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Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

(www.bbc.co.uk)
291 points aways | 1 comments | 04 Sep 25 06:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.207s | source
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mellosouls ◴[04 Sep 25 07:49 UTC] No.45124731[source]▶
Its odd that when places like HN or Reddit ask for favourite podcasts the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten.

In Our Time represents the best of the form, and the BBC, and that's significantly down to the excellence of Bragg.

The archive (you may need a VPN outside the UK):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player

Some curated lists:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2Dw1c7rxs6DmyK0pMR...

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calpaterson ◴[04 Sep 25 08:18 UTC] No.45124922[source]▶
> the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten

I don't know, there are some definite bright spots like IOT but the typical output of Radio 4 is definitely not massively in advance of the big podcasts. The Rest Is History/Politics are clearly hugely popular inside the UK and basically constitute "the competition" for your average R4 listener.

I actually think that the podcast model is a big threat for traditional radio. Podcasts are much more lucrative for the makers, the reach is as-big (or bigger) and you don't have to negotiate with the government like R4 does.

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1. physicsguy ◴[04 Sep 25 20:23 UTC] No.45131825[source]▶
There are podcasts I like but a lot of the popular ones in the UK are very self indulgent. The Rest Is Politics is definitely one of those. They're also able to be opinionated in a way that the BBC's output obviously can't be as a state broadcaster. I always find the BBC output more professionally scripted, presented and edited as well, even if the content is similar. Some podcasts are horrendous at not balancing the audio - Not Another One (politics) is one of those even though I think it's great.