The BBC was founded

On October 18, 1922, representatives of Britain’s leading wireless manufacturers gathered at the Institution of Electrical Engineers in London and agreed to combine into one company: the British Broadcasting Company Limited. The General Post Office, eager to avoid the crowded, overlapping stations that had sprung up in the United States, had decided to license a single broadcaster rather than many.

Funding was unusual. The new company drew its income from a share of the 10-shilling receiving licence and a royalty on every approved wireless set sold. Regular daily transmissions began weeks later, on November 14, 1922, from the 2LO station at Marconi House in the Strand.

A commercial company financed by set-makers had, almost by accident, become the nation’s voice.

The arrangement did not last. On January 1, 1927, the private company was dissolved and replaced by the British Broadcasting Corporation, a public body chartered to serve the listener rather than the manufacturer. The initials, and the habit of trust, carried over.