At the launch of the Christmas radio schedules last week, James Purnell, director of radio (and much more) at the BBC, stressed repeatedly the need for radio to be ‘reinvented’ for this new digital age. But what did he mean by reinvent? Was he hinting at the need for a new, leaner radio, the sound-only stations running up cheaper bills for the corporation? Or was he envisaging a translation of the existing radio networks into something more than just audio, focusing not so much on what goes on in the studio but on the new digital future, visualised and captured online.
‘Enhanced’ would have been a much less troubling word to use, or maybe ‘adapted’, taking maximum advantage of what the digital revolution can add to an ‘old’ technology, amplifying what it already does, taking it to a new audience and drawing them in. For what is there that needs to be reinvented about the mystical bond between loudspeaker and listener, that unseen yet profound connection, which is the essence of radio, its unique selling point (to borrow a phrase from marketing), the reason why we stay tuned in.
On Sunday, Radio 3 demonstrated not just its ability to create an invisible yet very real connection between its community of listeners (both at home and abroad) but also how it’s possible to make the best use of digital while retaining the values developed under the analogue regime.
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