View source for 5IT

{{Short description|English radio station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}

[[File:BBC Birmingham 1928.png|thumb|The BBC's radio studio in Birmingham, from the ''BBC Hand Book'' 1928, which described it as "Europe's largest studio".]]

'''5IT''' was a [[British Broadcasting Company]] (later [[BBC]]) [[radio station]] which broadcast from [[Birmingham]], [[England]], between 1922 and 1927. 

Birmingham was the first British city outside [[London]] to have a radio service from the newly formed British Broadcasting Company, with 5IT starting regular broadcasting from its [[Witton, West Midlands|Witton]] base at 17:00 on 15 November 1922,<ref name=hennessy>{{Harvnb|Hennessy|Hennessy|2005}}</ref>{{rp|207}} one day after [[2LO]] started daily BBC broadcasting from London<ref name=hennessy></ref>{{rp|157}} and one hour before the 18:00 launch of [[Manchester]]'s [[2ZY]].<ref name=hennessy></ref>{{rp|161}} 5IT pioneered many innovations in early broadcasting, launching ''[[Children's Hour]]'' in 1922,<ref>{{Citation|last=Crisell|first=Andrew|year=2002|title=An Introductory History of British Broadcasting|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-24792-6|page=20|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwzYIYCE4jsC&pg=PA20|access-date=2009-12-31}}</ref> developing sophisticated methods of programme control and employing the first full-time announcers in 1923.<ref name=briggs>{{Harvnb|Briggs|1961|p=190}}</ref> The station's first announcer on its opening night was its general manager [[Percy Edgar]],<ref name=briggs></ref> who was to be the dominant figure in Birmingham broadcasting and the BBC's most influential regional director until his retirement in 1948.<ref name=briggs2>{{Harvnb|Briggs|1965}}</ref>{{rp|311}}

5IT moved its studios from Witton to a former cinema in [[New Street, Birmingham|New Street]] in 1923, moving again in 1926 to a completely new building in [[Broad Street, Birmingham|Broad Street]] with two studios – one of the largest the country,<ref>{{Citation|last=Hudson|first=Kenneth|publication-date=1983|year=1981|title=The archaeology of the consumer society: the second industrial revolution in Britain|edition=illustrated|publication-place=London|publisher=Heinemann|page=100|isbn=0-435-32959-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QMlWAAAAMAAJ|access-date=2010-01-01}}</ref> if not Europe. The Broad Street studios now controlled and made programmes for a region stretching across central England from [[The Potteries]] to [[Norfolk]].

From 21 August 1927 the low-powered city station 5IT was replaced by the [[5GB]] (the [[BBC West Midlands|BBC Midland Region]]) – the first of the BBC's regional services<ref>{{Harvnb|Briggs|1978|p=80}}</ref> – broadcast from the new high powered  [[Daventry transmitting station]] at [[Borough Hill]] near [[Daventry]].<ref name=briggs2></ref>{{rp|282}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===

*{{Citation|last=Briggs|first=Asa|author-link = Asa Briggs|publication-date=1995|year=1961|title=The Birth of Broadcasting|volume=I|series=The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom|publication-place=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-212926-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tZ7RHi3sCTIC|access-date=2009-12-31}}
*{{Citation|last=Briggs|first=Asa|publication-date=1995|year=1965|title=The Golden Age of Wireless|volume=II|series=The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom|publication-place=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-212930-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdfNTH-jrrIC|access-date=2009-12-31}}
*{{Citation|last=Briggs|first=Asa|publication-date=1995|year=1978|title=Sound and Vision|volume=IV|series=The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom|publication-place=London|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-212967-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ndvkTwjfP9kC|access-date=2010-01-01}}
*{{Citation|last1=Hennessy|first1=Brian|last2=Hennessy|first2=John|year=2005|title=The emergence of broadcasting in Britain|publication-place=Lympstone|publisher=Southerleigh|isbn=0-9551408-0-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PnmNh8IfjYEC|access-date=2009-12-31}}

{{BBC Radio}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:5it}}
[[Category:1922 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1927 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 1922]]
[[Category:Radio stations disestablished in 1927]]


{{BBC-radio-stub}}
{{UK-radio-station-stub}}