Harry Potter and the Wizarding Wireless

[kerravonsen]

(Hey, has anyone noticed that the HP Lexicon seems to be down? Their domain apears to have expired two days ago.)

I'm fairly certain that there is nothing in HP canon which indicates when the "wizarding wireless" was invented. However, while that would give me carte blanch to declare whatever date I want, I'd like some suggestions as to what would be a plausible date. I mean, you know and I know, simply by the name, that it must have been inspired by Muggle radio in the days when it was called "wireless", and that it's reasonable, therefore, to suppose that it was invented by a Muggleborn after the wireless became popular.

Checking wikipedia Invention of Radio (ah, wikipedia isn't quite such a black hole as TV Tropes, but it is close) I see that radio transmission was invented in the late 19th century and became commercialized in the early 20th century (for example, by Marconi). Famous example of its use: during the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

Thus, for the purposes of my story - and I suspect that I won't actually use this piece of trivia anyway, but it would be nice to know - I'd like it to be plausible that the Wizarding Wireless was invented after 1912. I think the very latest date which would be plausible for its invention would be WWII, but that's pushing it, IMHO. It's more likely to be earlier. But when?

Thoughts?

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I think that UK radio stations aimed at the general public, and broadcasting news and/or entertainment, began during the 1920s. For example 2LO, which became the British Broadcasting Company and subsequently the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) went on the air in 1922, and was the second British station. (Info from the Wikipedia article on 2LO.) So I'd suggest the mid 1920s being a plausible date for the beginning of the wizarding wireless.

[kerravonsen]

Thanks! That's just the kind of info I needed.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

My pleasure. I had one further thought. I believe that in 1926 the General Strike stopped the national newspapers from being printed for a while, and so people had to get their news from the radio; this greatly increased the profile of the medium.