London

Radio highlight: Lauren Laverne

Radio highs and lows
The rise of podcasts
At the beginning of 2006, podcasts were a minority interest created mainly by bloggers and techies. But when Ricky Gervais proved that they could be a major star vehicle, first with a free podcast on the Guardian website, then his own paid-for version, the medium took off. Now everybody’s doing it, from Jarvis Cocker (with some Icelandic folktales) to David Cameron.

Down The Line R4
This spoof phone-in show, first broadcast late at night in May and recently repeated on Wednesdays at 6.30pm, was created by Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson, and was so lifelike that it caused listeners to bombard the station with complaints that it was ‘racist, sexist and abhorrent’. The whole furore at least proved how allergic middle England is to bigotry, even if it has no ear for parody. Feature continues

Lauren Laverne Xfm
There were no great fanfares when she took over Xfm’s breakfast slot from the popular Christian O’Connell, who moved to Virgin in 2006. But she’s established herself as a welcome antidote to the wall-to-wall laddishness to be found elsewhere on London radio in the morning. Talking of which…

Chris Moyles R1
What the appeal of this show is, we can’t fathom, but the self-styled ‘saviour of Radio 1’ clocked up a record 6.8 million listeners this year.

Channel 4 internet radio
The broadcaster set out its stall in preparation for its bid for the new digital multiplex being released in 2007. Its spoken-word output has been patchy so far, but it’s showing a strong hand with music shows like ‘The Tube’ and ‘Slashmusic’ presented by John Peel’s son Tom Ravenscroft. C4 Radio promises to shake things up when it launches.

Kirsty Young R4
When she took over ‘Desert Island Discs’ in November, she became the envy of many a broadcaster, though a lukewarm reception from critics suggests that she’s got a long way to go before she replaces Sue Lawley.

RIP: Nick Clarke

Nick Clarke RIP
The much loved voice of Radio 4’s ‘World At One’ died of cancer in November. Listeners had been touched by his courageous diaries recounting his treatment for the disease, including a harrowing account of the amputation of his leg. After his death there was a flood of tributes to his incisive journalism and forensic interviewing style.

Resonance FM
London’s much-loved treasure trove of eccentric spoken-word radio had its licence renewed in the spring, after a nail-biting decision-making process by Ofcom. Long may it continue to confound the capital.

John Humphrys in Iraq for ‘Today’ R4
The ‘Today’ programme’s resident curmudgeon showed that he’d still got the right journalistic stuff in October with a week of broadcasts from Iraq. Listeners might have expected a piece of typical Humphries grandstanding; instead he filed a series of beautifully crafted reports which brought home the relentless misery of war.

R4 UK theme
This medley of patriotic jingles, written by Fritz Spiegl, started every R4 day from 1973 to 2006. Its demise in April caused a huge backlash which must have surprised station controller Mark Damazer. We only hope ‘Bells On Sunday’ goes too.

Do you agree? Tell us about your TV and radio hits and misses of 2006?