LIFE ON AIR A HISTORY OF RADIO FOUR – SPECIAL OFFER PB C FORMAT – HENDY

Radio Four has been described as the greatest broadcasting channel in the world , the heartbeat of the BBC , a cultural icon of Britishness, and the voice of Middle England. Defined by its rich mix, encompassing everything from journalism and drama to comedy, quizzes, and short-stories, its programmes – such as Today,The Archers, Woman s Hour, The Hitchhiker s Guide To the Galaxy, Gardeners Question Time, and The Shipping Forecast – have been part of British life for decades. Others, less successful, have caused offence and prompted derision. Born as it was in the Swinging Sixties, Radio Four s central challenge has been to change with the times, while trying not to lose faith with those who see it as a standard-bearer for quality, authoritativeness, or simply old-fashioned BBC values. In this first major behind-the-scenes account of the station s history, David Hendy – a former producer for Radio Four – draws on privileged access to the BBC s own archives and new interviews with key personnel to illuminate the arguments and controversies behind the creation of some of its most popular programmes. He reveals the station s struggle to justify itself in a television age, favouring clear branding and tightly-targeted audiences, with bitter disputes between the BBC and its fiercely loyal listeners. The story of these struggles is about more than the survival of one radio network: Radio Four has been a lightning rod for all sorts of wider social anxieties over the past forty years. A kaleidoscopic view of the changing nature of the BBC, the book provides a gripping insight into the very nature of British life and culture in the last decades of the twentieth century.