Author Topic: Radio4 Addicted  (Read 7855 times)

urban_biker

  • " . . .we all ended up here and like lads in the back of a Nova we sort of egged each other on...."
  • Known in the real world as Dave
Radio4 Addicted
« on: 01 December, 2011, 05:02:48 pm »
I'm a self confessed Radio4aholic. I've been a regular listener since I was around 15 ( so I guess its my Silver Anniversary this year).
I'd be quite happy to have all other radio stations removed so long as Radio 4 could continue.

I love the news coverage, From our Own Correspondent is just amazing on occasion, I love the comedy, from the Now show to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and so many other programmes that I can't even remember.

What are your favourite bits of Radio 4. Any special programmes that really do it for you? Are YOU similarly addicted?

BTW I hate the Archers!  ;D
Owner of a languishing Langster

Riggers

  • Mine's a pipe, er… pint!
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #1 on: 01 December, 2011, 05:08:52 pm »
You surely can't stay awake during In Our Time? I think, after almost every one I've been left thinking "What, what!? What was that all about!?"

It's like a radio version of 'find the ball' under the 3 cups!
Certainly never seen cycling south of Sussex

Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #2 on: 01 December, 2011, 05:47:39 pm »
I'll listen to most of it, with exceptions;

The Moral Maze (the antidote to radio), Moneybox, Moneybox Live (even worse: radio for Daily Wail readers), You and Yours (the audible equivalent of taupe), Any Questions, Any Answers (even worse. It's the amateur version) and PM (the turd in the salad of Radio 4. Because it's superficial and glib. And it is usually presented by that infinitely irritating smartarse Eddie"Motormouth" Mair.

I can even tolerate Matthew Parris and Michael Portillo on the radio!

I usually find In Our Time interesting.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #3 on: 01 December, 2011, 05:52:14 pm »
I have trouble with Radio 4 because they intersperse interesting programmes with the bloody Archers (which may be interesting if you've been listening since 1950) and obscure features on the lesbian yak weavers of Timbuktu.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #4 on: 01 December, 2011, 05:54:21 pm »
Have you ever tried weaving a yak ?
Rust never sleeps

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #5 on: 01 December, 2011, 06:15:43 pm »
I'm with Efrogwr, except I don't mind PM (though I rarely hear it, which might be a factor).
Getting there...

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #6 on: 01 December, 2011, 06:56:05 pm »
It's all brilliant. Well nearly. "Your and Your Things and Your Paranoia" gets turned off, as does Moneybox.  Most of the time it's on around the house or in the car. And my clever phone has a wireless built in so I can listen to it while out on the bike.

The Archers is a staple. Tonight I'll have to grab a podcast as Mrs. Hall is out at aquabatics.

In Our Time. Just amazing. People who know a lot about their subject and who can explain it. And Marcus is on it from time to time.

Such a wide spectrum of broadcasting. Did anyone catch that programme last week about Will O' the wispss and other light things? Spooklights I think it was called.

And it has me shouting at the radio from time to time. Anne Atkins on TFTD. Any of the frothing loons on The Moral Maze. But still I listen.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #7 on: 01 December, 2011, 07:18:11 pm »
I miss Americana - there was plenty of other crap they could have axed instead :(

I agree with most of the 'hates' expressed here. My other problem with R4 is the excessive news coverage; R5 is their main  news station, why do we need 4 hours a day on R4? Of course it's important, but there is so much repetition, and reporting what X said about Y's comment about Z's report, just to fill up the time ...  :hand:
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #8 on: 01 December, 2011, 11:26:03 pm »
The great thing about the Archers is that, although it's been broadcast with a new programme every day for the last 600 years, it hasn't change a bit, so all you have to do is listen to one and you know the entire history of Ambridge.

Incidentally, I'm prepared to be corrected on this, but I believe I am probably one of only two forum members to have cycled the entire length of Ambridge Road. :P
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #9 on: 01 December, 2011, 11:30:22 pm »
I am an avid Today and PM listener when I'm in the car or have the house to myself, and I listen to the Sunday lunchtime comedy slot whenever I remember it's (a) Sunday and (b) lunchtime. 

The only CD I've had in the car for a good six months now is my mega MP3 collection of dozens and dozens of old episodes of ISIHAC, all with Humph in the chair.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #10 on: 01 December, 2011, 11:41:25 pm »
Love nearly all of it.

No, Money Box and Moral Maze get offed, but the rest of it is mostly great.
And lesbian yak weavers?  That is exactly why I love R4.  You never know what you might end up listening to.
Another In Our Time enjoyer.  Well, some of them.
Late Sunday night is carp. 

Ooh.  Poetry Please gets turned off too.  Now, that's the sort of thing I'd expect to enjoy.  But I don't.  I think it may have something to do with McGough's irritating condescendingly "nice" voice.  Can't stand the bloody program.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Rhys W

  • I'm single, bilingual
    • Cardiff Ajax
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #11 on: 01 December, 2011, 11:50:47 pm »
I've become a bit of an addict in recent years, although I grew up with it in the background (alternating with Radio Cymru of course).

Latest favourite: Listen Against. Genius!

Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #12 on: 02 December, 2011, 12:05:23 am »
Radio Downloader is a must for all R4 fans. It takes there listen again feed and rips it to MP3 and saves it to your hard drive. It also tracks your favourite shows, downloads them, rips them and saves them for you automagically. Plus it does the same for RSS feeds.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #13 on: 02 December, 2011, 12:30:03 am »
Can't believe no one has mentioned the shipping forecast yet! Or Test Match Special. Or Woman's Hour. Or Loose Ends. Or Brain of Britain. Or Round Britain Quiz.

All brilliant, for different reasons.

I was brought up with Radio 4 as a constant & reassuring background noise, so I've been listening to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and the Archers for as long as I can remember. Not that I listen to either any more, but I'm still a Radio 4 devotee.

I like Poetry Please, and I love In Our Time, especially when Melv gets a bee in his bonnet about something. I like the books one with dusky-voiced siren Mariella Frostrup. I even like Gardeners Question Time, even though I'm not really a gardener.

I find the quality of the comedies highly variable. I've always loved the News Quiz, which has done a good job of evolving with the times (unlike ISIHAC, which sounds very tired and dated now), and Just A Minute, which is exactly the same as it ever was but has stayed fresh by regularly introducing new young blood. But I can't stand the Now Show and I can take or leave most of the formulaic panel games. But the best of it is superb. I'm sure there's loads of great stuff I've forgotten, but a few recent examples that spring to mind are: The Mark Steel Lectures, Old Harry's Game, Bleak Expectations, Count Arthur Strong, The Very World Of Milton Jones.

Loads of really good dramas too. Particularly love the Clive Mereson Sherlock Holmes with Michael Williams/Andrew Sachs as Watson. And the adaptation of Les Miserables of a few years ago is one I can happily go back to again and again.

Some of the programmes I enjoy most are the one-offs you catch by chance because the radio is just on while you're doing other stuff. Missed the one about lesbian yak weavers of Timbuktu (is it on iPlayer? Sounds fascinating. I didn't even know yak were native to Timbuktu - or do they import them?) but there was a great one recently about the insidious rise of pink.

Tend to skip Money Box, You & Yours and, of course, Quote Unquote. Not a big fan of Today, mainly because I can't stand John Humphrys. Any Questions makes me shout at the radio, but Speak Your BranesAny Answers makes me throw stuff at it. (That reminds me - Down The Line was another superb comedy.)

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #14 on: 02 December, 2011, 12:31:41 am »
Forgot to mention A History Of The World In 100 Objects, which was just utterly wonderful, both in concept and execution.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #15 on: 02 December, 2011, 12:51:07 am »
I'm another one who grew up with R4 in the background. I remember Listen With Mother (I think, or did I make that title up?) when I was about 5 or younger, and good dramas for older children too. One year they did Swallows and Amazons as a serial  :thumbsup: And I also remember listening to the original Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. As well as lots of comedies, and as I got older I started listening to the more serious programmes too. The Archers addiction seems to have stopped with my mother.

But of course you can't get it in those Forn Parts off to whither I hitherly hied myself, so I got out of the habit and am now out of touch with whatever they have on it. Yikes, is it still on LW?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #16 on: 02 December, 2011, 12:59:36 am »
I also remember listening to the original Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I'm too young for Listen With Mother and I was probably slightly too young for Hitchhikers first time around. In fact, I can't remember if I listened to it on the radio or watched it on the telly first.

R4 is still on LW. There's also R4 Extra, which used to be R7 until they rebranded it to reflect the fact that nearly everything on it was just old R4 stuff.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #17 on: 02 December, 2011, 01:21:42 am »
Listen with Mother. Yes, you have that right.

LW. Yes. (But how much longer ?)

Virtualy all of it is brilliant. I too grew up wth it on in the background. It is entwined with my DNA.

Weekending anyone ?

My wife came down the aisle to the R4 theme (sadly axed).

We went out to Sailing By.

I would pay my TV licence four times over for R4. (Hardly watch the TV.)

I am absolutely with those people who protest when the new director of R4 arrives and does the obligatory 'dog pissing against a lampost to make sure people know I've been here' move and screws the schedule over.

Q    "WHAT DO WE WANT ?"

A    "R4 UNCHANGED"

Q    "WHAT DO WE HAVE TO SAY ?"

A    "PLEASE"

This very protest was happening when a new controller of the BBC entered the premises for the first time. He knew then that you mess with the R4 audience at your peril.
Rust never sleeps

Tail End Charlie

Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #18 on: 02 December, 2011, 08:29:50 am »
Loads I enjoy.
Any Questions, Any Answers. GQT, the comedy. The History of the World in 100 Objects was quite simply superb.

From years gone past - Down Your Way, Hitchhikers Guide and The Burkiss Way.

urban_biker

  • " . . .we all ended up here and like lads in the back of a Nova we sort of egged each other on...."
  • Known in the real world as Dave
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #19 on: 02 December, 2011, 08:58:27 am »
Quote
Did anyone catch that programme last week about Will O' the wispss and other light things? Spooklights I think it was called.

Yes - heard that. Another excellent  programme.
Owner of a languishing Langster

urban_biker

  • " . . .we all ended up here and like lads in the back of a Nova we sort of egged each other on...."
  • Known in the real world as Dave
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #20 on: 02 December, 2011, 09:00:54 am »
Radio Downloader is a must for all R4 fans. It takes there listen again feed and rips it to MP3 and saves it to your hard drive. It also tracks your favourite shows, downloads them, rips them and saves them for you automagically. Plus it does the same for RSS feeds.

Nice tip - thanks.
Owner of a languishing Langster

Juan Martín

  • Consigo mi abrigo
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #21 on: 02 December, 2011, 09:14:18 am »
Due to work ‘commitments’ I have always been an early riser and consequently have inflicted Farming Today on myself for about 25 years. I do not know why they bother actually recording this because as far as I can ascertain if they ran a two-year continuous loop of the programme they could pretty much cover the constant litany of farmers moaning about the weather and their subsidies.

It is a brilliant programme and the opportunity to swear at whining farmers while shaving adds to the gaiety of the nation and accounts for my sunny and upbeat disposition. It justifies the licence fee on its own.

rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #22 on: 02 December, 2011, 09:23:13 am »
The razor-blade in the candy-floss that is Radio4 occurs on early Sunday Mornings, starting with Bells on Sunday and going right on through to hours upon hours of Religious Programming - either services, or news on which Bishop's been de-frocked for what.

So I switch to Radio5 then.

The rest of R4 is awesome.  I do enjoy ISIHAC's criticism of its home, with Jack Dee's script containing lines such as "Poetry Click".  I seem to remember (though it might have been on the News Quiz) Armando Iannucci declaiming that "If you cut 'You and Yours' from the schedules, it would grow back."
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip

LEE

Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #23 on: 02 December, 2011, 09:27:50 am »
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Re: Radio4 Addicted
« Reply #24 on: 02 December, 2011, 09:32:38 am »
it's on pretty much dawn -> dusk in our house too, except for 'front row' and most of Sunday mornings.