Round The Horne

What's in a name?

Another three months have gone by, and another set of radio audience figures have been released. RAJAR reports another new record: more people than ever before (by percentage of the population) are listening to the radio, something that confounds and perplexes technology journalists everywhere.

The real story in these RAJAR figures, however, is a story about the power of the brand. Because, right at the beginning of the survey period for these RAJAR figures, the BBC launched a brand new radio station: BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Out with the old BBC7 - a radio station that was broadcasting crusty old things like Round the Horne, The Navy Lark, and Miss Marple. And, in with the new BBC Radio 4 Extra - which, by the end of its first week had treated us to the thrilling new sounds of Round the Horne, The Navy Lark, and Miss Marple. And Ambridge Extra.

In short, while Radio 4 Extra had a handful of interesting new programmes and a slightly changed schedule, it was, to all intents and purposes, the same as the BBC7 radio station it had replaced. The only thing that had really changed was the name - as the BBC readily admits on its website.

So, what's in a name?

BBC Radio 4 Extra is now the UK's most popular digital-only radio network. It boasts 1.6 million listeners - 70% up on BBC7's figures a year ago, but with an almost identical product. The launch of BBC Radio 4 Extra hasn't detracted from BBC Radio 4 either: that station has also posted its best-ever audience figures (since Jan 1999).

Absolute Radio has had additional brand extension stations for some time now, including Absolute 80s and Absolute 90s. And they, too, are now posting significant increases. The Absolute Radio Network, sold as one package to advertisers, has achived a nine-year high in total audience figures.

Additional 'Extra' stations are now an established way for radio stations to extend their brands and attract more audiences. It's far easier to communicate the relationship between Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra to a listener than a new brand such as BBC7.

Yet, 'Extra' stations can trap the unwary. No longer are we talking about total audiences to a radio station: we need to think about total audiences to a brand. The age of the single radio station is increasingly over; and the age of the radio brand is upon us.

So, it's impressive that the BBC is researching Radio 4 Extra correctly: because, hidden in the reams of data that a new RAJAR survey always gives you, there's a new line for "Total BBC Radio 4 (including Radio 4 Extra)", just as there is an entry for the Absolute Radio Network, and one for BBC Radio 5 Live including 5 Live Sports Extra. The latter, incidentally, is also up.

British Comedy Shows – A Funny History

British comedy has always had a diverse and illustrious history, from poetry, plays and radio to TV, film and stage. The comedy industry in Britain has created some indisputable classics, as well as the occasional damp squib along the way.

Chaucer’s bawdy ‘Canterbury Tales’ in the Middle Ages feature the first traces of comedy in Britain. Elements of comedy were on show in many of Shakespeare’s plays and comedy shows  and related variety acts emerged in Victorian and Edwardian music halls. The course of comedy was changed forever in 1969 when Monty Python burst on to the scene with their long running BBC comedy show ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’.

The British sitcom became increasingly popular in the Seventies and Eighties with ‘Rising Damp’, ‘Dad’s Army’, ‘Porridge’, ‘Steptoe and Son’, ‘Only Fools and Horses’, ‘Fawlty Towers’ and ‘Blackadder’ being some of the best comedy shows around. These sitcoms have withstood the test of time because of the winning recipe of great writing, acting and directing, which makes them essential viewing.  

Shows such as ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ and ‘Drop the Dead Donkey’ pushed and challenged its audiences as far as it dared, as bad taste humour was developed in the Nineties. Shows like ‘The Office’, ‘Peep Show’ and ‘The Inbetweeners’, have continued this theme and have been considered to be innovative masterpieces.

The radio was responsible for creating many more British comedy classics. During the post-war decades, shows such as ‘The Goons’, ‘Round the Horne’ and ‘Beyond Our Ken’ all enjoyed huge success. ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, ‘Red Dwarf’ and ‘The League of Gentlemen’ are just some of the acclaimed television programmes that began their life as a radio show.

After a long tradition of slapstick humour, the silent movies of the early 20th century followed and are among the finest and most well-known of the genre. The Ealing comedies in the Forties and Fifties exemplified the classic British wit, before the bawdy humour of the ‘Carry On’ films in the Sixties and Seventies.  

In recent times comedians such as Jimmy Carr, Peter Kay and Russell Howard has helped increase the popularity of live stand-up comedy, taking part in many TV comedy shows and selling out huge stadium tours.

Round the horne

Round the Horne

Round the Horne

Round the Horne, Julian and Sandy, Rambling Syd Rumpo

Round the Horne