Photograph showing the 2ZY radio aerial on top of the MetroVicks water tower at Trafford Park.

2Zy was the name of Manchester’s first radio station. It was created by Metropolitan Vickers, a key Manchester engineering company and member of the early BBC consortium. Metropolitan Vickers converted a few rooms in their research department at Trafford Park to be their studio and equipment room. They used the water tower next to the building to suspend their transmitting aerial. The higher a broadcasting aerial is, the further the signal can travel. Signal strength varied and could be affected by the weather or how good your receiving radio was but reports from 1922 say that 2ZY’s signal could be picked up from as far as 30 miles away from Trafford Park.