success. The presenter, producer, actor-manager and writer was Captain P. P. Eckersley, a Marconi engineer. His regular announcement; "This is Two Emma Toc, Writtle testing, Writtle testing", became in short time quite well known.

2MT led to the creation of its sister station 2LO, and subsequently the BBC. 2MT did not itself become part of the BBC and finally closed down on January 17, 1923.

Peter Eckersley went on to become the founding Chief Engineer at the British Broadcasting Company.

The Marconi Hut site at Writtle is commemorated by a nearby information board at Melba Court — named after Dame Nellie Melba who made Britain's first publicised entertainment broadcast from Marconi's New Street factory — unveiled in 1997 by Marconi's daughter Princess Elettra Marconi. The site was sold off and the land used for housing development in the 1990s.

A significant part of the original Writtle hut is now preserved at the Sandford Mill Museum of Science and Industry in North Chelmsford, where it forms part of a wireless and broadcasting historic exhibit.

[edit] 2MT in 2001

The 2MT call-sign has not been re-issued for regular use since 1922. However in 2001, a special permit was given for it to be used to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first wireless transmission across the Atlantic by Marconi in 1901. Details of this event can be found on the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society website.

Coordinates: 51°43′51.9″N, 0°25′59.6″E