Options
Who else prefers the radio to television?
Glenn A
Posts: 23,877 Forum Member
✭✭✭
I must admit now, with a dire choice of channels on Freeview( only 19 where I live) and the same tired out shows every day, I listen far more to the radio now. For £ 40, a tenth of the cost of a decent television, I have the choice of 32 radio stations that broadcast anything from religion to rave music, and it's all free. At the moment I'm listening to Radio 2, but at other times I listen to Planet Rock, Absolute 80s, Smooth and Radio Cumbria.
0
Comments
Radio is unique, it is interactive and it happens in the background, so you can be doing other things whilst listening.
You're not zonked out on the sofa staring at a box for hours.
Too right, I've just heard two excellent tracks on Sounds of the Seventies and I really think the radio offers you so much choice and you can dip in and out of shows, which you can't with the television.
Also radio stations seem to have the sort of loyalty television stations lack. There is a Friends of Radio 3 website, can't imagine something on the lines of Friends of BBC One. People say oh I really love Radio 2 and have always listened for decades, never heard anyone express the same sort of affection for a television station.
That's only eight more than on Freeview (main stations) ...
There are thousands of great stations on the internet !
There's never a minute in my home when a radio is not on, whether in the bathroom, when I'm in bed (even asleep), with the telly on, cooking etc.
But my heyday of radio is in the past, Radios Luxembourg, Veronica, RNI, Caroline (especially) and Laser558, the beginning of Talk Radio and when LBC was at its best.
And yes, the analogue days. Now, I only listen to DAB because a couple of my favourite stations broadcast only that way, but I prefer scanning for my own stations.
We have outstanding drama from all over the world such as Top of the Lake (BBC co-production filmed in New Zealand), Borgen (Denmark), The Bridge (Denmark/Sweden), Broadchurch (ITV, UK), Romanzo Criminale (Italy) and The Returned (France). We have excellent music documentaries on BBC 4 such as Born to be Wild: the Golden Age of American Rock. There are good comedies (e.g. Parks & Recreation), intelligent quizzes (Only Connect) and even the Daily Telegraph likes Pointless. There are even some gems amongst the "pulp" shows imported to fill up the endless supply of digital channels: Ray Donovan, American Horror Story, Community, Modern Family... all well-written and much smarter than the TV my generation grew up watching.
Compared to the rich variety of programming on TV, British radio has lost the plot. TV works on the principle that we have a choice, so the programmes need to be good. Radio works on the principle that we don't need much choice, because we'll listen anyway.
Would a bus driver want to drive a bus on his day off?
I won't name names but I asked a presenter if he listened to the station he worked on. 'Christ no - it's like being at work' was his response
I much prefer radio. There is so much dumbed down garbage on television these days. I hardly watch anything.
Do you mean Radio 7 as in BBC Radio 7?
Rest of the time the TV and /or radio is off, nothing like the sound of silence to relax you.
The elderly generation - we never had TV as children - so that shaped our entertainment habits. After WWII there was "Childrens Hour" which was great entertainment and education, but by the time that the 1960s started, the BBC was engaging upon it's first contemporary downsizing. 1961 saw evening programmes for children switch from BBC radio to TV, aong with some news output. The R2 equivalent, the Light Programme, was always enjoyable but that was knocked for six by the offshore stations.
As we were saying in another thread earlier in the weekend, it was the anniversary of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which was originally a radio series. It was far more vivid then, than when it was turned into a TV adaption, because the latter "tied it down". So it is absolutely correct to say that radio allows the mind to be creative.
I'm very encouraged by what everyone's saying about radio ( and being discerning regarding TV programmes ). It's good that the younger generations are making good use of their creative minds ( he says as he shuffles off to do another day at the sports centre ). See you ! ( no I shouldn't have said that ) Be hearing from you !
My mother used to insist I would grow up stupid and knowing nothing about the world and that I should watch the soaps so I learnt about "real life" instead of the nonsense I listened to on the radio. What point, she always wanted to know, was there to listening to random strangers going on about things that are important to them only when clearly watching a load of fictional moaning miseries was apparently far more educational and intelligent! My mother never did understand the word "irony" and probably thought it was some kind of domestic science taught at school!
I watch very little TV still today. In the evenings at the moment some station or other keeps me company. Just recently the most regular listens have been LBC (a long-standing favourite, especially for Nick Abbot on a Friday/Saturday night. A man long responsible for me going to bed far later than I need to as I end up listening to 1am without realising it!) and JACK fm (either South Coast or Berkshire, I flip between them frequently) when I just want some music. I had been "loyal" to Real Radio NW, my local listen but as the transmogrification to Heart has progressed (and it's been going on for a while now, though not everyone has realised it yet) I've found Real to be more tedious to listen to now, mostly because the bulk of the music is no longer to my tastes. When I want something to enrich my mind or make me laugh, of course Radio 4 is also often to be heard in my home.
There are a few things I do watch on TV though, Doctor Who, Sherlock and Top Gear are really the only things I can really say that I have to watch. I'll dip into other shows as and when I find them, so really for me I could actually live without TV.
Which is a good thing too as it happens. I'm moving to Malta at some between now and the end of 2015 (hopefully). The TV there is not great, and that's being kind!
I listen to it in bed..
Always Radio Caroline..
I like Radio 2 and 4 too. Yesterday I really enjoyed listening to 'In and out of the kitchen' on Radio 4.