Broadcasting House (radio programme)
|
|
Broadcasting House is a current affairs programme on BBC Radio 4. It is broadcast every Sunday morning between 9 and 10 o'clock.
Though its time and presenters are similar to those of Today (Radio 4's daily morning news programme), it takes a more lighthearted approach, including humorous items such as "The Donald Rumsfeld Soundbite of the Week" and "Martin Jarvis Reads 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'". (The latter being the actor Martin Jarvis reading the six words "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", designed to poke fun at the amount of time Radio 4 had been devoting to Harry Potter.)
Other opportunities for humour come from art competitions that satirise the art world and modern art in particular, and the introduction to the programme: "This programme is protected by a glass screen, but vital parts of it aren't", referring to a flour-throwing incident in the House of Commons that week.
More serious features include the headlines and current affairs sections, which look at the background to recent news stories. There is also a review of the Sunday papers with guest reviewers. Frequent guest reviewers include Gyles Brandreth and Tim Bentinck, who plays David Archer in The Archers, BBC Radio's longest-running soap opera.
The audience is encouraged to participate in the programme by the previously mentioned competitions and also through correspondence. Selected e-mails are read as they arrive, and tend to come from correspondents who share the programme's subtle sense of irony and sarcasm. During the 2005 UK general election Broadcasting House ran a regular feature to help shape a BH political party, a satire of the careful craft parties make of slogans. Their campaign slogan would be "Waving, not drowning" and theme "Whatever you want" by Status Quo, an attempt to be prepared for the long delayed calling of the election itself.
Broadcasting House began with Eddie Mair as presenter. After a period with no regular presenter, Fi Glover has replaced him.
External links
- Rumsfeld's Soundbite of the Week (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/bh/rumsfeld.shtml)
- Broadcasting House (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/bh/index.shtml)