When Radio Times first hit newsstands, on Friday 28 September 1923, few predicted that a printed schedule of programmes would become what one of its editors proclaimed “the most prosperous and successful timetable in the world”. It was initially described somewhat ponderously as “The Official Organ of the BBC”. Broadcasting, and broadcasting alone, was to be its subject matter. Yet broadcasting would soon bring the entire world into our sitting rooms, and broadcasting's ‘shop-window' would become a vivid running commentary on British life.
The magazine was launched in response to a temporary newspaper boycott of broadcast listings. In January 1923, the proprietors of Fleet Street – perceiving radio to be a threat to their business – had refused to publish details of the BBC's upcoming programmes unless it paid a hefty fee. The solution was to go it alone – though, to begin with, the BBC needed the help of a
