I miss the old R4 Woman's Hour. I don't tune in anymore.

[flashbac]

I don't/can't listen to Woman's Hour anymore. It's lost its magic. I miss having it in the background and listening to interesting points of discussion. Now I find it gets on my nerves. It's crap.

@YukoandHiro

Agree. And they keep interviewing sodding men on it now. Men are the primary interviewees on every other bloody hour of R4

Oh god, is it supposed to be a hot new take on woman’s hour or something... like when some moronic magazine made Bono woman of the year (woaahh man such fresh vision)

@chipshopElvis, I’ve been waiting for that top since January!

@sandgrown, I’ve bee listening since my late teens!

IVe also stopped listening. I loved Jane. Couldn't stand Jenni though so never listened on her days. It's a shame as I was quite pleased when they announced Emma would be taking over as I normally like her. But she doesn't bring the same tone as Jane.

I stopped listening years ago - so many awful stories of trafficking, rapes - just worldwide cruelty to women. Made me angry , v depressing.

I found that manchester evening news article interesting, followed by a ridiculous Daily mail self written, self serving piece, followed by brokenbottleboy.substack.com/p/the-sins-of-the-father-the-emails, with just one google search.

I liked the old programme. I liked listening to women who are older than me. I appreciated their wisdom and insight. Where the hell else can you hear the perspective of older women?

I agree. Not a Middle Ages woman, in my 30s, but I find it so aggressive now & really hard to listen to. It used to be calming and interesting. Now it’s just stressful.

Sorry autocorrect! Not a middle aged woman that should have said!

@Anycrispsleft

I liked the old programme. I liked listening to women who are older than me. I appreciated their wisdom and insight. Where the hell else can you hear the perspective of older women?

You could talk to some?

Agree.
I don't think Emma Barnett is a good fit for the position, she doesn't seem natural and free flowing enough.

I wonder how WH can cover stories about human trafficking and prostitution - both important issues affecting women - when one of its presenters allegedly financially benefited from her parents doing both those things and allegedly exchanged emails with her father about his “whores”. I just can’t see how they could have any credibility there.

Can’t stand either of the new presenters. They clearly hate women like me (who have an opinion that differs from theirs…) and think feminism and women’s hour should be for actual women!

It’s irrelevant to me now, so I don’t listen any more.

That should be ‘who think that…’ -
Eg women like me who who knows that women’s hour should be about and for women.

Absolutely agree with you, I've stopped listening aswell

I occasionally listen to the Anita Rani version but can’t stand Emma Barnett. I caught one episode where they were interviewing a MP who was trying to bring in more help for Domestic Abuse victims (guidance for employers who were concerned, IIRC) and Emma’s treatment of him was just appalling. So rude and dismissive, and very quick to use any counter argument (one employer said it was unreasonable as he had 40,000 staff and he couldn’t keep an eye on them all - unlikely they’re all a direct report though, isn’t it sunshine?) as a stick with which to beat someone who was a) taking DA seriously and b) trying to help.

She’s bloody awful.

Another one who switches it on rarely now. I used to catch up with the podcasts too but don't bother any more. Different is fine (though sad that Team J&J both left more or less the same time) but Emma Barnett just isn't the right person.

I agree. Women in their twenties don’t listen to R4 in general so I think they’re missing their demo graphic and losing listeners fast.
I can’t stand Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs either.

@sandgrown

I am in my sixties and was waiting to be old enough to start listening to Radio 4 and Women’s Hour. I guess I have missed the boat !

I was listening in the womb! And spent my earliest childhood Listen[ing] With Mother. Listened to The Archers at home, at boarding school, at university ... Woman's Hour always seemed unavoidable.

Tbh I credit R4 with at least half my education, over a lifetime.

It’s been awful for ages, either covering completely trite topics or attempting difficult ones but eroding the listeners’ ability to draw meaningful conclusions by going for “balance”. I stopped listening years ago.

I don't really 'do' Twitter, but am really shocked by that AR one? And some of the comments too...

To know that the presenters of WH have no understanding or empathy for their listeners, and no interest in finding out what their core audience feel is just so so arrogant and rude. When else would it be OK for a presenter of a programme to behave like that with impunity?

I'm really shocked, but it all makes a lot of sense now. Quite cathartic deleting any downloaded episodes from my Sounds app and making sure I've unsubscribed properly.

Tbh I credit R4 with at least half my education, over a lifetime Totally! At least as much as the late departed Inner London Education Authority.

I miss the drama - I didn't always listen to all of them but many were excellent.

I like radio drama - but I have hated the R4 move to a snippet of this and a bit of that. All these little 15 minute 'programmes' are utterly useless. So frustratingly superficial and difficult to keep track of. They're very clearly just throwing anything they can find at our ears, in the hope that something will appeal to their ideal teen listener.

I'm an adult, I want serious in depth attention paid to whatever subject they're covering.

I was thinking the other day it had improved a bit - buy reading through, I realised I really only hear it on Fridays when it's Anita Rani.

Agree

I found Jenny and Jane - wise, truthful, safe, searching, professional journalists who were themselves and representative of an intelligent, thoughtful, curious, edgy woman.
The guests and topics were always interesting.

I used to listen every day I was able to and now I do not bother/switch over to another channel.

Missed the mark with this current set up in my opinion.