The launch of the new TV channel BBC4 has been cautiously welcomed.
Some see it as a move to shift the good stuff off terrestrial TV on to satellite and cable. Certainly this cable-less, satellite-deprived columnist wasn't happy on launch night when BBC4 paraded its goodies on BBC2. The gloom-sayers speculate that BBC2 is going down-market in search of a wider audience, in a licence-fee-driven recruitment campaign. Channel 4's film channel doesn't compete as such with Channel 4, and BBC Choice was never advertised as 'a place to think' - but that's how BBC4 is being promoted. Pardon me, but some of us have cherished BBC2 for years as a place to think (with occasional thoughtless lapses), and are pessimistic about the future.
On the other hand there seems to be a thinking renaissance going on in radio - or perhaps I'm just listening more (my post-op convalescence means I spend a lot of time in the bath with a radio for company). For example, a recent morning series on the apostle Paul was hardly an evangelical thesis but did offer radio at its best - the chance to engage with a thoughtfully articulated argument and emerge feeling stretched and challenged. I'm constantly surprised these days by the quality of radio items.
