Appreciation

Joyous or sad

11/03/2012
Appreciation

Generalising, but: features producers love radio that brings joy. A bit of a laugh. Comparative “outsiders” – writers, musicians, listeners – are moved more highly by desperately sad, gut-wrenching radio. Why the difference? Partly, I think, because in “the business” of …Read the Rest

Some listening

05/02/2012
Appreciation

Catching up on more than a day of unheard listening is taking some time. It’s easy to go for the guaranteed hits – WireTap before work on a Monday, for instance. Some iPod blue dots take more courage to listen …Read the Rest

Off to Leipzig – Future of Radio in the Digital Age

26/01/2012
Appreciation

Weeee! Off to Leipzig today, for the EBU/Prix Europa/Leipziger-Medienstiftung Think Tank on Radio in the Digital Age. Lots of good (and short) thought pieces to read on it here. Also had a look at the weather forecast. Flurries, and the …Read the Rest

Hearing Voices is Meditation

16/10/2011
Appreciation

I spent a sunny hour in autumnal Green Park yesterday with a keen and experienced practitioner of Yoga. And I spent an hour ironing shirts today while listening to Hearing Voices. And the point: some of us meditate; some of …Read the Rest

Review: Williams F1 podcast

25/06/2011
Appreciation

Plenty of Formula 1 teams do podcasting. And in a sport that relies on marketing to keep glamorous and wealthy, the tendency is to bring a company in and sound as slick and professional as possible. Unfortunately this often means …Read the Rest

Review: Irish Blood English Hearts

13/05/2011
Appreciation

A Radio 4 programme written and presented by Joseph O’Connor presents the risk of infuriation and a huge listening boost for Classic FM, but I think they pulled it off here. This review is much longer than usual, because Irish …Read the Rest

Review: Bin Laden’s Hollywood Ending, Studio 360

12/05/2011
Appreciation

It would be surprising if Studio 360, the world’s best produced pop-culutre programme, hadn’t reacted to the killing of Osama bin Laden. After all, the most common reaction on 9/11 was, as they pointed out “I turned on the TV …Read the Rest

Review: The Wheels of Power

11/05/2011
Appreciation

What great potential the inside story from inside the ministerial cars holds! Though with a bit of thought, it was never going to be quite full of fascination. From the stiff and starched opening we knew this was, after all, …Read the Rest

Preparing for International Features Conference

09/05/2011
Appreciation

This day week we’ll be getting to know fellow producers at the International Features Conference in Hilversum. Very exciting. I shall do my utmost to write here about the programmes we sample. Personally I hope to meet collaborators! Producers with …Read the Rest

Review: FT Podcasts

09/05/2011
Appreciation

Podcasts from the Financial Times are fairly well established, and not insignificant in volume. They probably have made a reasonable difference to the standing of podcasts among older, more powerful demographics. On the whole they match the paper’s image and …Read the Rest