If you're a Radio 4 native but can't stand the current Today presenters ...

[quitethenight]

... have you found an alternative breakfast news programme that you prefer?

I grew up with the Today programme on in the kitchen every school day morning and have woken up to it almost every working day of my adult life. But I don't like the current presenters and now get frustrated listening to it. Where do I go from here?

Oh, is that what they're doing! I decided to tune in this morning, after reading this thread 😆and they were just wanging on about smartphone use in children. I want some news!

So I retuned to Times radio 😁

I really like Amol, Justin and Nick which I feel bad about as they’re the men. Justin is a mensch, Amol is super-sharp and Nick has grown on me and I like his chatty vibe with Amol

I miss Mishal. Anna I feel neutral about but Emma is driving me nuts. And I liked her on WH but she approaches today in a similar “lifestyle mag” way and totally forgets she’s meant to be impartial. You could hear the faint shock in Chris Mason’s voice yesterday when she was value-judgementing all over the place and he had his BBC impartial hat firmly on.

But like a PP I feel too wedded to the tradition and the comfort zone - and I can’t stand radio ads. I assume Emma will move on, she didn’t do WH for that long.

Agree on EB and it does seem to be moving to lifestyle mag

I do wonder if it’s inevitable that voices and sources we associated with gravitas and knowledge when we were younger seem to bear less of those qualities as we ourselves mature?

Maybe I’d find Robin Day even more of a twit if I had to rely on him for vigorous political discussion now?

There’s nothing ‘classist’ about expecting clear speech from presenters of major radio or TV programmes.

@Theonlywayicanloveyou , I agree with 'There’s nothing ‘classist’ about expecting clear speech from presenters of major radio or TV programmes.'
His ethnicity or background have nothing to do with why I don't like him as a presenter.

IMO Amol has an accent but he's clear and articulate. Don't mind that at all, I never have a problem understanding him. He can have a slight "Chris the crafty cockney" off the fast show delivery where it feels like he plays up to being seen as a bit of an outsider or wide boy. He's not though, he has an English degree from Cambridge and is as typically BBC as they come. Ethnic minorities are very well-represented among BBC news presenters and have been for quite a while (though less so in more senior editorial/management) so that's nothing new, and some have stronger accents eg Neil Nunes, still not a problem.

I agree that Times radio is far better. I particularly like Stig Abell. Aasmah Mir was good too, but she's left now.

Amol has an accent but he's clear and articulate. I don't think he enunciates clearly and he mispronounces some words.

What puts me off him and Emma Barnett is that they sound so smug. They seem to be involved in the more 'lifestyle' subjects, which might not be their choice because a 3-hr programme would need a lot of news to fill.

Five live. Despite having zero interest in sport. Their news reporting is clear, direct, curious and accessible. And a lot less confrontational than R4s Today. Can't stand people arguing and point scoring, especially not first thing.

I do agree on the smugness. With Amol I don't find it quite as bad as he seems a bit more self-aware and like it's a bit of a deliberate persona (though TBF I could be imagining that). And when he's on other things e.g. Radical, doing in-depth interviews, he does seem thoughtful and reflective.

But when EB got the job on Today they did that awful trailer clip where she was banging on about how fantastic it was that they'd given her the job and sounding totally up herself, I don't know what they were thinking! I would have not let that go out if it was me. It was like "Dear R4 listeners, here's the new today presenter, she's super smug and pleased with herself!"

I had to stop listening during the run up to Brexit when they just weren’t asking rigorous questions of politicians and the leavers in particular. I was shouting at the radio. I’d listened every day till then. I just don’t do news radio now.

Yes and when she started she talked about bringing a more lifestyle feel

I don’t mind the confrontation - some of the politicians deserve it!

and I do like it when JW uses his exasperated tone!!

@margegunderson , I found Today biased about the Neverendum. The seemingly constant 'you'd need to be bonkers to vote Leave' made me look long and hard into each side.

The person saying it was usually the berk who gave the people the choice.

Yes and when she started she talked about bringing a more lifestyle feel
I don’t mind the confrontation - some of the politicians deserve it!
and I do like it when JW uses his exasperated tone!!

I agree.
Anna Foster seems a bit less smug. I like NR's questioning. JW is a calm soothing presence.
EB seems to talk over the interviewee.

I don’t mind Anna foster at all

Some of the world service news presenters are good too - and the guy who does the world tonight

I used to have R4 on all day long and have done for decades.

Cannot abide Today anymore. It’s clearly not impartial, they can’t wait to have a go at the goverment and never seem to give any time to things they have actually achieved. Emma, who I thought was great on Women’s Hour is shockingly awful now.

I switch between R5 live, LBC and Times Radio- depending on presenter.

I find the main reason I can’t have it on all day is the amount of repeats. And the archers has really irritated me so switch off whenever that comes on!!

Miss the time checks too!

Agree every word of this.

For example, one day this week R4 Today and each news bulletin led all morning with how Starmer’s leadership was in peril because of Andy Burnham decision. I switched to R5, LBC and TImes Radio, they only mentioned this topic half way down news bulletins. Who decided at R4 that this was worth all that time and discussion?
Absolute madness.

Amol speaks good Sarf London. I have no trouble with his accent.

Nor do I, I’ve never noticed it and I live in Scotland so it’s not like it’s local to me. I like him.

I love Amol Rajan, he's brilliant on University Challenge, but I stopped listening to R4 years ago, just too annoying in general (all factual broadcasting annoys me these days, it's not about individual presenters, it's the formatting and tone).

I have R3 on all day now, just lovely music, no ads, and the bare minimum of news. I realised a few years ago that being a news junkie was stressing me out, and me obsessively following events wasn't going to change anything. My small piece of the world is much nicer now, though.

Emma, who I thought was great on Women’s Hour is shockingly awful now.
I don't think she's shockingly awful but she's not good. I liked her on Wimmin Sour.

Anna Foster is good but she says 'and that's it from Justin and I.'

James Coomarasamy is terrific.

I used to listen to R4 round the clock but find it too depresssing to be plugged into the news. Still like a bit of Today in the morning but switched on today and thought my husband had left to tuned to another station as it seemed to be a phone in on smartphones & children?! Tried to turn the dial back to R4 but nothing changed & I realised I was already on R4… turned it off.