Pity the controller of Radio 1. He is the middle-aged man charged by a bunch of people middle-aged or even older with trying to make sure that the station stays forever young. Like a maitre d’ yawning ostentatiously by the door, his job is to make sure customers don’t overstay their welcome. At the same time, web consumption makes it harder to segment audiences for anything by age. But that isn’t going to stop Radio 1 from trying. BBC Radio 1’s Teen Awards 2016 (Sunday, 12noon, Radio 1) promises “one of the biggest moments in the pop music calendar and 10,000 14- to 17-year-olds”, which is oddly precise. This is presented by Nick Grimshaw (32), features Jess Glynne, the Vamps and DNCE, and climaxes with the teen hero award, presented to youngsters who have overcome remarkable odds in their young lives.
In The Pursuit Of Power (Weekdays, 1.45pm, Radio 4) Bronwen Maddox of the Institute Of Government asks what power is and how it works. Her interviewees include Michael Gove, who’s using it to practise his new live-and-learn voice; Momentum activist Barbara Ntumy; and the first female bishop to speak in the House of Lords, the Right Reverend Rachel Treweek. In the first one, Maddox talks to the newly elected mayor of Bristol.
Talking of power and its well-trodden corridors, The West Wing Weekly is an extraordinary podcast which takes close scrutiny of a TV show to a new level. Every week, it looks back on one particular episode of the drama, which finished in 2006, with a guest actor who featured in it. Since one of the presenters is former cast member Joshua Malina it doesn’t seem to have much problem with access or insider information. Each episode has three levels: it touches on the real issues dealt with during the Bartlett presidency, reprises favourite bits and – most appealingly of all – gives us some idea of the highly competitive lives of the actors whose entire career hinged upon getting through the auditions it took to secure even a small part on a high-profile series. That polish isn’t arrived at by accident.
In a special edition of Between The Ears (Saturday, 9.30pm, Radio 3) JG Ballard’s story Venus Smiles has been dramatised by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and is delivered via the spacey “where’s that coming from?” medium of binaural sound. Break out the stereo cans.
Alan Bennett used to carry around notebooks in which to note down ideas for his plays. He stopped because he found he hardly ever used anything he wrote in them. He reflects upon this in the latest instalment of his popular diaries under the title Keeping On Keeping On (Weekdays, 9.45am, Radio 4) and retrieves one fragment.
“I’ve been salmon fishing.”
“It’s not the season.”
“I know. I thought I’d take the blighters by surprise”.
