The Stage

Radio review - Light programme

Published Monday 24 April 2006 at 15:10 by Lisa Martland

Podcasting is the buzz word when it comes to radio listening but could the concept prove to be just a passing trend?

BBC Radio’s website already allows listeners access to their favourite programmes ‘out of time’ via radio player and downloads. But that is not all. A limited number of shows are now available as part of the BBC’s podcast trial.

Radio 1 devotees will be able to subscribe and automatically receive the latest music interviews and entertainment news, as well as highlights from Chris Moyles’ and Scott Mills’ weekday shows. Fans of Radio 4 can hear Front Row features or recent episodes of Broadcasting House and The Now Show.

Monitoring the interest in this kind of service is difficult though. The BBC may be able to measure how many files have been downloaded but not a great deal can be gleaned about the number of individuals involved. A recent report Is Anyone Listening to Podcasts? published on the business website www.7days.ae comments on the problems of collating accurate data but offers some encouraging news for UK broadcasters.

According to a British Market Research Bureau poll, almost eight million people in the United Kingdom will download podcasts by September 2006. This figure is made more illuminating when compared to a similar survey in America by Forrester Research. It predicts that only 12 million US households will listen to podcasts by 2010 - listening figures for American National Public Radio can reach 25 million.

Manufacturers of Mp3 players have convinced us that downloading podcasts is now second nature to all and sundry. It is a process that could change our listening habits but still the jury is out.

It comes as no surprise that among the Radio 2 shows selected for podcast treatment are Wake Up to Wogan and Chris Evans in his new drivetime slot on weekday afternoons. The alleged salaries of these presenters, and the likes of Chris Moyles and Jonathan Ross, have of course been in the news of late, although the BBC remains tight-lipped about the whole affair.

Out of context it is easy to make these rumoured pay packets appear astronomical, especially when reporters calculate, for example, that Terry Wogan is being paid £25.64 a minute. I just wonder if there would be such an outcry if high profile TV personalities - newsreaders, chat show hosts etc - were in the frame. Radio is a business too and if these DJs have the talent and profile to boost ratings, they are going to be heavily rewarded for doing so.

Opinion remains divided on whether Evans can sustain and keep the Radio 2 drivetime audience that Johnnie Walker so impressively courted during the last seven years. The older, die-hard listeners may take some convincing but on the whole I enjoyed Evans’ first week in his new role. There are hiccups in the format and some of the regular features leave little impression but if his ego does not take over, there are enough entertaining flourishes for me to stick around.

Johnnie Walker plans to pursue a more spiritual angle in his Sunday afternoon shows by chatting to celebrity guests - Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Jackson Browne - about their personal lives as well as their work. This was the slot that Ed Stewart made his own through the easy listening music he played and the popular Where Are They Now feature. Although Stewart wanted to spend more time in Spain, where he is often based, one fears that he did not fit the Radio 2 profile as well as he once did.

Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas has an incredibly difficult task in satisfying listeners of vastly different ages and tastes, but I do get the impression that the Saturday line-up in particular - Ross, Dermot O’Leary and now Stuart Maconie replacing Evans - threatens to alienate more mature listeners.

Perhaps Liza With a ‘Z’ (And All That Jazz) was more their cup of tea, an opportunity for Liza Minnelli to reminisce about her personal and working relationship with the great Broadway songwriting team John Kander and Fred Ebb. Aside from the schmaltzy remarks, this made for a very entertaining hour, not least because of the wonderful material played, some of it performed by Minnelli, from such shows as Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman and the now Oscar-winning Chicago.

Excerpts from the actress and singer’s nightclub act and her performance in the 1965 production of Flora the Red Menace were also welcome.

In fact, there were more laughs to be had with Minnelli than offered in Out to Lunch, billed as a new comedy entertainment show for Saturday afternoons. On the menu was stand-up, sketches and music served up by Laura Solon, Gary Le Strange, Dan Antopolski, Jason Manford and others. The material seemed to be hitting the mark in the studio but once transmitted over the airwaves it lost much of its punch. It was really only hosts Russell Howard and Rob Deering who raised the level with their banter and silly audience games.

Details:

Wake Up to Wogan - R2, Mondays-Fridays

Chris Evans - R2, Mondays-Fridays

Johnnie Walker - R2, Sundays

Liza With a ‘Z’ - (And All That Jazz) - R2, Sunday, April 16

Out to Lunch - R2, from Saturday, April 15