Why does the BBC think we need a Today programme podcast?

Is there really room in the crowded market for a new podcast about politics, presented by two male Oxbridge graduates? The BBC thinks so: the team behind Radio 4’s Today programme is launching a new weekly podcast hosted by Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan. This is a ‘bold commitment from the BBC to continue to build the Today brand’, according to the, erm, BBC.

 In case you are waiting for the punchline or the big reveal, there is nothing different about The Today Podcast. Its presenters will ‘give their take on the biggest stories of the week’, though the audience is also promised a range of guests and ‘insights from behind the scenes at Radio 4’s Today’. Nevertheless, in a 56-second clip released on X (formerly Twitter) at the weekend, Robinson and Rajan took the challenge head-on and asked themselves what made the new show unique.

In Robinson, Rajan told us, we have a former BBC political editor of vast experience, who has travelled with prime ministers and knows the rhythm of British politics almost by instinct.