It’s a two-way genre, radio, Janus-faced, going forwards while at the same time looking backwards, flexible enough to adapt to the internet world but also still wallowing in the wealth of its archive.
It’s a two-way genre, radio, Janus-faced, going forwards while at the same time looking backwards, flexible enough to adapt to the internet world but also still wallowing in the wealth of its archive. Just as the arrival of Radioplayer was announced in an up-to-the-minute presentation at the top of the Centrepoint building in the heart of London, of which more later, Radio 4 Extra launched its new weekday magazine, The 4 O’Clock Show, which sounds surprisingly, and endearingly, old-fashioned. It’s presented by Mel Giedroyc, whose warm, homely voice provides just the right kind of intimate authority for the hour-long afternoon...
Diaries and letters tell us a lot about how people lived from day to day yet there’s often something missing.
Diaries and letters tell us a lot about how people lived from day to day yet there’s often something missing. How did they experience the world through sound? What did they themselves sound like, their voices, their accents? The aural experience of the past is lost to us. Now,...
Big changes are happening to the airwaves, part of the frenetic technological revolution that’s been unleashed by the development of a digital language.
Big changes are happening to the airwaves, part of the frenetic technological revolution that’s been unleashed by the development of a digital language. Radio, against expectations, is proving itself a vital force in these fast-moving times, because it’s flexible, adaptable and still compelling. The human voice, the imagination of sound, will endure when perhaps TV will fade out, evolving into another kind of internet exchange.
Wireless itself now means something quite different from those first crystal receivers, but nothing it seems can kill off that intimate connection between the person behind the microphone and the ear of the listener. In...
‘We are humbled,’ said Keiichi Hayashi, ‘we are humbled by the power of nature.’ The Japanese ambassador to the UK was talking on Monday morning’s Today programme on Radio 4.
‘We are humbled,’ said Keiichi Hayashi, ‘we are humbled by the power of nature.’ The Japanese ambassador to the UK was talking on Monday morning’s Today programme on Radio 4. It was a stark and moving moment. He spoke slowly, gently, thoughtfully, choosing his words carefully, the shock of what has happened in Japan echoing through his voice. In contrast, Jim Naughtie fumbled clumsily on air, unsure what to say, or how. He was in Japan, not Mr Hayashi. ‘You’ll know that I’m talking to you from Sendai.’ No wonder he sounded embarrassed.
Soul Music is already into its 11th series on Radio 4 (Tuesdays, after lunch), but it just gets better and better.
Soul Music is already into its 11th series on Radio 4 (Tuesdays, after lunch), but it just gets better and better. On TV the idea behind it (to explore the great works of the classical repertoire as well as pop songs and their impact on us) would by now seem jaded, the graphics tired, the personalities being interviewed too self-conscious. But it’s as if in this new series (produced by Rosie Boulton) we’re only just getting to the heart of the matter.
Don’t miss this week’s programme which looks at a very familiar work, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, but takes...
Amid the fear and drear of cuts, and yet more cuts, Radio 3 has offered its fans an adrenaline boost by suddenly announcing a huge increase in the number of ‘live’ performances on the station.
Amid the fear and drear of cuts, and yet more cuts, Radio 3 has offered its fans an adrenaline boost by suddenly announcing a huge increase in the number of ‘live’ performances on the station. ‘It’s not about cost,’ says Roger Wright, the controller, ‘it’s about the distinctiveness of the Radio 3 brand.’ By the middle of May, he promises, Performance on 3 will be truly live every weekday evening, and not just a specially recorded concert, broadcast a few nights, or weeks later. Instead of performing to just a couple of thousand in the Barbican, say, or the Usher...
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