The BBC is celebrating 100 years in Scotland by echoing their first broadcast from Glasgow.

The national broadcaster is hosting a special event which will see them throwback to a century ago.

It comes after radio listeners heard "Hey! Johnnie Cope" on the bagpipes on Tuesday, March 6, 1923 before being told "The Glasgow station of the BBC is calling".

John Reith, the general manager of the British Broadcasting Company, bent towards the microphone to give the call sign, 5SC, which launched the broadcaster’s programming in Scotland.

In broadcasting a call sign is a unique code for a transmitter station.

Glasgow Times: Director General Tim Davie, seated with Steve Carson, Director, BBC Scotland, second from left at the back, and radio amateurs and apprentices.Director General Tim Davie, seated with Steve Carson, Director, BBC Scotland, second from left at the back, and radio amateurs and apprentices. (Image: BBC SCOTLAND)

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Now 100 years later to mark the special anniversary, the BBC Amateur Radio Group and West of Scotland Amateur Radio Society have featured the original call sign that audiences used a century ago on crystal radio sets.

It has seen more than 300 fellow radio amateurs from 37 different countries as far afield as India, China and Brazil making contact via the special event callsign - GB5SC - on radio bands HF, VHF, UHF and the geostationary amateur satellite QO-100.

The callsign event has been running from a temporary radio base on the fifth floor of BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay centre since Saturday, 4 March.

Andy Britton, Engineering Manager, BBC Scotland, said: “We’re delighted with the responses we’ve received from so many countries.

“We had no idea how much interest there would be when we planned the event, but it has been a great success.”

Glasgow Times: Tim Davie, BBC Director General issued the 5SC call which John Reith announced a century before. Tim Davie, BBC Director General issued the 5SC call which John Reith announced a century before. (Image: BBC SCOTLAND)

Tim Davie, BBC Director General, who was visiting BBC Scotland as part of the centenary celebrations, met BBC Scotland apprentices and radio amateurs at the temporary radio base.

He also issued the 5SC call which John Reith announced a century before.

The centenary of the BBC in Scotland is being celebrated with a range of activities and content including a landmark documentary.

Presented by Kaye Adams, Tuned In: 100 years of Scottish Broadcasting, on Sunday, 12 March on the BBC Scotland channel is an archive-rich look at the decades of programming and the broadcaster’s place in Scotland’s cultural life.

 

 

Tonight, Monday 6 March, on the channel there’s The Big Birthday Bash, hosted by Nicola Meighan, which includes music from Hue and Cry and chat from Greg McHugh, Sanjeev Kohli, Julie Wilson Nimmo, Greg Hemphill and Archie Macpherson among others.

Also on the channel tonight is Breaking 100 Years of the News, a special edition of the satirical show which was launched on BBC Radio Scotland.