Radio things have been coming together today. Firstly, Mr Bowbrick and I have knocked up a little blog called speechification which is designed to be a celebration of / curation of / alternative way in to - BBC Radio 4. Have a look and a listen if you're not busy.
Secondly, BBC pods and blogs has done a brilliant three hour programme on 'the future of radio' which is well worth listening to; especially Danny Baker's magnificent rant about the horrible creative bankruptcy of most commercial radio and the joy of podcasting. (About an hour and a half in.)
UPDATE: Here's the Danny Baker bit (hope that's OK)
It's all got me thinking about radio again, hoping for good things from the 4 Digital Group. I've long wondered why no commercial entity has gone after Radio 4's audience, which must be a valuable one, maybe 4 Digital will. Surely there's room for intelligent audio content that people will pay for, sponsor or advertiser in. Maybe I should try and do episode two of In Our Own Time.
I was wondering the same thing, and think that the wonderful thing about R4 is its lack of commercial constraint and the freedom it therefore has to be as esoteric as it likes. Would commercial backers not have kittens at some of the content R4 puts out during the day?
Also, the the thought of R4 having to change in the face of competition scares me!
Posted by: Steve | July 11, 2007 at 11:14 AM
Just browsing the internet, very interesting blog.
Posted by: Freddie Sirmans | July 12, 2007 at 01:26 AM
Ah Danny Baker. Many a time I rolled in late to work from trying to listen to all of his BBC London morning show before setting off.
He talks a hell of a lot of sense - why isn't he prime minister goddamn it?
Thanks for posting Russell.
Posted by: Claire | July 12, 2007 at 10:30 PM
The BBC needs competition and I really hope C4radio gives it the kick up the ass it needs.
I'm not suggesting its all bad, it does have its moments, but for too long Radio 4 and 3 have had no real competition in the speech department and they just don't take enough risks. As much as they claim to be ground breaking and original, really they are far from it (have you listened to an afternoon play recently?).
And the reason you don't hear good spoken word content on commercial radio? Well thats because it costs alot more to get a script written, pay actors, journalists, producers, directors etc than it does to pay a presenter to introduce automated music. And guess what? This eats into profit. So good to hear Danny Baker talk about how commercial radio has been crippled. It has been crippled by greedy shareholders.
There is great radio out there and some it is broadcast by the BBC. Don't forget Resonance FM when it gets it right.
I really hope C4 Radio lives up to its hype and offers an alternative to the (sometimes) stale/dry output of Radio 4 and 3.
Posted by: simon james | July 18, 2007 at 09:24 AM