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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Feedback: 06/03/2015

Factual

06/03/2015

BBC Radio 4 - Feedback, 06/03/2015

The secrets behind successful Radio 4 comedy. And is there a future for the licence fee?

Listener comment. Is there an art to commissioning successful comedy for Radio 4? And should the licence fee be replaced or revamped to suit the changing media landscape?

Is there a formula to successful comedy on Radio 4? Before leaving her post as Commissioning Editor of Comedy on Radio 4 and 4Extra, Caroline Raphael talks about her 17 years in the job and reveals which hugely successful comedy almost didn't make it to air because the Controller of Radio 4 at the time turned it down.

Also, the debate over the licence fee has been ignited by a report from the Commons Media Select Committee. It suggests replacing the licence fee with a universal levy for all households. Listeners are divided over the issue and Steven Barnett, Professor of Communications at the University of Westminster in London breaks down the pros and cons of the different ways the BBC might be funded in the future.

And on New Year's Day, a number of listeners were dismayed by their favourite Radio 4 programmes being moved to long wave to accommodate ten hours of War and Peace. Partly, they were concerned about the reception quality on long wave. This prompted vintage radio aficionado Sean Stevens to get in touch to set the record straight about what he sees as the joys of long wave.

Producer: Will Yates
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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