Radio 3 needs to stay relevant, and world music is just the ticket
When my colleague Charles Moore first began accusing Radio 3 of becoming ‘babyish’, and talking down to us as if…
Two women, ages 94 and 83, completely own The Archers
You might think the main storyline in The Archers is all about Helen’s affair with dastardly Rob. (What does she…
When did you last hear a news report you could trust completely?
‘It put a lot upon us,’ said Christopher Jefferies’s aunt. ‘The ripples went on and did not stop for a…
Bye-bye Bric, hello Mint — are Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey really the new boom economies?
New year new ideas as we woke up on Monday morning to find ourselves in Lagos with Evan Davies trying…
How radio — and the digital age — help us to remember the first world war
Perhaps the most moving programme of all amid the huge range that will mark the coming centenary of the Great…
Just imagine what BBC schedules might look like in Christmas Future
Is it time to scrap the licence fee? That’s a question we’re going to hear more and more about in…
The man who looks out for Obama's soul
Just in time for Advent, that season of preparation, of getting ready, of making sure we are in the right…
Why didn't financial journalists blow the whistle on Paul Flowers? Robert Peston can't tell you
As I listened to Robert Peston early last Friday fluffing on about the Revd Paul Flowers and the possible effect…
What Jackie did after JFK was assassinated
A surfeit of anniversaries this week reminded us that on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, C.S. Lewis (born 1898)…
Radio 4's All In The Mind is a perfect example of why we still need the licence fee
Best line of the week came on Monday from the composer John Tavener, and was given added poignancy by the…
You lost Aled Jones and Catherine Bott, Radio Three — but all is forgiven
It’s hard to stay cross with Radio 3 for long. Just when I thought the network had stretched my loyalty…
Your life is not like a Detroit assembly line — it's worse
This year’s Free Thinking festival at the Sage in Gateshead has been asking the question, Who’s in Control?. Oddly, or…
Grayson Perry is an inspired choice for the Reith Lectures
You’ve probably already read or heard somewhere that the inspiration for Grayson Perry’s current series of Reith Lectures on Radio…
Last week's all-female Today proved women make for a more uplifting show
Boy, we’ve had to wait a long time for this. But last Thursday morning something unusual happened on Radio 4;…
Sometimes Radio 3 tries to be too clever by half
Why are we still listening to the radio in 2013, to an outdated technology that has hardly changed in manufacture…
Autumn shake-up in Radios 2 and 3 scheduling
This time round in the autumn shake-up of the schedules it’s Radios 2 and 3 who are on the frontline…
Immigrant songs: Radio 2's My Country, My Music
Five women, five very different stories of arriving in the UK, often unwillingly and always alone. How did they cope…
Farewell to a natural born broadcaster
‘He was a natural broadcaster,’ said Nick Higham, after the death last week of the rugby player and sports broadcaster…
Tom Stoppard’s Pink Floyd play gives Radio 2 a dark side
How many listeners, I wonder, actually tuned in to Darkside as it went out on air on Radio 2, after…
Only Evan Davies can keep his guests in order
It must have sounded like such a great idea. To gather a group of thinkers, agitators, experts, intellectuals and media…
Kate Chisholm connects to her inner tortoise
Of course there’s a future for digital radio, it’s just that we’ll probably be listening to it online, or on…
A bearded, medallion-wielding, miniature puppet won’t persuade us to go digital
Will digital radio ever really take off? We were supposed to be switching over to digital-only reception in 2015 (three…
Lenny Henry’s tear-jerker
Every so often a programme comes along that completely alters the way you think about something you thought you understood.…
The BBC bows to celebrity
The licence fee is both a blessing and a curse for the BBC. The clue is in that nickname —…
Radio review: At last! A proper Book at Bedtime
It had begun to look as if Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime had been taken over by the zealous publicity-hungry…
