The Year Neon Jammed Britain’s Radios: Difference between revisions

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(Created page with "1939’s Strange Neon vs Wireless Battle <br><br>Looking back, it feels surreal: on the eve of the Second World War, the House of Commons was debating glowing shopfronts. <br><br>Mr. Gallacher, an MP with a sharp tongue, demanded answers from the Postmaster-General. Was Britain’s brand-new glow tech ruining the nation’s favourite pastime – radio? <br><br>The reply turned heads: around a thousand complaints in 1938 alone. <br><br>Picture it: listeners straining...")
 
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Latest revision as of 17:59, 24 September 2025

1939’s Strange Neon vs Wireless Battle

Looking back, it feels surreal: on the eve of the Second World War, the House of Commons was debating glowing shopfronts.

Mr. Gallacher, an MP with a sharp tongue, demanded answers from the Postmaster-General. Was Britain’s brand-new glow tech ruining the nation’s favourite pastime – radio?

The reply turned heads: around a thousand complaints in 1938 alone.

Picture it: listeners straining to catch news bulletins, drowned out by the hum of glowing adverts on the high street.

Major Tryon confessed the problem was real. The snag was this: shopkeepers could volunteer to add suppression devices, but they couldn’t be forced.

He spoke of a possible new Wireless Telegraphy Bill, but warned the issue touched too many interests.

In plain English: no fix any time soon.

Gallacher shot back. People were paying licence fees, he argued, and they deserved a clear signal.

Another MP raised the stakes. Wasn’t the state itself one of the worst offenders?

The Postmaster-General ducked the blow, admitting it made the matter "difficult" but offering no real solution.

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From today’s vantage, it feels rich with irony. Back then, neon was the tech menace keeping people up at night.

Fast forward to today and it’s the opposite story: the menace of 1939 is now the endangered beauty of 2025.

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Why does it matter?

Radiance Neon Signs London has always been political, London neon signs cultural, disruptive. It’s always pitted artisans against technology.

Second: every era misjudges neon.

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Our take at Smithers. When we look at that 1939 Hansard record, we don’t just see dusty MPs moaning about static.

That old debate shows neon has always mattered. And it always will.

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Forget the fake LED strips. Glass and gas are the original and the best.

If neon could shake Westminster before the war, it can certainly shake your walls now.

Choose the real thing.

You need it.

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