A REMARKABLE chapter in British and Droitwich broadcasting history will end later this month when the famous Wychbold masts will be turned off.
Next Saturday, June 27, long-wave radio signals, which played a key role in helping the Allies win the Second World War, will cease transmission from the Wychbold transmitting station.
The iconic structures have stood and transmitted for the past 92 years.
Completed in 1934, the Droitwich transmitting station transformed communication across Britain, as for the first time, the BBC Home Service could be transmitted across the whole of the United Kingdom.
The transmitting station would go on to play an important role during some of the darkest periods in modern history.
During the Second World War, it was used to send encoded messages to Allied forces in Europe during major operations.
From the 1970s, the site began broadcasting BBC Radio 4 and TalkSport on Long Wave.
In 2023, the BBC announced plans to end all long-wave transmissions, prompting a petition on Change.org which gained over 7,700 signatures.
To mark the switching off, a short ceremony will be held from midday on June 27 at Droitwich Heritage Centre.
A Heritage Centre spokesperson said: “Today, in an age of smartphones and instant communication, it is difficult to imagine what an achievement this was.
“In the 1930s, communication largely relied on handwritten letters and waiting for the post to arrive.
“Yet suddenly, families across the nation could gather around their wireless sets and share the same news, music, and voices at exactly the same moment.
“For the last 92 years, another landmark has stood watch over our town, the iconic masts at Wychbold.”
As well as the heritage centre ceremony, a special talk on the history of the Droitwich transmitting station by Alastair Moseley will take place at 3pm.
Email [email protected] or call 01905 774312 to reserve a place.
