First broadcast by the BBC Dance Orchestra

Photograph: Henry Hall and the BBC Dance Orchestra in February 1936. Standing left to right are Elizabeth Scott, Bert Yarlett, Vivienne Brooks, Henry Hall, Dan Donovan and the Three sisters.

The BBC Dance Orchestra, led by Jack Payne, made its first official broadcast on 12 March 1928. The band had proved its popularity as The Cecilians, occasionally broadcasting from the Hotel Cecil. Given the title Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra, Payne moved his 10-piece band to the studio at Savoy Hill. His regular radio performances ensured his success, and made his signature tune, "Say it with Music", a hit.

The BBC Dance Orchestra performing at the London Palladium in August 1934.

The BBC Handbook of 1929 acknowledged the importance of dance music on the radio and called it "the voice of something very typical of ourselves and of this post-war age". Radio dancing lessons were all the rage, and the listeners' appetite for dance music was huge. The BBC Dance Orchestra was soon receiving 10 thousand letters a week.

Payne left the BBC in 1932 and was replaced by Henry Hall, who continued the success with another line-up of the BBC Dance Orchestra. Hall was followed by Billy Ternent and then Stanley Black, until 1952. The orchestra provided the music for many hit programmes, including The Goons, Ray's a Laugh and Much Binding in the Marsh.