Portion of 2LO’s original transmitter. Wikipedia photo.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation. It was incorporated as a private enterprise, as the British Broadcasting Company, on October 18, 1922, and first hit the airwaves on 350 meters (857 kHz) on November 14, 1922, as station 2LO.  2LO had actually come on the air earlier, for an hour a day starting on May 11, 1922.

You can read more of the BBC’s history at their website.  Most of our readers on the American side of the Pond will undoubtedly be most familiar with the  signature tunes and interval signals of the World Service in the video below.  (And the familiar tune does indeed have a name, namely, Lilliburlero.)