Already in 1911 1st Arundel Troop in Sussex, England worked with shortwave-radio. They experiment with radio communication on homebrew equipment.

In 1913 The Marconi Company offered a free instruction in "Wireless Telegraphy" to members of youth movements. Baden-Powell hoped that Boy Scouts will use this opportunity and he said: "Wireless has become a favourite hobby with boys of the right kind, and it is a valuable hobby for them, because it has a big future before it...."

On the world jamboree at Sutton Park in England 1957, more of the scoutleaders who also was radioamateurs brought their shortwave-radioes. The scouts showed a big interest for the radio communication. One of the scoutleaders, Leslie Mitchell, suggested that scouts could meet on the radiowaves again in may 1958. That was the start of Jamboree On The Air (JOTA).

The 10th - 11th of May 1958, the first official JOTA took place. There were about 60 stations, hereby more than 20 from Great Britain. In July you could read the following in the "Short Wave Magazine": "It is a hope that Jamboree On The Air can be an annual event. In spite of poor propagation there was made quite a lot of exciting contacts between the scouts".

During the first JOTA, Leslie Mitchell was the organizer, but he realised that it was too hard for one person. He suggested that the Worlds Scout Bureau took over. They accepted and have done it since 1959.

The 2nd JOTA was held in the weekend 24th-25th of October 1959 - the 3rd whole weekend in October. From that time it has been the schedule.