1. RADIO 4 By Annabelle Snelling13 Ursula

2. BBC RADIO 4  A British domestic radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken- word programmes such as:  News  Drama  Comedy  Science  History.  It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.  Radio 4 broadcasts throughout the United Kingdom, and can be received in the north of France and Northern Europe as well.  It is also available through Sky and Virgin media, and on the internet.  It is the BBC's most expensive radio station and there is no current comparable commercial network (internationally or in the UK).

3. Who owns Radio 4?  The controller of Radio 4 is Mark Damazer; his successor Gwyneth Williams will take over in October 2010. The previous controller was Helen Boaden, who is now the head of BBC News.

4. POPULARITY  Radio 4 is the second most popular British domestic radio station, after Radio 2, and was named "UK Radio Station of the Year" at the 2003, 2004 and 2008 Sony Radio Academy Awards.

5. COSTS  Costing £71.4 million (2005/6), it is the BBC's most expensive national radio network and is considered by many to be the corporation's flagship. There is currently no comparable UK commercial network (nor any internationally). This situation is unlikely to change in the near future, as Channel 4 abandoned plans to launch its own speech-based digital radio station in October 2008 as part of a £100m cost cutting review.

6. The BBC: Radio 4 all  The station's image as a national institution, to be preserved at all costs, makes running it a perilous task  It may be the worst job after managing the England football team, but the contest for the job of new controller of Radio 4 is hotting up, with reports earlier this week that the BBC’s business editor, Robert Peston, has been interviewed, although it is not known whether the panel understood his answers. Radio 4 clings to the place it has occupied since its inception, at the centre of informed and intelligent conversation – even if it is also vulnerable to the charge of regarding that conversation as one conducted overwhelmingly by the middle-class and middlebrow. The station's image as a national institution, to be preserved at all costs, makes running it a perilous task. And whoever takes over from Mark Damazer this summer will have the added challenge of succeeding someone who has managed to shake the station up without shaking out its audience, an achievement recognised at this year's Sony Awards, when it picked up six of the top prizes.  Under Mr Damazer, Radio 4 has become a place of intellectual ambition, with the enthusiasm to look beyond its core provision of news and current affairs to science, music and history – which, combined with a readiness to unbutton itself, makes it sometimes surprising, and often excellent. Its programming is nimble – take its day of broadcasts from and about Iran, say, just as the neocons were beginning to rattle their sabres, or its day of high excitement devoted to the sadly disastrous launch of the Large Hadron Collider – or last weekend's rebroadcast of our own Richard Norton-Taylor's account of Bloody Sunday, told in the words of those giving evidence to Lord Saville's inquiry on the eve of the report's publication.  Of course, it is not beyond criticism. Three years ago the whole BBC was excoriated in an internal report for a kind of institutional liberalism – a charge that delighted the Murdoch press, which dismissed it as the Guardian on air, plainly not a criticism we recognise. There is, however, a germ of truth in the implication of a monoculture, which risks jeopardy in a pluralistic era. There is an irritating preponderance of southern vowels, and a homogeneous centrism in its political outlook that excludes the radical of both right and left.  It is rarely racially diverse, which limits its capacity to illuminate an important part of contemporary culture and excludes perspectives that ought to be heard. It is not the place one would expect to find a debate among the left, for example, about how the City might be tamed, nor a debate among those on the right about the UK's role in Europe. It should be. But above all it must continue to offer, sandwiched between its staples of news and current affairs, the meat of a daily adventure into the unexpected. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/19/bbc-radio-4-editorial

7. Target Audience  "The remit of Radio 4 is to be a mixed speech service, offering in- depth news and current affairs and a wide range of other speech output including drama, readings, comedy, factual and magazine programmes. The service should appeal to listeners seeking intelligent programmes in many genres which inform, educate and entertain.“ - People who want intelligent programmes.  Traditionally the perception among people who don't listen to Radio 4 is that it has a conservative, ageing, middle-class audience. This may still be the case to an extent (c.f. the figures quoted here) but it has been making strong efforts to reinvent itself and reach a wider audience of late, hence the techno programme recently discussed here, and other programmes of that ilk.

8. Radio 4 appears to be suitable for any type, gender or class of person due to the many different types of shows and music they present and play.

9. Current Audience According to the latest official figures BBC Radio 4 has a weekly reach of almost 9.5 million and has an 11% market share. Sex: Men (51%) Women (49%). Age: 15-24 (4%) 25-34 (9%) 35-44 (14%) 45-54 (20%) 55-64 (23%) 65+ (30%)

10. Audience data for March 2010 to June 2010  TSA: This radio station broadcast to a survey area of 51,618,000 adults (aged 15+). Reach: It was listened to by 10,403,000 people (20.%) each week. Hours: Each listener tuned in for 12.3 hours per week - a total of 128,410,000. Share: In its area, it had a 12.5% market share.

11. Woman's Hour Well, preparing feet for the sandal season is one way to avoid the election, finds Elisabeth Mahoney  It was the radio quiet before the storm yesterday. "We're trying to keep off the subject of politics today," said the Radio 4 continuity announcer. He wasn't kidding. On Woman's Hour (Radio 4), Jenni Murray chaired a discussion about preparing feet for sandals.  There was a link to the election campaign, though, with the item triggered by the media scrutiny when Sarah Brown donned revealing footwear before her toes were deemed presentable. Murray noted that there has been much attention to "the state of the feet of political wives". In a campaign that has featured few high-profile women, it's depressing that we zoom in on Sarah's wedge heels or Samantha's Converse trainers.  A quick vox pop established that most women find their feet depressing, too. "My toes look like Nik-Naks – you know, the crisps," one woman said. Her boyfriend, she added, "loves me from my head to my ankles. That's how bad my feet are".  A podiatrist was in the studio with advice that was a bit tardy ("improve your footwear though the winter months") and a bit strange: "Just like teeth, we need to moisturise the skin daily". Flat sandals are a nightmare, she explained ("the tendons have to work overtime") and years of high heels are sadly only OK "if you have amazing limb design".

12. Woman's Hour: News, Politics, Culture By BBC Radio 4  Podcast Description Radio 4's Woman's Hour brings you topical subjects in the news, interviews and discussions on issues affecting women around the world. Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey bring you the big celebrity names and leading women in the news and subjects range widely from politics to health, law, education, arts, parenting, relationships, work, fiction, food and fashion. Woman's Hour is broadcast Monday to Friday on BBC Radio 4 from 10.00 - 11.00. The podcast features highlights from each day's programme and will be published daily Monday to Friday. Find out more at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour

13. W omen’s hour is a time dedicated to all women where they can call in and listen to others women’s views about certain subjects. Women’s hour seems to come across as a feminist act but in fact topics discussed seem to be fashion and health based and all other typical subjects based on women and their interests. Women’s hour sounds like a great time where women can talk to other women and here others views about particular subjects that interest them. Its something weekly that women can look forward to. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/womans-hour/

14. Production & Programmes Production  Many Radio 4 programmes are pre-recorded. Programmes transmitted live include daily programmes such as Today, magazine programme Woman's Hour, consumer affairs programme You and Yours, and (often) the music, film, books, arts and culture programme Front Row. Continuity is generally managed from BBC Broadcasting House whilst news bulletins, including the hourly summaries and longer programmes such as the Six O'Clock News and Midnight News, and news programmes such as Today, The World at One and PM come from the BBC News Centre at Television Centre in White City. They were moved there in 1998 when the News Centre was opened to house both radio and TV news. News returned to Broadcasting House in 2008.  The Time Signal, known as 'the pips', is broadcast every hour to herald the news bulletin, except at midnight and 6 pm, where the chimes of Big Ben are played instead. Programmes  Main article: List of BBC Radio 4 programmes  Radio 4 is distinguished by its long-running programmes, many of which have been broadcast for over 40 years.  Most programmes are available for a week after broadcast as streaming audio from Radio 4's listen again page and via BBC iPlayer. A selection of programmes is also available as podcasts or downloadable audio files. Many comedy and drama programmes from the Radio 4 archives are rebroadcast on BBC Radio 7.

15. My Greatest Mistake: Jenni Murray presenter of Radio 4'S 'Woman's Hour'  I first came into broadcasting in 1973, at Radio Bristol, and began as a copytaker in the newsroom. I got promoted quickly to news editor's secretary, without shorthand or typing skills. My policy was always to try to get in as secretary, be really bad at it, and then get promoted. I was the worst secretary ever. The biggest mistake was when the news editor asked me to send letters to all the local MPs in the South-west region – just to be friendly. I managed to put all the letters to the Labour MPs in envelopes addressed to the Conservative MPs, and vice versa. I received furious phone calls saying: "What on earth are you doing sending Tom King's letter to Tony Benn?" The news editor said: "Look, I'm sorry. You can't possibly be my secretary any more. You are useless," and promoted me to station assistant, which was my first broadcasting job. It was an embarrassing mistake, but it did mean my plan worked.  We were doing live programmes all the time in the early Seventies, and I was the queen of the unintended innuendo. Coming to the end of an interview with Dr Andrew Stanway, co-author ofBreast Is Best, I looked at him with my steely eyes, desperate to finish on time, and said: "So, doctor, what you are actually saying is, you would go for the breast every time."  When I moved to the BBC's South Today to work in television, I managed to describe the cross-channel ferry as the cross- flannel cherry. Even today, saying cross-channel ferry makes me nervous. I then described the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Chitty Chitty Gang Bang. You learn as an experienced broadcaster to write scripts that you can get your teeth round, and to practise reading them out loud first.

16. BBC veteran takes Radio 4 helm - with an Extra  The BBC played it safe by appointing a corporation veteran of 34 years’ experience to the coveted role of controller of Radio 4. Gwyneth Williams, who joins from the BBC World Service, becomes the most senior woman in British radio and is the only female controller in charge of a BBC national network.  As a former head of BBC Radio Current Affairs, Williams has had responsibility for such Radio 4 shows as File on 4 and From Our Own Correspondent. Early in her career she worked on The World Tonight. The appointment of someone with vast radio production experience will please Radio 4’s core audience who are famously resistant to change. She said: “Radio 4 represents the BBC at its best: it is loved and trusted and stands above all for quality.”  Tim Davie, Director BBC Audio & Music, described Williams as “an editorial leader of the highest calibre and a passionate supporter of Radio 4”.

17. Review I often listen to BBC radio four. I really hate housework so to relieve the boredom I put the radio on. I prefer informative conversation to listening to music interrupted by adverts or mundane chat. Therefore radio four is my choice because intelligent dialogue, drama and comedy can stimulate me while I do my daily chores. I would recommend radio four to anyone who wants to enjoy quality chat and news. Being the BBC you also don't have to suffer constant advertisement breaks. It's refreshing to have radio without boring small talk and ad breaks. http://www.ciao.co.uk/BBC_Radio_4__Review_37276

18. CRITICISM’S  There have been criticisms voiced by newspapers in recent years over a perceived "left-wing" bias at Radio 4 across a range of issues such as the EU and the Iraq War, as well as sycophancy in interviews, particularly on the popular morning news magazine "Today“ as part of a reported perception of a general "malaise" at the BBC. Conversely, the station has sometimes also been criticised for an overtly socially and culturally conservative approach, though these criticisms are less prominent than they once were following the station's evolution under recent controllers.