Radio 4
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
The only reason to pay the BBC's license fee. Hitch hikers in the UK will find this radio station (92-95fm 198lw) invaluable. Full of different types of programs (very little music however.)
The main listening time is in the morning and the evening. Following is a quick run through of the high points of listening..............
This is THE premiere news programme in the world, it obviously has a bias to news that may be found important or interesting to the UK. The main thing about this news programme is the fact that it is live, and news happens as you listen. Politicians go ballistic, Lords speak nonsense, people caught out in lies and blindly stumbling through their prepared statements, brilliant. The programme is a bit of an aquired taste, the interviewers are fairly confrontational (often causing the politicians to flip), some of the people they talk to can not use a phone and get really bad, top of a hill buffeting breath over the telephones microphone and eventually you get really sick of time wasters (normally politicians you either constantly say the same thing over and over, or go slowly through their statement, not allowing anyone else to talk (Martin McGuiness (Sinn Fein)is the worst for this and sometimes needs a good slap for it). However the presenters have a good camaraderie between them and is the best way to wake in the morning
Radio 4's weather is the place for UK weather, if you know a little meteorology then it will be very informative indeed. It comes in three flavours, the quickie, the slightly indepth and the sector by sector Shipping Forecast and UK Inshore Waters forecast (see Shipping Forecast-once it is done, the ultimate guide to the gobbledegook they talk.....dogga south/south east three or four one thousand and fifty two falling sharply twelve miles drizzle becoming showers later etc etc etc.....). The Quickie is heard the most often and is just a quick summary, normally after the news. The slightly indepth is normally found in the Today Programme, and other current affairs programmes, just before the hour and gives the weather in the UK by broad area and will last up to five minutes. The Shipping Forecast is the ultimate in weather, everything you would like to know if youve hitched a lift in doomed pleasure cruiser off the west coast of Scotland, or indeed sailing, walking or indeed travelling anywhere in the UK.
This is a soap opera for radio, pretty rare in this day and age. It is set in the fictional village of Ambridge, and follows the lives of the people who live in this rural habitat. It is always incorparating new ideas, and actual events that are happening in the news, genetically engineered crops, bse etc. The main thing to remember about Ambridge is not to mess with the family that the whole shebang is named after, the Archer family. If you mess with them you will regret it. WARNING: it will take an average of three to four weeks to actually be able to tell what is going on, who the people are etc.
Desert Island Disks is an interview, normally with someone famous or at the top of their chosen field, set around the premise that you are going to be stranded on a desert island (suprising eh?). With you you have the complete works of Shakespeare and a copy of the bible. However you also get to choose 10 records or albums that you can also take (disks, who would of thought?). You also get to choose one luxery item. The interview then starts asking you why you chose these, hopefully giving insights in the life of the latter day Robinson Crusoe. There have been some good people (well according to my tastes) interviewed along with strange ones (like the chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra). Some times the choice are all classical, others a mixture (Terry Pratchett chose Thomas the Rhymer, by Steeleye Span as one of his choices - anyone who likes Steeleye Span has to have some goodness around them). This is always a good listen (except they only play excerts from the songs, but then again who really wants to listen to some awful skrechin (pronounced with a soft 'ch' as in loch - See Scottish Slang) because his mother used to sing it to him as a lad).
Radio Four comedy is found all throughout the other programs, Book at Bedtime could be a funny book, the quizzes sometimes have comedians as contestants. The best, top me, are the satire. Lampooning of the weeks news, Weekending1 was the programme that got me onto Radio 4 in the first place. Many comedians got their first big breaks on Radio 4, Who's Line is it Anyway? was first aired on this station to end all stations, and Alan Partridge first appeared in On The Hour and then Knowing Me, Knowing You in the early '90's. At the moment Dead Ringers and The Now Show are not to be missed comedy shows.
If you are intrested in current affairs then this is the station for you. Hourly bullitins are backed up by in depth news shows like Today, The World at One and PM amonst others. As mentioned before news happens here. It is here that politicians get grilled and experts give their opinions, live on air. Other programmes allow the audience to ask questions, even phone in from home, allowing you to ask questions of those in power.
For more information search the BBC Website
The main listening time is in the morning and the evening. Following is a quick run through of the high points of listening..............
The Today Programme. (06:30-09:00 Mon-Fri) (07:00-09:00 Sat)
This is THE premiere news programme in the world, it obviously has a bias to news that may be found important or interesting to the UK. The main thing about this news programme is the fact that it is live, and news happens as you listen. Politicians go ballistic, Lords speak nonsense, people caught out in lies and blindly stumbling through their prepared statements, brilliant. The programme is a bit of an aquired taste, the interviewers are fairly confrontational (often causing the politicians to flip), some of the people they talk to can not use a phone and get really bad, top of a hill buffeting breath over the telephones microphone and eventually you get really sick of time wasters (normally politicians you either constantly say the same thing over and over, or go slowly through their statement, not allowing anyone else to talk (Martin McGuiness (Sinn Fein)is the worst for this and sometimes needs a good slap for it). However the presenters have a good camaraderie between them and is the best way to wake in the morning
The Weather. (Various times, but mainly around the hour)
Radio 4's weather is the place for UK weather, if you know a little meteorology then it will be very informative indeed. It comes in three flavours, the quickie, the slightly indepth and the sector by sector Shipping Forecast and UK Inshore Waters forecast (see Shipping Forecast-once it is done, the ultimate guide to the gobbledegook they talk.....dogga south/south east three or four one thousand and fifty two falling sharply twelve miles drizzle becoming showers later etc etc etc.....). The Quickie is heard the most often and is just a quick summary, normally after the news. The slightly indepth is normally found in the Today Programme, and other current affairs programmes, just before the hour and gives the weather in the UK by broad area and will last up to five minutes. The Shipping Forecast is the ultimate in weather, everything you would like to know if youve hitched a lift in doomed pleasure cruiser off the west coast of Scotland, or indeed sailing, walking or indeed travelling anywhere in the UK.
The Archers. (Sun-Fri 19:02, repeated Mon-Fri 14:02)
This is a soap opera for radio, pretty rare in this day and age. It is set in the fictional village of Ambridge, and follows the lives of the people who live in this rural habitat. It is always incorparating new ideas, and actual events that are happening in the news, genetically engineered crops, bse etc. The main thing to remember about Ambridge is not to mess with the family that the whole shebang is named after, the Archer family. If you mess with them you will regret it. WARNING: it will take an average of three to four weeks to actually be able to tell what is going on, who the people are etc.
Desert Island Disks
Desert Island Disks is an interview, normally with someone famous or at the top of their chosen field, set around the premise that you are going to be stranded on a desert island (suprising eh?). With you you have the complete works of Shakespeare and a copy of the bible. However you also get to choose 10 records or albums that you can also take (disks, who would of thought?). You also get to choose one luxery item. The interview then starts asking you why you chose these, hopefully giving insights in the life of the latter day Robinson Crusoe. There have been some good people (well according to my tastes) interviewed along with strange ones (like the chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra). Some times the choice are all classical, others a mixture (Terry Pratchett chose Thomas the Rhymer, by Steeleye Span as one of his choices - anyone who likes Steeleye Span has to have some goodness around them). This is always a good listen (except they only play excerts from the songs, but then again who really wants to listen to some awful skrechin (pronounced with a soft 'ch' as in loch - See Scottish Slang) because his mother used to sing it to him as a lad).
Plays, Books and Stories (various times)
Radio Four does a wide variety of plays, books and stories, some adapted for radio with different actors for different parts, some, like The Book at Bedtime, just read. The scope covers all genres, including to my delight sci-fi. How can you knock the station that was the first to broadcast The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy, or more recently some of Stephen Baxters work. They have also done readings of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (guess what kind of books interest me). However to find these gems you must trawl through a lot of other genres, not to say they are bad plays, they are good, and you can get sucked in, but they don't grab me like Sci-Fi and Fantasy.
Comedy (various times, always changing)
Radio Four comedy is found all throughout the other programs, Book at Bedtime could be a funny book, the quizzes sometimes have comedians as contestants. The best, top me, are the satire. Lampooning of the weeks news, Weekending1 was the programme that got me onto Radio 4 in the first place. Many comedians got their first big breaks on Radio 4, Who's Line is it Anyway? was first aired on this station to end all stations, and Alan Partridge first appeared in On The Hour and then Knowing Me, Knowing You in the early '90's. At the moment Dead Ringers and The Now Show are not to be missed comedy shows.
The News (on the hour, every hour) and other current affair programmes
If you are intrested in current affairs then this is the station for you. Hourly bullitins are backed up by in depth news shows like Today, The World at One and PM amonst others. As mentioned before news happens here. It is here that politicians get grilled and experts give their opinions, live on air. Other programmes allow the audience to ask questions, even phone in from home, allowing you to ask questions of those in power.
For more information search the BBC Website
1Now sadly departed to the great wavelength in the sky
