Radio 4 listeners are you here ?

[Helenluvsrob]

Discussing with ds

Who listens to r4 and your demographic. Me now typical middle aged middle class but I have listened since teenage in my own right.

How about you ?

It's the background to our lives here. I grew up listening to it or Radio Scotland depending on which parent had tuned in!

Late 30s, married, 2 small children, middle class, I guess.

Listened my whole life. My dad died when I was 14. I didn't want to think about it so I shut it out by having someone (radio 4) talk at me at night. Listening to someone speak distracts you from unwelcome /unhappy thoughts.. 40yrs later I am a complete, no holds barred addict . I love it all. I can even bear 'you and yours' once delightfully described as 'the only four words in the English language guaranteed to bring instant somnolence to the entire population.

I begin the day with the shipping forecast and usually nod of to 'today in parliament'
Favourites are 'sorry I haven't a clue' The Archers (48 yrs but not listening much at moment as don't like that it's gone all eastenderish..) The plays, some of the retro dramas like Simon Templar and Agatha Christie.. Even love to hate 'in our time' .

Mid fifties, middle class. Husband listens a bit, haven't convinced the heathen teenagers yet despite eldest being twenty and should know better !

When I was in my late teens my father said I should really try Radio 4 - said there were lots of good programmes I'd be interested in. And I sniggered to myself about his old-fashioned ways and carried on listening to Radio 1. I was such a fool. Now it's on all the time I'm home - and I can get engrossed in the most niche programmes. I still think fondly of the thing about anchovy farming some years ago - I was gripped. And then there was something about the plight of cork-tree growers since screw-tops came along. Fascinating.

And yes, I'm middle aged and middle class.

Who listens to r4 and your demographic. Me now typical middle aged middle class but I have listened since teenage in my own righ

Exactly the same here. And I also fell down the income scale for a while without developing a R4 aversion

One of my earliest memories was being in the kitchen 'helping' my mother, with radio4 on in the background. We lived abroad, so only heard some radio4 programme through BFBS, the british forces broadcasting service. We were not services, and just on the edge of their range, so the signal was better at night.

My treasured possession was a transistor radio, it came with me when i was sent 'home' to school. The best part of those days was R4 in the right timezone.

When my first serious relationship broke up, i found myself staying at work later and later. Eventually, i started a rule that i had to be in the car on the way home to listen to the archers. Then in the nineties, came the major overhaul of the schedule. Took a while to get used to it but was glad to have persevered and enjoyed the passage of each day being similar.

The iPlayer has been the best thing ever. I used to plan my day round when the stories were available. Now, with 4Xtra and the iplayer, there is something to listen to all the time. When I am on holiday, i tend to treat myself to something from the BBC on audible.co.uk. Cabin pressure, Absolute power, Smileys People.

Oh, 56, devoted R4 / 4xtra and iPlayer listener. One of the major reasons i live in the UK.

44, been listening since I was in the womb. Generations of middle class.

I remember listening to Listen with Mother with my mother. I sneaked the bathroom radio into my room and under the covers to listen to the Classic Serial (particularly HG Well's Kipps - or possibly Mr Polly - would have been around 1981.) Then there was that summer where they did LoTR (which I have on tape), where it seemed to go on for the whole summer. I also remember John Wyndham's The Chrysalids as a Saturday play when we were on holiday when I was about 9. And I enjoyed Weekending, and RadioActive - I reheard an episode of RadioActive recently and was quite shocked at some of it. I had not realised that a mass debate could have been interpreted as anything other than a big discussion when I was 12.

In my teens, when I got my own radio, I would listen to bits of Radio 1 (like the charts on Sunday evening), but I always knew what the settings were for R4. We didn't have a TV till I was 14, and I didn't have a TV most of my time at university and in my first jobs after. But I always had R4. One of my history essays at uni mentioned Humphrey Lyttleton, rather than the Victorian Humphrey whoever it should have been - I was listening to ISIHAC while writing it. When I was travelling overseas (just before the era of email), my mother wrote me letters with family news, and Ambridge news.

If I'm home in the day, R4 is usually on. It's usually on in the car. It's the soundtrack to weekends at home and in the garden. I don't like everything (and I did turn off Tim Vine this evening - that's really unusual that I won't listen at all,) but there's enough I do like that I stick with it. In any case, I don't want every single programme to suit me, because I also have to get on and do non-radio things. I don't usually hear Farming Today these days, though (Dad always started the day with it.) Mind you, I haven't read Farmers Weekly for years, either. One of the last times we went out together before he got ill was to a recording of ISIHAC in Bournemouth. I usually have silence over getting up and breakfast though.

Radio 4 has been the background to my entire life.

Something quite comforting about reading all these stories of R4 listening.

Me - mid-30s sahm, MC, degree-educated

Listened as a child, someone always kept an eye on the clock and shouted 'Archers time' at seven if the radio was on another channel.

I am going off it a bit now, and listen to R3, Classic FM, local radio and music on Spotify much of the time instead, as well as podcasts on various things.

I listen to Today a lot less than I used to - too depressing; ditto Woman's Hour, as many above - some of it is too silly, some too heavy. Although I do like Jane Garvey.

I like The Food Programme a lot and listen to its podcasts, I keep up with the Archers despite it enraging me every now and then, and not ashamed to admit I like a bit of You and Yours with lunch. Also like it if I wake up early enough to hear bits of Farming Today.

Middle class, Scottish solicitors , both atheists, socially liberal, sent our son, who had a nanny, to a private school, both Guardian readers (although more out of habit these days than conviction and we like The Telegraph for its obituaries, cross words and hatchet jobs on the SNP)

Started listening in our early 30s, now late 50s and early 60s.

I was in fits of laughter today at Dead Ringers and the Shadow Foreign Secretary being a coat stand with a Che Guevara beret.

John Finnemore's exam question sketch may well be the most brilliant sketch ever written.

My name's Daz, I'm a 20 stone hairy handed trucker from Stafford with a penchant for cage fighting...and I listen to Gardener's Question Time and Women's Hour.

Seriously though, I am late 20s, working class and I have been a fan of radio 4 for about 5 years now (when I began listening to The Archers). I enjoy most of the documentary and ethics programmes aswell.

62, working class, newly retired.
I've listened to R4 all my life. It was always on when I was a child (Mrs. Dale's Diary, Two way Family Favourites, Around the Horn) and it's always on when I'm driving.
Today depresses and infuriates me - James Naughtie (?sp) irritates me increasingly frequently 😡
Love Saturday morning programmes the most, hate The Archers

I used to listen to R4 as a child as my parents always had it on. I remember bedtime coinciding with the end of the Archers. Then when I was a teenager I hated it as it was "boring" and I was too busy sulking in my room with Nirvana at full blast. In my 20s I started listening to R4 again, but only the comedy and mostly via iPlayer or podcasts. Then in my 30s I gradually listened to more and more.

Now in my late 30s and R4 is my usual radio station, although I still don't like the Archers. I enjoy Today, Women's Hour, Book at Bedtime, lots of the dramas, book of the week, arts programmes. Enjoying Shakespeare's Restless World again at the moment. Oh and of course the comedy!

I'm not middle aged. I'm probably fairly middle class in my interests (the arts etc) but from a WC background. University educated, average income. Not sure I fit the standard demographic of R4 listener.

Late 40s, working class background so working class. Listen everyday (for almost 30 years) in the car & kitchen and I've been in the audience of GQT( Bob Flowerdew was wearing Uggs and completely ruined it for me).

I can't do the class thing because I'm foreign. 49 now; started listening to R4 when I was in my mid 20s because all the other mid20yos I knew listened to it (we were all science PGs & researchers). I was a paid up member of NPR before that (even in my poor student years).

I prefer 5 live, if I'm honest, when I can dodge the boring sports & traffic reports. BBC WS is mostly fantastic, too. There's a lot of repeat content between the 3 networks, boohoo (budget cuts).

EBearhug I remember that adaptation of The Chrysalids! I was completely transfixed!

Anyway I'm mid-40s, middle-class, brought up on Radio 4 by my working-class autodidact Dad. Also adore the World Service and have been listening to that for most of my life too. DAB & internet radio plus iPlayer means that I no longer have to fiddle around on shortwave to get it.

Love Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra, I'd be lost without them. I'm 34 and pretty poverty stricken tbh.

60 years old. Been a daily listener for 33 years. Was brought up with radio always on, was Family Favourites on R4? I thought it was the home service or something. Anyway I agree with Stephen Fry that it's one of the best things about Britain, it informs, amuses, infuriates and stimulates me.

Love Radio 4 started with Listen with Mother and been there for most of my life. Generally think BBC should be protected. What brought it home to me when I went to live in America and was missing it, I got into a taxi driven by an Indian man and he was listening to a BBC broadcast, he was used to the World service and told me PBS radio had regular BBC slots. Never met from vastly different places but with a cultural bound.

Nearly 40 mc. I grew up with it always on in the background. I learnt loads from it as a kid.

50 and middle class. Grew up with R4 with grandparents. DGF always had the news on in case the war was over! I switched from R1 when I had a hangover in my early 20s and couldn't stand the babble of the DJs. I switched to familiar R4 with the melodic voices then all was well.

50, middle class, been listening since I was about18. Recently started really to enjoy the world service too. I have it on throughout the night.

Agree a lot of the comedy is rubbish, and much as I love the Rev, can't stand Saturday live.

I would pay licence fee solely for the quality bbc radio output.

welly are you my long lost twin, separated at birth?

You're so right. There's something so reassuring about the r 4 sound- calm, interesting, cultured, melodic and measured.

I made a similar leap from r1 to r 4.

43, fairly uneducated working class SAHM.

Started listening to R4 when I was 28. Thoroughly sick of listening to the same 5 crap pop songs on a loop on other stations. Never looked back.

Love The Archers. Took about 18 months the suss out who everyone was though because I didn't know anyone (and still don't) in RL who listens and could discuss it with.

Always listen to Woman's Hour. Love Jane Garvey, her shows are usually better than Jenny Murray's.

Love most of the comedy, so pleased to have discovered John Finnemore!

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not intelligent enough to listen to In Our Time. It starts out well but I've usually lost my way 10 minutes in.

The World Service got me through night-feeding 3 babies, very soothing!

Can't fecking stand Gardener's Question Time. Mainly because I hate gardening but it's presenters are sooo smug and full of chummy in jokes.

Really, really hate Count Arthur Strong. It's the only thing that makes me run across the room to switch off the radio. I can mentally tune out of anything else but not CAS.

I pay the license fee specifically for R4, the World Service and R6 music; you can keep most of the TV programming, except Four. Demographically, I'm with the rest of you, middle aged, middle class, and I've been tuned in since childhood.

46, was started on The Archers when small and have always listened to it on and off since then. Love the afternoon drama and the book serials.