Eddystone Est. 1925 , closed 1995 | United Kingdom

Eddystone Radio started life as Stratton and Laughton a subsidiary of Rainsford and Laughton, Birmingham fancy goods manufacturers, in 1925. Sets were produced by the company in bewildering variety. Eddystone receivers were used by many scientific expeditions of the 1930s, such as the British Arctic Air Route Expedition and the Hudson Strait Settlement Expedition. In 1935 work started on VHF experiments and portable Eddystone five-metre equipment was used by the 1936 Mount Everest Expedition.

In 1965, with the agreement of the Laughton family, Marconi set up a company called Eddystone Radio Limited and bought the assets, goodwill and trademarks of thr radio business from Stratton and Laughtons. The transition to solid state started in this period.

Around 1980 the company entered the broadcast transmitter field in partnership with the BBC. This was very successful and took things into the ‘90s when Eddystone and the BBC pioneered the new Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).

During the 1990s demand for professional HF sets demised due to the end of the cold war and increasing satellite communication. Eddystone ceased production around 1995. Part of the company still lives on as Eddystone Broadcasting.