TV and radio blog + Radio

• Thursday 13 May 2010

• Radio's booming – are you listening?

  

  BBC 6 Music's Adam & Joe: due to return later this year. Photograph: BBC

  Radio listening in the UK has reached an all-time high according to Rajar, with 46.5 million adults listening to their favourite station each week in the first three months of 2010, an increase of three-quarters of a million listeners on the same period last year. Continue reading...

  Posted by Vicky Frost 11.06 BST

• Wednesday 12 May 2010

• Is BBC Radio 5 Live your station of the year?

  

  Victoria Derbyshire: shoe-horned all the day's news into her show. Photograph: BBC

  If you listened to BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday it won't have escaped your attention that it won a Sony Radio Academy Award for UK station of the year on Monday night. It was only when the penny dropped that a slightly bigger news story was unfolding (the future of the British political system or something) that they seemed to stop mentioning the award every 5 minutes, instead relying on a subtly reworded ident – this wasn't just 5 Live, it was "Sony Radio Academy UK station of the year" 5 Live.

  Actually, given the relentless "rainbow coalition" pontificating, all that discussion of 5 Live's gong came as something of a relief – as did the sacking of the (lovely) West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola. Victoria Derbyshire, however, seemed unable to help herself, shoe-horning in all three events by asking some Hammers fans what they thought of the shenanigans at Westminster while quipping "Hey, we're an award-winning radio station!" after she cut to an outside broadcast of Nick Clegg closing his car door. I'm not sure how she neglected to ask disenchanted Lib-Dem voters what they made of England's Twenty20 triumph. Continue reading...

  Posted by Johnny Dee 12.02 BST

• Radio head

  Radio head: What may terrify radio souls is coming up against a national treasure in an awards category Continue reading...
  Posted by Elisabeth Mahoney 08.00 BST

• Wednesday 5 May 2010

• A month in Ambridge

  A month in Ambridge: Instead of talking about the election, everyone is talking bullocks

  Continue reading...
  Posted by Elisabeth Mahoney 08.00 BST

• Thursday 29 April 2010

• Radio catchup: Band break-ups, high-kicking chorus girls and tales from Bristol

  

  Let's stick together: the Tiller Girls in their famous rehearsal outfits. Photograph: Rex Features

  Why do we care so much about bands breaking up? Maybe because the intense love of a certain type of music or particular act is part of our youth. Whether it's a young girl mourning the demise of a boy band or a middle-aged family man who's lost the last link with his misspent teens, it's a sad occasion.

  It's lucky then that so many bands manage to patch up their differences. The Split Up (and the Almost Inevitable Reunion) looks at the most famous band break-ups and reformations (Radio 4 | Listen here). While some bands fall victim to "artistic differences", other reasons for dissolving groups are less commonplace: Bucks Fizz were unable to withstand David Van Day's wardrobe demands, for instance. And for some bands it's hard to tell whether they're together or not. The Verve have split three times and Pink Floyd's demise seems, as host Richard Coles puts it, almost as complicated as the 30 years war. Continue reading...

  Posted by Celine Bijleveld 16.54 BST

• Wednesday 28 April 2010

• Radio head

  Radio head: Major Richard Streatfeild's dispatches from Afghanistan have shown us the nooks and crannies of a soldier's day in extreme, punishing circumstances Continue reading...
  Posted by Elisabeth Mahoney 08.00 BST

• Wednesday 21 April 2010

• Radio head: PM | Broadcasting House | You & Yours | Volcano Radio

  Radio head: Flagship news programmes hadn't planned on sharing predictable election coverage with the unexpected: a volcano and the three main political parties neck and neck Continue reading...
  Posted by Elisabeth Mahoney 15.25 BST

• Friday 16 April 2010

• Radio catchup: Election heckling, photojournalism and Cerys on 6

  

  The Vote Now Show: Turning the election gag-o-metre up to 11. Photograph: Karen Robinson/BBC

  Your antidote to the TV debates: a good chuckle and the mellifluous tones of Cerys Matthews

  Continue reading...
  Posted by Celine Bijleveld 17.15 BST

• Wednesday 14 April 2010

• Radio head: Radio 3's new classical music chart

  Radio head: Ooh, it's a brave move by Radio 3, bringing in grubby commercialism in the form of a chart of classical music – but it's one that works Continue reading...
  Posted by Elisabeth Mahoney 06.45 BST

• Tuesday 13 April 2010

• Why radio won't stop joking for the election

  

  Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis of The Now Show. Photograph: Rex Features

  Jane Berthoud, the head of BBC radio comedy, on the importance – and tension – of preparing topical comedy for general election season Continue reading...
  Posted by Jane Berthoud 15.19 BST

• How will you remember Radio 4's Mark Damazer years?

  

  Kirsty Young's arrival on Desert Island Discs was attacked in advance as dumbing down. It didn't turn out that way. Photograph: BBC

  Vicky Frost: BBC Radio's outgoing controller abolished the UK Theme, Go4It and The Friday Play – but gave Desert Island Discs a smart renovation Continue reading...
  Posted by Vicky Frost 15.13 BST

• Thursday 8 April 2010

• Radio catch-up: James Bond, Doctor Who, and an Adam and Joe encore

  

  All star: Goldfinger's radio cast. Photograph: Jarvis and Ayres/BBC

  Camilla Redmond: Ian McKellen, Rosamund Pike and Toby Stephens take on Goldfinger and the Doctor regenerates on Radio 7, as well as TV

  Continue reading...
  Posted by Camilla Redmond 17.35 BST

• Wednesday 7 April 2010

• A month in Ambridge

  A month in Ambridge: The Ambridge Has Talent show conjured up all those ghostly characters who are mentioned but never heard Continue reading...
  Posted by Nancy Banks-Smith 00.05 BST

• Wednesday 31 March 2010

• Radio head: The Arts Show

  She's clearly intelligent, so why does Claudia Winkleman pretend not to be on her Radio 2 arts show, asks Elisabeth Mahoney Continue reading...
  Posted by Elisabeth Mahoney 06.45 BST

• Friday 26 March 2010

• Radio catchup: Tom Ravenscroft, A Point of View, Simon Mayo, Killing Me Softly

  

  Simon Mayo: unfazed by John Humphrys who he gently teased

  For the past fortnight, Tom Ravenscroft has been at the helm of The Huey Show (Sunday, 6 Music | Listen here) and it has been a musical treat. He'd probably wince at the term but he is, of course, the offspring of radio royalty – his dad being none other than John Peel – which makes spotting inherited traits irresistible. Like his pa, Ravenscroft has lots of self-deprecating charm; he assures his listeners early on that Mr Morgan will be back next week, and, when preparing to play a track by Commander in Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe and his Nigerian Sound Makers, notes "this is the time in the show when I mispronounce something". His voice has those deadpan moments that were a Peel speciality. Most of all, though, it's the devotion to unearthing esoteric tunes that shows his heritage: perhaps a rare Northern Soul song or a track with samples of "Ethiopian funk jazz and psychedelic rock". His matriarchal lineage isn't forgotten, either - twice in Sunday's show he admitted to having sourced a record "off my mum". It would be good to hear lots more of him - and on a continued 6 Music. Continue reading...

  Posted by Camilla Redmond 18.25 GMT

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