Radio 4 is phoning it in

[Lipstone]

Shake up to the programming on R4 - eg. You and Yours is axed .....

Any current affairs show with experts on - the experts are just on the phone and they sound awful, they get constantly interrupted but cant hear, and then ...the line has just dropped out, lets try again!

I think this started getting a lot worst in covid, but now im finding certain programmes I have to turn off.

Just ne?

You and yours was a total moanathon though. As was money box. Binning them is no bad thing.

I couldn't disagree more @Pollyan

Both these programmes were immeasurably helpful to ordinary people. Really informative. And helped individuals with real life struggles with bureaucracy and injustices.

It's a really big blow for the credibility of Radio 4 that they are axing those and keeping the peurile, unfunny and unlistenable so calked comedy shows.

Money Box is currently running an excellent campaign to publicise the civil service pensions scandal. That's worthwhile in my book

“Today we’ll be hearing from someone who’s been done out of a fiver.”

"That's a lot of money to some people"

Sounds like you have never really listened to the programmes.

Or are you trying to trivialise them because you have an axe to grind on behalf of those behind the cuts by diminishing the value of the programnes to justify cutting them?

I'm wondering what those programmes will be replaced with. I'm a long-time listener to both. An updated version of the same? People being able to ring in? We NEED to know these things.

Ugh yes I have to turn off R4 when "comedy" comes on. Just shouty men, every time!

You and Yours has been doing the same boring consumer drivel for decades. Droning humourless busybody show.

Today has lots of phone interviews and they are always loaing them or have a bad line.

The Civil Service pension scandal needs highlighting. My friend retired last November and still hasn’t received her pension or even an estimate. If she hadn’t had an inheritance she would have been penniless! It’s a disgrace.

It might be consumer drivel to you @RikthePoet .But for a lot of people it deals with very real issues that impact their lives. And a lot of the individuals it helps are those without an effective voice that need a powerful organisation like the BBC to speak up for them.

I don't know why your thread is attracting some of these troll posts OP. Have you seen the thread about the cuts over on the Radio/ podcast addicts board ? The comments on that are from people who actually care about radio and what's happening to it

If the experts they could choose from were limited to those that could commit to being at a BBC studio at a given time at pretty short notice then on balance I think the programmes would be poorer for it. Sorry but I think Radio 4 is really good (barring the abomination that is The Archers obviously, but even there I have to give them grudging respect for bloody-mindedly continuing with it despite it being universally despised).

Not enough people.

Radio 4 audiences are dropping as audiences find other, contemporary audio alternatives.

People aren't interested any more in this kind of plodding, pedestrian, regurgitated dirge hosted by weary-sounding scripted voices.

They're binning You & Yours? Oh no...I love that show! I had it on all the time during lockdown (even playing episodes from several years ago) - it was so nice to listen to Winifrid Robinson's gentle, reassuring voice talking about the rise of premium pet food, accidental subscription traps and the ins and outs of how charity shops had been affected by the likes of Vinted.

It was always interesting without being alarming and with the kids at home, it was much cosier listening than the actual news which was full of stories of bodies piling up in Italy, people fighting over food in supermarkets and overwhelmed hospitals.

I am going to write to the BBC.

Well i think you are totally wrong.

Radio 4 audiences are dropping because of the absolute decline in the standard of the programmes, formats and presenters.

The BBC unashamedly a few years ago decided to target a younger audience and made no effort to hide the fact they weren't interested in their older listeners. And yes, younger audiences aren't interested in listening to radio 4, or at least not in large numbers. And the older listeners who cannot abide the drop in quality of what used to be a great station, have left it in droves.

I was brought up listening to the Home service, listened to radio 4 and radio 1 for many many years after their inception. Ditched radio 1 as I got older but still listened to radio 4 for most of the day. That changed with the decline in standards. So now I listen mainly to radio 3 and the few decent programmes I can stll find on radio 4. I watch very little TV and radio has always been really important to me. It's sad beyond belief for me to see what the misguided policy regarding radio broadcasting has resulted in.

This. I used to love R4, in the 2010s I was listening for hours a week.

Now, I might get a few things on Sounds (ironically mostly Moneybox and You and Yours), but the quality of the rest of the content has declined and I find myself tuning in for 5 minutes before going to a podcast.

(Although I’m in my 30s, so it isn’t an age thing - I was listening to R4 in my 20s more than anything else).

Have (really) listened to the programmes too much, if anything.

You’re right, in that it will be bad news for us all if their place is taken by even worse shows.