Does the BBC’s coronavirus podcast put too much emphasis on politics and not enough on medical science? That's one of the comments from listeners discussed by Roger Bolton with Dino Sofos, the editor of the Coronavirus Newscast. Roger also asks a transgender priest why she chose the issue of her identity as a subject for her Lent Talk on Radio 4, and why she was inspired by Jesus Christ’s journey of self-discovery. And a mother and daughter turn their attentions to the heavens and listen to a do...
Apr 17, 2020•28 min
Does BBC local radio have a special role to play in the coverage of the coronavirus crisis and, with many of its staff in isolation, does it have the resources to do it? Roger Bolton puts these and other questions to Chris Burns who runs BBC local radio. A reporter from Radio Gloucestershire explains how her station is coping, having only just finished covering the terrible floods in the Severn area before the virus struck. And two more listeners have been taken out of their comfort zones. Has i...
Apr 14, 2020•28 min
Chris Mason is now presenting Any Questions on BBC Radio 4 in a room alone and without an audience. He tells Roger Bolton how this has changed the programme, and listerners give their views on missing the applause, the boos and the hisses. Also, listeners discuss whether a coronavirus free Ambridge is absurd or a refreshing change from the real world, and if it was wise to blow up Linda Snell. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect productio...
Apr 03, 2020•28 min
Feedback devotes the whole programme to putting listeners’ questions and concerns to the BBC’s Director of Radio and Education James Purnell. He tells Roger Bolton how the Corporation is coping in the present crisis and what changes we can expect in the near future. And they go on to discuss the future strategic challenges facing the Corporation as its own financial problems increase and with the future of the licence fee itself under examination. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Exe...
Mar 27, 2020•28 min
In Feedback this week, the latest information on how the BBC is responding to the coronavirus crisis and making changes to its radio schedules. Two listeners will venture well out of their comfort zones to listen to a very disturbing story on the World Service. And is this the moment when slow radio comes into its own? The producer of Living National Treasures sings the praises of a sculptor’s chisel. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect p...
Mar 20, 2020•27 min
As the coronavirus outbreak is confirmed as a pandemic, the BBC’s medical correspondent Fergus Walsh talks about the daily dilemmas he faces in reporting the story, and answers comments from the audience about the coverage. The Editor of Ramblings - a long-running staple of the BBC Radio 4 schedules - responds to some listeners who think it has lost its way. And two more listeners review That Peter Crouch Podcast. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juni...
Mar 13, 2020•28 min
As the Ambridge storyline about historic child sex abuse comes to an end, Roger Bolton hears audience views and discovers how The Archers production team handled this difficult story. The Editor of The Archers, Jeremy Howe, explains how the story was planned and why a much loved character, the retired academic Jim, was chosen to be at the centre of the plot. Also, a father and daughter try - and fail - to agree on whether some new radio comics on Radio 5 Live are actually funny. And media analys...
Mar 06, 2020•28 min
A senior BBC News executive discusses the extensive coverage given to the coronavirus Covid-19 as it continues its spread around the world. The award-winning comedian Jon Holmes explains how he thinks the audience should listen to his new Radio 4 comedy series, The Skewer. And two more listener reviewers give their thoughts on a long-running Radio 4 programme. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4...
Feb 28, 2020•28 min
Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, Fran Unsworth, answers listener concerns about the planned cuts and fears they will lead to the loss of distinctiveness for programmes such as Today, The World at One and PM. She explains the changes and why she believes there is no alternative. Also, can science help dispel racist myths? We discuss Adam Rutherford’s Book of the Week on BBC R4, How to Argue with a Racist. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Alun Beach Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Junip...
Feb 21, 2020•27 min
Radio 3 had a much admired schedule, so why change it? That's one of the questions Roger Bolton puts to Radio 3's Controller of Radio 3, Alan Davey, in the last programme of the current series. Also, two listener reviewers have some pungent comments to make about a popular history podcast and The Observer’s Miranda Sawyer gives Radio 4 some radical advice. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4...
Dec 27, 2019•28 min
As the Government boycotts BBC Radio 4’s the Today programme, Roger Bolton asks the Editor, Sarah Sands, for her view and how she will respond. Also on Feedback this week, two more listeners - a mother and daughter - are taken out of their comfort zones to listen to George the Poet, with surprising results. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Dec 20, 2019•28 min
Kamal Ahmed the Editorial Director of BBC News answers listeners' questions on the BBC election coverage. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Alun Beach Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio 4
Dec 13, 2019•27 min
Has the BBC overdone its coverage of Prince Andrew’s relationship with a convicted paedophile? The BBC’s royal correspondent Jonny Dymond discusses this issue and talks about the challenges of reporting the royals. Also, do you have to be middle class and Oxbridge educated to get in - and get ahead - in the BBC? And two listeners review a late night Radio 3 discussion programme. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect production for BBC Radio...
Dec 06, 2019•28 min
Listeners ask if it was fair of Radio 4’s The Long View to compare Extinction Rebellion with the Bonfire of the Vanities, conducted by a fifteenth century prophet of doom? The programme’s series producer discusses the comparison with Roger Bolton. We also hear from the producer of Only Artists, a programme about which few listeners are indifferent. Most either love it or hate it. And two listeners give their views on the World Service radio programme which suggested Zimbabwean grandmothers may h...
Nov 29, 2019•28 min
The Today programme presenter Nick Robinson defends broadcast coverage of the election, while also admitting that some mistakes are made. He also discusses how he is preparing for chairing the next leaders’ debate. Two young people who had never listened to BBC radio until last week are given the task of reviewing a second popular Radio 4 programme. Will PM persuade them to tune-in in the future? Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Connect produc...
Nov 22, 2019•28 min
Why will there only be two party leaders in the big election debate - not three or more? That's one of the questions a BBC Executive responsible for the election coverage addresses on this week's Feedback. The producer of the latest bumper BBC podcast, Tunnel 29, explains why she turned to the TV serial Eastenders for inspiration. And two young people try listening to Radio 4 for the first time and give their reaction. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A...
Nov 15, 2019•28 min
Does the BBC censor its radio comedies in the run-up to the Election? Does every joke about Boris Johnson have to be followed by one about Jeremy Corbyn? In Feedback this week, the executive in charge of The Now Show, Dead Ringers and the News Quiz, answers these questions and also addresses allegations of left wing bias in BBC radio comedy programmes. Another senior BBC Executive explains how he hopes to persuade young people to switch on to the news, when most seem to want to run a mile. Prese...
Nov 08, 2019•28 min
Does the Radio 4 series The Corrections need correcting? In Feedback this week, its presenter Jo Fidgen faces some critical questions from listeners. The head of the BBC news output, Gavin Allen, tells Roger Bolton he is actually looking forward to the General Election campaign. But will he get rid of those vox pops which irritate many Feedback listeners? And does the World Service care about listeners in the UK? If so why does the schedule shift when the clocks change? Presenter: Roger Bolton P...
Nov 01, 2019•28 min
Does Radio 4's The Corrections need correcting? The programme that claims major news stories could be misleading or even deeply flawed has come in for criticism from some listeners. Roger Bolton considers their concerns. Also - was one of Kirsty Wark’s interviews on Start the Week unfair to vegans? And two more Radio 4 listeners turned reviewers leave their comfort zones and head for the great unknown - or, in their case, Radio 5 Live. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Produ...
Oct 25, 2019•28 min
In Feedback this week have the Extinction Rebellion protests been under reported on BBC Radio? Some listeners think so and are deeply suspicious about the motivation. There is also widespread discontent about the Corporation’s decision to withdraw its programmes from TuneIn, a service which woke them up to Radio 4 each morning. And two more listeners leave their comfort zones and head for the great unknown. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Shah A Juniper Con...
Oct 18, 2019•28 min
The BBC’s Political Correspondent Chris Mason is to take over the chair of Any Questions, and on Feedback he tells Roger whether he intends to intervene as often as his predecessor Jonathan Dimbleby. After an avalanche of complaints about the performance of BBC Sounds the executive responsible explains the decision to close the Radio iPlayer and defends the new platform against its critics. And how appealing is Jeremy Vine’s show on Radio 2 to some loyal Radio 4 listeners? Feedback’s regular lis...
Oct 11, 2019•28 min
How realistic are the storylines in the Archers? Is the soap really an everyday story of country folk? In Feedback this week Roger Bolton talks to an Archers Academic who analyses the heart breaking tale of Ed and Emma and their lost home. Do you know who the Grime Granny is? Two listeners go far beyond their comfort zones to discover an unlikely 80 year old fan of urban music. And is the BBC still a bastion of privilege dominated by privately educated alumni of Oxbridge? Presenter: Roger Bolton...
Aug 16, 2019•28 min
Roger Bolton asks the man who regulates what you listen to on BBC radio, Ofcom's Kevin Bakhurst, why the BBC needs an external regulator after years of regulating itself. Two more listeners move out of their comfort zones to consider babies grown inside bags - science fiction or future science fact? And one of the BBC’s comedy greats, Barry Cryer, tells Roger whether today’s new radio comedies can compare to those golden oldies like I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue - and says whether or not he is abou...
Aug 09, 2019•28 min
Is the age of the wireless coming to an end? Roger Bolton invites the doyen of radio critics Gillian Reynolds to cast an experienced eye over the BBC’s on-line strategy and the price its radio networks like Radio 4 are paying for it. Roger also asks Radio 4 PM presenter Evan Davis if he is becoming disillusioned by the way politicians seem to be embracing a post-truth world and avoiding directly answering his questions. And more listeners leap out of their comfort zones - this time to embrace Mi...
Aug 02, 2019•28 min
Given that he has a questionable relationship with the truth, should President Trump’s speeches be broadcast without comment or context. That's what Radio 4's PM programme did. Presenter Evan Davis discusses the dilemma the programme team faced and whether or not the BBC should call the US President a liar or a racist. We’ll also hear from one of the great broadcasters, James Burke, 50 years after he steered a massive audience through the first moon landings. Has even he had enough of the annive...
Jul 26, 2019•28 min
Are the BBC Proms elitist? In Feedback this week, the Controller of the Proms David Pickard passionately rejects suggestion. "Trite and naïve." That was Rajan Datar’s view of Norman Tebbit’s cricket test. Was the presenter guilty of being judge and jury - opinionated when he should have been impartial? And two listeners review Private Passions, a programme they would not normally switch on. Would they do so a second time? Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Kate Dixon Executive Producer: Samir Sha...
Jul 19, 2019•28 min
What is it like to be the only women in the BBC Test Match special commentary box? Alison Mitchell takes us inside the holy of cricketing holies, and summariser Vic Marks explains why he often stays silent. We also hear from the commissioning executive of the Asian Network on whether the so-called Tebbit Test has any relevance today. Also, 5 Live’s Pienaars Politics a switch-on or a switch-off? Our latest pair of guest listener reviewers share their thoughts. Presenter: Roger Bolton Producer: Ka...
Jul 12, 2019•28 min
Are BBC presenters paid too much? Are audience figures declining dangerously, particularly among the young? In this week's Feedback, Roger Bolton explores the facts behind the highly critical headlines following the publication of the BBC's annual report. Also, Today’s Nick Robinson will answer claims that lies and factual inaccuracies have been insufficiently challenged in the Brexit and Conservative leadership campaigns. And fascinating stories from an unseen Africa excite our latest panel of ...
Jul 05, 2019•28 min
Has the political interview lost its way? Is it in danger of just descending into an uninformative shouting match? In Feedback this week Roger Bolton turns the microphone on Today’s Nick Robinson - putting him in the interviewee’s chair for a change. What’s the point of randomly selecting a destination and committing to making a programme about it without any idea of the possible content? Roger puts this question and more to the producer of The Patch on Radio 4. And listeners who do not normally...
Jun 28, 2019•27 min
In Feedback this week Roger Bolton asks if Jo Brand went too far on Radio 4’s comedy show Heresy, and whether some subjects should be off limits all together. The row about the BBC withdrawing free TV licences from most over 75s won’t go away. Would it be better for the Corporation to cut BBC2 and Radio 5 Live? Roger hears your views. And the Head of BBC Newsgathering, Jonathan Munro, is back to answer charges that his journalists aren’t sufficiently challenging in their political interviews. Pr...
Jun 21, 2019•28 min
