Kate Chisholm

Space case

Plus: the frightening new facts about Pluto and the strangest sounds of the week

The idea that Radio 2 should be sold off by the BBC to a commercial rival is as nonsensical as BBC1 losing Strictly Come Dancing, or Heinz giving up on baked beans. The station, in its former incarnation as the Light Programme, was a core product of the corporation, the home of the Palm Court Light Orchestra, Kenneth Williams, Semprini, Billy Cotton, Sid James and Edmundo Ros. It gave us ‘light’ entertainment — music to dance, exercise or sing to, comedy shows, magazine programmes, dramas of ordinary life rather than Greek tragedy.

The comedy programmes on 2 were siphoned off long ago to 4 and then 4 Extra, as were all the dramas, including The Archers, and Woman’s Hour too. The ‘light’ orchestras have mostly been disbanded, even the BBC Concert Orchestra is under threat but just about surviving. But, at more than 15 million listeners, 2’s programmes still have the largest audience of any TV or radio network (Radio 3 hovers around two million while 4 reaches just above 10 million). Its annual 500 Words writing competition for children, promoted by Chris Evans, last year received 118,632 entries, reaching out beyond its core audience.

The station could do with a refresh, as could the rest of the corporation, tightening up the organisation as well as reviewing its output; 2’s schedule looks a bit tired. It could do with some more features, a drama or two, maybe even its own radio soap. But to get rid of it?

The pictures of Pluto from the New Horizons spacecraft were weirdly compelling but not nearly as exciting as listening to astrophysicists talking about it on last week’s Inside Science on Radio 4, presented by Adam Rutherford (and produced by Adrian Washbourne). It was hard to imagine what the images were actually showing us while looking at them flicker past on the television news or two-dimensionally on screen or in the newspaper.

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