Does anyone listen to Radio 4?

there's a lot of debate and fuss about religion going on in general. i like that they always drag that dreadful daily mail woman (what is her name? i always forget) in to talk about any vaguely contentious issues to do with freedom, immigration etc, wind her up and watch her go while everyone else just points and laughs.

The Message with Jenny Murray is a good magazine show on media, there was an excellent discussion of regional broadcasting this week. And Laurie Taylor's Thinking Allowed is, for me anyway, unmissable.

Melanie Phillips?

Radio 4 is great. For one thing, it's got the SHIPPING FORECAST.

its johnanthan edwards presenting it for some reason, but the first one, (on last night) was aboput relating traffic flows to physics theories, and then digresses into explaingin how traffic management. it ends wuith my old lecturer making some decent points about the philosphy of car use

aboput relating traffic flows to physics theories, and then digresses into explaingin how traffic management

they did a great series about the development of the roundabout a few years ago too. i was just getting used to using roundabouts so it was very useful as well as totally fascinating in a way that should have been totally boring.

In Our Time is stupendously good, and there are plenty of excellent documentaries. The best Radio 4 documentary I ever heard was 15 minutes on the design of the typeface used on road signs.

People like the shipping forecast and that show for farmers that's on at 5AM or something, when they've just got back from milking the cows. And I'm told there are actual people who listen to the Archers.

So yes, people like Radio 4. The dull comments may be because it's for adults, or they may predate the David Kelly affair, which made it rather glamorous. It's less listened to than Radio 2 (mid-market pop/oldies) or Radio 1 (yoof), but more than Radio 3 (classical, jazz, world, experimental).

Ooh, I remember that - it was v good.

Wouldn't it have even better on tv? That's the problem I have with non-music radio.

The Today programme irritates me with both its style - no lightness of touch, everthing's got to be confrontational, oppositional and of the utmost seriousness, a general atmosphere that the world i getting worse - and its self-satisfied assumption that it is THE news programme for 'opinion formers and those who matter'. My personal idea of hell is to wake up early on a particularly bleak winter morning to the Today programme.

As a government adviser, I always try to influence politicians to avoid it.

Radio 4 has its twee moments, but the documentary shows are mostly great, some of the comedy is funny and the whole station makes me much less homicidal than, say, 15 minutes exposure to Radios 1 or 2.

I can see how "seriousness", "confrontation" and anything other than blandly repeating the Party Line would be unpopular with Blair & Co. Much better to debate the issues with Richard and Judy, yeah?

I've recently graduated to the hard stuff: BBC Radio 3, which broadcasts severe classical music and culture to audiences that are often statistically too small to measure. Amazing stuff.

I wake up to Wogan, except during Children in Need, when he becomes insufferable.

soukesian: Radio 3 is indeed crackers. Late Junction is fantastic. Mixing It insane. I've heard it said that Radio 3 is truly unique and could not happen anywhere else in the world. Interesting if true.

The amount of money they must plough into their live classical programming is staggering. There's so much amazing stuff that the likes of classic FM wouldn't touch with a bargepole, and you just wouldn't be able to hear unless you were prepared to spend huge amounts of time and money trawling the classical racks.

I also love the fact that they don't give a damn about 'dead air', and even seem to encourage a respectful pause after particularly intense piece.

Can anyone tell me why on earth Veg Talk is called Veg Talk?

the problem is that between 7am and getting out of bed, i tend to drift in and out of sleep, meaning i'm often bothered by dreams in which junior ministers are shouting angrily.

Plus, isn't there someone from These Parts who crops up as a regular guest?

(I like 6Music, but I prefer Today first thing in the morning - even though it gives me the same dreaming-about-politicians problem as Grimly)

OTM.

'From Our Own Correspondent' is fab indeed. The comedy is very hit and miss but at least they take chances. For bringing us Marcus Brigstock, I kiss them.

x-post

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/pip/lnizd/

"Now - Then
On Wednesday, November 9 at 6.00pm, hundreds of people recorded one minute of their day. Producer Andy Cartwright and poet Seán Street present a unique 'radio poem' from those recordings."

although i only read about it in the paper 10 days afterwards...

Thought for the day is my daily reckoner as to whether i'm going to be late for work or not, if i'm not in the shower by the time it's on i'm buggered.

"you should begin your day with silence, to provide a foundation." well, i would, but given that i need the radio to come on and wake me up, i'm a bit buggered there. and then i come back from the shower to find you dribbling on about how we should all make time to bake our own bread. which gives me a foundation for IMMENSE ANGER.

one of his songs was fucking "imagine". does ANYBODY still take "imagine" seriously?

dud, ugh.

david baddiel in for whatsisface this morning, i thought was a bit odd. only heard the trailer...

Radio 4 Theme is played in the wee small hours to start the day. It's been binned recently to make way for more news (what, the Today show sin't long enough for you?!?!?) so annoying people who care about this kind of thing. I don't care about this kind of thing, but I'm the kind of person who usually does, so I feel their pain.

pah. she's one of the least funny ppl on just a minute (and vying with g brandreth for most irritating), i don't *hate* her or anything, but really, the world does not need her. the funniest thing pam ayres ever did was be the inspiration for someone else on r4 making a crack at her expense - i don't remember the context or if she was present but "i wish i'd looked after me tits" made me giggle.

and simon hoggart is no longer chairing the news quiz! the last one was friday. sandi toksvig (? ai kant spel hur nem) is taking over though and i approve of this.

She's not very amsuing on JAM but I gained exra respect for her when I saw it live. She was on the panel then and did two (count em!) minute long chats - one of them was about chickens, if memory serves. Or ti might have been vets. She does crop up on other stuff every so often, and her banality CAN bring me down sometimes, like a white grannified west country june sarpong.

her banality CAN bring me down sometimes, like a white grannified west country june sarpong.

omg YES!

i do not have the words, the time or the mental capacity to explain how much i loathe that piece of music. mrs fiendish went through a (thankfully short-lived) period of having to get up at 5.30am, and being woken by that FUCKING ABOMINATION every day probably explains a great deal about why i'm now such a misanthropic little fuck.

-- grimly fiendish (simonmai...), April 3rd, 2006.

i work near broadcasting house and the other afternoon there was this open-top bus full of crazy people with banners saying 'save out r4 theme' or something. it's a phenomenon, apparently.

I have a soft spot for "Quote, Unquote".

-- Dickon Edwards (dickon_edward...), April 4th, 2006.

i like humphrey c's joke about this: 'next up is "quote, unquote", which we find, quote, unquote, highly amusing.'

FP have you ever read "Attention all Shipping"?

she was great as Ethel in Number 73

Funnily enough, at the weekend I bought my mother it for her birthday. I'll probably get around to borrowing it and reading it myself before she does.

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Ethel Davis: Now, let's go boogie with the band!