By 1928, the BBC had decided there was a need to develop a large amateur chorus of its own. Notices advertising the formation of The National Chorus were placed, auditions were held, a broadcast was delivered in August 1928 discussing the new choir and its upcoming programme, and the choir gave its first performance later that year in Granville Bantock's oratorio "The Pilgrim's Progress". Stanford Robinson, already on the BBC's staff, was appointed Conductor. A condition of singing in the new choir was that the new member must already be a member of an existing choir.