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‘Visualisation’ is the latest buzzword at BBC Radio.

‘Visualisation’ is the latest buzzword at BBC Radio. ‘Audiences,’ announces the press release, ‘will be able to watch some of their favourite radio shows being broadcast.’ (Note the use of the word ‘audiences’; we’re no longer thought of as mere listeners.) There’ll be ‘glanceable’ content, webcam streams, ‘enhanced’ online versions of staple ‘consoles’ (or rather programmes), and ‘a mobile version of the console’ (for the uninitiated, a roundup of the best bits of the programme that can be downloaded anytime, anywhere). You’ll be able to see what’s going on in the studio, ‘watch’ guests being interviewed ‘live’ on radio, and read all those emails on screen as they’re being broadcast via the microphone.

It’s all about ‘enriching’ our experience of radio; and reaching out to the new techno generations, who can text, type, watch and listen all at the same time. It will, of course, only be available to those with the right digital ‘platforms’ — laptops, TVs, smartphones. Not for visualisation the ancient Roberts on the bedside table. But if you’re fully prepared for the ‘in-vision show’, you can now watch Simon Mayo on radio as he interviews Harriet Harman and Martin Sheen.

Harman, ‘I think Tony Blair is more good-looking, actually.’ Big guffaws. A few minutes later, after Harman has left the studio, an envelope is handed to Sheen, with the House of Commons logo in the left-hand corner. He holds it up in front of the in-studio camera; Mayo explains what is happening for all those out there without a screen in front of them. Then Sheen reads out Harman’s fulsome apology for her indiscretion (you can still catch it online if you’re quick).

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