3October

A couple of months ago, we touched on the wide-ranging changes made to Radio 4 by James Boyle. Announced in July 1997, and effective from Easter 1998, these were the most wide-ranging changes since the ill-advised Radio In The Seventies changes took place in April 1970. At its inception, Boyle's Law brought about more than 50 changes in a single week.

Programmes cancelled in the shake-up included Weekending (est. 1970, nominally replaced by The Now Show, though that didn't hit its stride until the fourth series in August 2000, when it moved from 6.15 Saturday to 6.30 Friday); Face the Facts (revived circa 2003 as part of You And Your Things), Kaleidoscope (directly replaced by Front Row), Sport on Four (three successor sports programmes have come and gone) and Call Ed Stourton (The Exchange lived on Thursdays until about 2000, and was then rolled into the portmanteau lunchtime programme as Call You And Your Things). Today and Yesterday in Parliament were confined to long wave; TIP returned to FM at the start of 1999 following complaints. Media show Medium Wave also went, replaced by The Message; itself reduced from 50 to 20 editions a year in 2005. Does He Take Sugar? went - it was a programme about generalised disability, but programme for the blind In Touch - tipped for the axe - remained in a slightly truncated form. The World At One lost a quarter of its time, but improved as a result; The World This Weekend was halved in length, to its great detriment. Medicine Now and Science Now went, and the replacements were single-issue shows of less general interest.

Farming Today was also rumoured to be for the chop, but was moved from 6.10 to 5.50, and reduced from 15 minutes to 10; it would get half the lost time back in 2006. The additional time for Today was the biggest change, turning a two-and-a-quarter hour programme that was beginning to get a little flabby at the edges into a three-hour show, one that is at least an hour too long almost every day. A strand called The 9.05 Interview was mooted to replace Start the Week and Midweek; it didn't, the "entertaining" Anne Robinson didn't get her Tuesday gig, freeing her to do other things. Magazine programme The Afternoon Shift went, perplexing those of us who thought it had been cancelled years before. It was goodbye to the transport programme Going Places and established travel programme Breakaway; short series didn't really work, and there was no regular travel show until Excess Baggage arrived in 2002. You and Your Things, boring listeners since 1970, had been threatened with the axe, but came out with more than twice the airtime, up from 25 minutes to 54. Great. The Archers gained a Sunday episode, but each daily episode was trimmed from 14 minutes to 12, resulting in just 120 seconds more documentary per week.

Into the mix came a quiz at 1.30 each weekday. Some - Mastermind, Puzzle Panel, X Marks the Spot - were successful, and the first two transferred to television. Others included King Stupid and Only Connect, the last cancelled after precisely one episode. Broadcasting House was introduced to Sunday mornings; Saturday PM and the highlights programme Weekend Women's Hour returned after long absences.

After some initial hiccups, and some tinkering at the margins, the schedule is still recognisable to-day. Of course, this new schedule lost listeners - partly because they didn't know where anything was, but mostly because the new programmes fitted into a grid of 15-minute slots, the same as those used by measuring company RAJAR. A 30-minute show starting at 8.20 would fill three boxes; one starting at 8.30 fills just two.

That proposed schedule in full

WEEKDAYS 5.30 Shipping forecast. 5.45 Prayer. 5.50 Farming Today.
6.00 Today.
9.00 The 9 O'Clock Interviews (including Start The Week and Midweek. Desert Island Discs Fridays only). 9.45 Non-fiction book reading and Daily Service on Long Wave.
10.00 Woman's Hour.
11.00 Features programme with From Our Own Correspondent once a week. 11.30 Classic Radio 4 comedy.
Noon You And Yours.
13.00 The World At One. 13.30 Quiz, including Brain of Britain and Counterpoint.
14.00 The Archers. 14.15 The Afternoon Play.
15.00 Moneybox Live/Gardeners' Question Time. 15.30 15-minute feature, offering practical information. 15.45 Short Story.
16.00 The Food/Book Programme. 16.30 Conversation cultural, workplace, legal, ethical.
17.00 PM.
18.00 The Six O'Clock News. 18.30 Comedy - I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Just a Minute, The News Quiz.
19.00 The Archers. 19.15 Arts Programme. 19.45 Drama Series (repeated from 10.45).
20.00 Documentary/Debate File on Four, Moral Maze, Any Questions? 20.30 Analysis, In Touch, Talk, Westminster, Letter From America.
21.00 Natural World, Science News, QED, Horizon. 21.30 The Interview (repeated from 0900).
22.00 The World Tonight. 22.45 The Book At Bedtime.
23.00 Late Night on Four - Drama, comedy, sports conversation.
00.00 The Midnight News/Weather. 00.30 The Late Book, Sailing By, Shipping Forecast and National Anthem.

Notes: the classic comedy slot never got going, replaced by some new comedy shows for older listeners. The short story moved to 3.30, and 3.45 is mostly short documentaries.

SATURDAY 5.30 Weather.
6.00 News. 6.10 Magazine (Farm & Countryside).
7.00 Today.
9.00 Start the Weekend (Leisure/Family).
10.00 Loose Ends.
11.00 The Food Programme. 11.30 From Our Own Correspondent.
12.00 Moneybox. 12.30 Comedy - satire.
13.00 Any Questions (rpt).
14.00 Any Answers? 14.30 History.
15.00 Drama.
16.00 Weekend Woman's Hour.
17.00 PM. 17.30 Film Programme.
18.00 Six O'Clock News, Entertainment.
19.00 Arts Review, Letter.
20.00 Archive.
21.00 The Classic Serial (rpt).
22.00 The Ten O'Clock News, Debate (rpt).
23.00 Comedy (rpt). 23.30 Music Conversation.
00.00 The Midnight News and Papers. The Late Reading.

Start the Weekend turned into Home Truths, already three series in the can. Yes, Food did get to go out at 11am, and Loose Ends didn't move to 6.15 until 2000. The Music Conversation strand never got going.

SUNDAY 5.30 Bells, Weather.
6.00 News. 6.05 Something Understood, On Your Farm, Weather.
7.00 News/Papers, Sunday (religious affairs), Weather.
8.00 News, Morning Service. Letter From America.
9.00 News.
10.00 The Archers (omnibus).
11.15 Desert Island Discs.
12.00 Travel Feature. 12.30 Comedy (rpt).
13.00 The World This Weekend. 13.30 Quiz.
14.00 Gardeners' Question Time. 14.30 Leisure Feature.
15.00 The Classic Serial.
16.00 Literature Hour.
17.00 Documentary (rpt). Feedback (rpt).
18.00 The Six O'clock News, Pick of the Week.
19.00 The Archers, Talk/Conversation.
20.00 Comedy (rpt). 20.30 Magazine (rpt).
21.00 Documentary (rpt). (Open University 8-10pm, March-September).
22.00 The Ten O'Clock News. Westminster.
23.00 Feature (rpt), Something Understood (rpt).
00.00 The Midnight News, Weather, The Late Reading. Bells.

This schedule went out almost exactly as billed, though the Travel Feature turned out to be a My Life In (foreign part) show. Changes in 1999 included the swap at noon, and moving Feedback to a 30-minute slot for just over half the year at 8pm.

On Friday, we swing our spotlight from Radio 4 to Radio 1.

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