Voices of protest

It was a bit surprising to find a programme marking the 62nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Radio Two (Tuesday), not Radio Four. The stations are changing, morphing into each other as they seek ever more urgently to catch that elusive thing, a dedicated listener. Next we’ll find Terry Wogan putting on the selected hits of Pierre Boulez. It’s also why we’re all being constantly persuaded to listen again, download and podcast — it’s another way of boosting audience figures. Power to the People, for example, was scheduled for broadcast at 10.30 p.m. The bosses in Broadcasting House, I’m pretty sure, were not expecting an audience then but were hoping to attract the attention of the laptoppers and iPodders, who manage their own listening schedules, fitting programmes in while working out on the treadmill or scurrying to work. I’m beginning to feel I must be living in a different timewarp from everyone else.