Licence count in Wales

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History: Television and Radio Licence Count in Wales
By 1951some people in Wales were able to pick up signals from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter. The one in Pembrokeshire is listed as Tenby: how did they pick up anything at all beats me! The total number of licences in the UK had risen to 703,000, most of which were around London and the Home counties. This compares with a total of 11.7 million sound-only Radio licences. The next transmitter at Holme Moss, near Holmfirth in the North of England was due to start in August 1951.

	Counties	January 1951 TV Licences
	Anglesey	41
	Brecon	27
	Caernarvonshire	241
	Cardiganshire	3
	Carmarthenshire	20
	Denbighshire	1,290
	Flintshire	394
	Glamorganshire	252
	Merionethshire	19
	Monmouthshire	708
	Montgomeryshire	99
	Pembrokeshire	1
	Radnorshire	32
	Total	3,127

In September 1955 total UK TV licences reached 4.88 million whilst sound only declined to 9.2 million. By 1956, the Wenvoe transmitting station in South Wales had been operational nearly four years. Television ownership was now becoming more popular (well in the South anyway). Total UK TV licences in January were over 5.4 million whilst sound-only radio licences totalled 8.8 million. By June there were 5.9 million and 8.4 million respectively. For September the numbers were 6.1 million and 8.2 million respectively.

Counties	Sep 1955 TV Licences	Jan 1956 TV Licences	Jun 1956 TV Licences	Sep 1956 TV Licences
Anglesey	846	982	1,188	1,325
Brecon	660	796	940	1,005
Caernarvonshire	10,362	11,973	13,325	13,819
Cardiganshire	222	273	357	379
Carmarthenshire	10,470	12,286	13,991	14,526
Denbighshire	13,293	14,760	16,210	16,673
Flintshire	9,908	10,979	11,795	12,342
Glamorganshire	121,105	135,663	150,012	154,727
Merionethshire	424	495	604	615
Monmouthshire	42,514	47,518	51,928	53,090
Montgomeryshire	1,605	1,764	2,180	2,285
Pembrokeshire	4,791	5,425	6,135	6,351
Radnorshire	536	639	759	807
Total	216,736	243,553	269,424	277,944

By 1960, television had become the dominant form of home entertainment in Wales over radio. Only in some of the smaller, more remote areas did radio (sound-only) licences still outweigh TV licences. The total licence count for the United Kingdom was 4.5 million for sound and 10.5 million for TV - about the same ratio as in Wales.

Counties	December 1958 TV Licence	December 1958 Sound Licence	December 1959 TV Licence	December 1959 Sound Licence	January 1960 TV Licence	January 1960 Sound Licence
Anglesey	2,431	2,786	3,117	2,128	3,424	1,934
Brecon	1,769	2,724	2,243	2,265	2,376	2,082
Caernarvonshire	24,764	30,861	30,121	26,030	32,648	24,389
Cardiganshire	3,765	8,070	5,289	7,020	5,941	6,420
Carmarthenshire	24,945	26,394	31,124	22,001	33,157	20,407
Denbighshire	23,918	13,595	26,654	11,293	28,102	10,490
Flintshire	17,701	9,421	19,121	8,776	20,197	8,426
Glamorganshire	229,384	119,576	261,996	91,538	271,227	85,172
Merionethshire	2,030	6,221	2,954	5,497	3,342	5,153
Monmouthshire	78,456	44,706	89,969	35,146	93,540	32,537
Montgomeryshire	4,360	8,306	5,503	7,431	5,935	7,103
Pembrokeshire	11,303	12,223	13,826	9,989	14,851	9,080
Radnorshire	1,604	4,124	2,014	3,687	2,132	3,543
Total	426,430	289,007	496,931	232,801	516,872	216,736

By the end of March 1961, television was really beginning to grow at the expense of sound only (radio) licences. The total licence count for the United Kingdom was 3,5 million for sound and 11.8 million for TV - about the same ratio as in Wales.

Counties	March 1962 TV Licence	March 1962 Sound Licence
Anglesey	3,905	1,516
Brecon	2,891	1,622
Caernarvonshire	39,821	19,096
Cardiganshire	7,856	4,830
Carmarthenshire	40,716	15,376
Denbighshire	31,500	8,138
Flintshire	23,776	6,454
Glamorganshire	297,856	61,869
Merionethshire	4,652	4,099
Monmouthshire	104,136	23,485
Montgomeryshire	7,644	5,611
Pembrokeshire	17,692	7,059
Radnorshire	3,026	2,758
Total	585,471	161,913