Front man

At the cinema the other night to see Frost/Nixon, at least five minutes of the commercial break were devoted to selling Radio Four. It was such an odd experience. Nothing to watch, just a blank screen, with Paul Merton and co. telling a few jokes in Dolby sense surround. But we’d bought tickets to watch something on screen, not tune into something aural. And although Merton is the sharpest wit on the station, I’ve never thought that stand-up works on radio. You need to be there, on the spot, with a drink in your hand to really get the joke. In the dark, echoey cinema the disembodied voices were lost amid the crackle of popcorn and clicking of fingernails on keypads.

Radio Four’s marketing strategy must be that it’s a brilliant cross-over tactic, reaching out to that crucial 15–35 age range who don’t at present listen to the station but do spend a lot of money in the cinema.