Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Paul, who writes:
Hi Thomas, while watching this documentary from the BBC telling how people Northern Ireland survived the Blitz in World War 2. I spotted this glitch. The picture is from a scene when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared war on Germany.
It will be noted that the radio’s dial has an FM band. FM broadcasting commenced in the UK in 1955.
Cheers
Paul
Christchurch,
New Zealand
You’ve a keen eye for detail, Paul. Thanks for sharing.
Equally, the dial shows “BBC Third” – the “BBC Third Programme” which started in 1946, and initially operated from 6pm-12pm.
So we can date the radio to between ~1955 (when FM commenced in the UK) and ~1967 (when BBC Radio 3 was founded at the other end of the MW band and absorbed the BBC Third Programme).
There are companies who supply for a cost stock images and videos for a wide range of topics. eg https://www.gettyimages.com.au/videos/st-pauls-blitz
Often historians are non-technical if one was used to prepare this program
Hi! Great catch, OM!
Well, the first tube radios with FM reception appeared in the USA around 1939, when the first commercial FM stations were licensed. FM broadcasting and the availability of corresponding radios did not begin in the United Kingdom until later, in 1955.
And while not relevant to this discussion, the original US FM band allocation was 42-50 MHz. In 1945 we switched to the current band plan. I think there were converters but all those early radios were obsolete.