Radio
Soundtrack to a British Summer
Radio is the any-time, any-place, all-weather medium…
The proverbial British summer has arrived. On the off-chance that the rain might hold off long enough for you to fire up the BBQ, I recommend reaching for a radio – rather than an iPod, portable DVD player or paddling pool – to provide some al-fresco entertainment. As the annoying Stuart Hall-narrated trailers keep reminding me, the World Cup is filling the schedules on BBC Radio 5Live and its digital sister station 5Live Sports Extra. What could be better than sitting out in the sun, chilled beer in hand, listening to England’s keeper let an easy goal go through his fumbling hands? At least that way you’re spared the heartache of seeing him do it, and can instead imagine the look of disgust on Fabio Capello’s face as he shouts expletives drowned out by a chorus of vuvuzelas.
The sheer seriousness and intensity of sports commentary always makes me laugh. 5Live’s Alan Green knows how to drum up controversy: speaking before the South Korea vs Greece match, he not only said that the Champions League was better than the World Cup, but that the USA team would be justified in targeting Wayne Rooney by pulling his ear or squeezing his skin. At least Green acknowledged that a stream of text messages calling him a disgrace was bound to follow.
Possibly the best programme on 5Live to enjoy whilst soaking up the rays is Danny Baker’s Saturday morning show. Baker’s anecdotes and observations, and his cheeky delivery, can’t fail to make football fans and phobics chuckle alike. On Saturday he recalled his momentary madness in choosing an almond-flavoured ice lolly for breakfast, and recounted having his life-long dream fulfilled after passing under a giant flag at the World Cup opening ceremony… only to set himself a new ambition of standing under a giant football-playing dung beetle. Baker’s interview with Loyd Grossman, him of the cooking sauces, trans-Atlantic drawl and now punk band The New Forbidden (who knew?!), was light and banter-filled without being sycophantic. The highlight of Baker’s show has to be his repartee with the callers: the weighty phone-in topics under discussion this week included rubbish presents bought on school trips and wandering into major events unnoticed. Genius.
Away from the football, South Africa has provided the backdrop to a plethora of decent radio documentaries. One that may have escaped notice was Radio 1’s Africa Make Some Noise! in which DJ Edu promised to take the listener on, ‘a tour of the music pumping in cars, clubs and cities right across young Africa’. The tour was certainly whistle-stop: beginning with the politics of term ‘African music’, the show proceeded to consider the history and influence of said ‘African music’, boasted interviews with key African artists and music producers, and touched (fleetingly) on broader issues such as music piracy. Among all those talking heads the music did get a little lost. But if the show whetted your appetite for more contemporary African beats, there’s always DJ Edu’s Radio 1Xtra show Destination Africa. As it goes out on Monday mornings from 2 to 4am, I’ll probably be sampling it via iPlayer.
Should the weather outside turn nasty, pop inside and catch up with everybody’s favourite director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, who has returned with the second instalment of Radio 4’s anthropological mega-series A History of the World in 100 Objects. The second batch of short programmes is even better than the first chunk, which received ample praise. Thursday’s programme focused on a seventh-century Korean roof tile made from rough clay and adorned with a ferocious face, which apparently looks like ‘a cross between a Chinese dragon and a Pekingese dog’. MacGergor used the object to examine the wider cultural, political and economic history of the Korean peninsula at the time of the Silk Road. To do that in an engaging and informative way is an achievement in itself, but to do so within only 15 minutes is incredible.
