New Year’s Day transmission to mark start of celebrations to celebrate 100 years of Rugby Radio Station

On January 1st, 2026, Rugby Amateur Transmitting Society (RATS) will send messages using an amateur radio transceiver set up at the former radio station site - now transformed into an award-winning school.

Messages will be sent across the world using the transmitter, which has been set up inside the school in what was the former radio station’s broadcast room, to mark exactly 100 years since Rugby Radio Station’s GBR transmitter opened for service in 1926.

Home to the world’s most powerful radio transmitter, it was capable of sending telegrams (using Morse Code) to ships anywhere in the world and transmitted official news broadcasts from the heart of England to every far corner of the globe. It marked a new era of communication, with people able to send private telegrams to friends and family anywhere in the world, and it made history again in 1927 when the first transatlantic voice radio transmission was made to Houlton in Maine, USA.

Rugby Radio Station was decommissioned in 2002 and the former Grade II-listed building has now been transformed into the award-winning Houlton School campus, but its historical significance lives on thanks to an array of reminders put in place by Urban&Civic, the master developer behind the community in Houlton.

The transmissions on January 1st mark the start of a year of celebrations, which has also seen the creation of a unique digital tapestry featuring thousands of individual pictures depicting people’s memories of the site, combined to form one main mosaic-style image that will be displayed in the local area for years to come.

The Houlton Tapestry project, which has been put together by artist Allan Levy for the centenary, will be unveiled at a launch event in January and will also go on show at Houlton School, St Gabriel’s C of E School and Rugby Museum and Art Gallery.

The schools that are now on the site in Houlton are also carrying out a number of special projects to mark the centenary, and a heritage book by local historian Malcolm Hancock telling the story of Rugby Radio Station is being updated to add the latest chapter of the unique location, as its heritage lives on 100 years later thanks to efforts by Urban&Civic, including naming the place after the first transatlantic voice broadcast made in 1927 to Houlton, Maine, USA, to road and building names.

Rugby Amateur Transmitting Society’s Steve Jones said: “We’re trying to copy as closely as possible how it was done at the time, though admittedly our transmitter is significantly smaller than the huge one that was at Rugby Radio Station in Houlton in 1926. We’ve installed the equipment into the broadcast room at the school and we’ll be able to use the transmitter to broadcast remotely to anywhere in the world.”

He said the transmission is one way of marking what was a hugely momentous occasion for the site - and an historically significant moment for global communications when it opened. “This was a major landmark in radio history - it was talked about in Parliament, is taught in universities, so it’s hugely significant. This transmission will start our celebrations, and we’ve got even more activity planned for January 2027 - 100 years after the first voice broadcast to Houlton in Maine.”

Updates on the transmission, including details and transmitting schedules, are being posted on www.qrz.com. People can go to this website and type ‘gb100gbr’ in the search bar to find more information.

Sonia Nakra-Norman, Communications, Communities and Partnerships Manager at Urban&Civic, said: “This is a hugely significant anniversary for Houlton, and the wider Rugby area, as we mark 100 years of Rugby Radio Station.

"While the station may have been decommissioned, its historic value lives on and we’re keen to mark it - from the centenary of its opening for service in January 1926 to 100 years since that very first iconic transmission.

“We’ve got plenty planned for the coming year and want to involve the whole community, so we hope all those that share a fondness for the history of Rugby Radio Station, or anyone who may not have known about it but now want to help celebrate the huge role this area played in the history of communications, will get involved and join us in some way.

“For those who would like to know more about 100th year anniversary celebrations, keep an eye on Houlton’s media channels:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houltonrugby

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HoultonRugby/”