Like Pienaar, Phil Williams basically delivers an ersatz version of his shows from 5Live. It's fine, but despite a large profile interview at its heart -- a potentially powerful element, the rest is very workaday.
John Pienaar's drivetime show sounds exactly as his shows on 5Live did. I don't expect him to shift much from the straight-ahead politics content, without being over-opinionated, that he offered during his time at the BBC.
Mariella Frostrup has a great radio voice and the Rose McGowan is a great first interview subject. This is pure Radio 4 stuff and BBC people should be concerned. If The Times can bring interviews from its print product into this environment then Radio 4 IS going to suffer.
For a media wonk (or wanker, depending on where you stand on my personal qualities), connecting the radio station with the newsroom at the paper, as Times Radio is doing is interesting. Give insight into the sausage being made. But will the paper come to hate that? Possibly.
The historian Sarah Churchwell was just on. She's excellent. I'd love to see them take a bigger risk and give her a show alongside a black historian. They won't. But they should. Most of their analysts on American politics (past and present) are piss weak.
George Osborne is now on Matt Chorley's show arguing -- as ever -- for austerity. Chorley has challenged him about as much as a small puppy challenges a Rottweiler.
They're now talking to a woman who set up a company that sells shoes for people with bunions. It's a gentle item and perfectly fine, but it feels like it's to promote something (beyond the bunion shoes).
Good interview with Malorie Blackman now. But that's more to do with the fact that she is such an excellent speaker than the quality of the questions being thrown at her.
The wonderful Professor Priyamvada Gopal is now on Times Radio and is being given a harder time than the Prime Minister, the elected leader of our nation, was just given by the presenters. As usual, the Professor is handling it extremely well, a model of grace.
It all feels very cosy. Tom Newton-Dunn's post-Boris Johnson interview analysis was largely focused on the chats he'd had with the Prime Minister's SPADs as they made their way to the studio.
Like Pienaar, Phil Williams basically delivers an ersatz version of his shows from 5Live. It's fine, but despite a large profile interview at its heart -- a potentially powerful element, the rest is very workaday.
One of the issues with the Drive show at the moment is it lacks pace. It feels like a podcast.
John Pienaar's drivetime show sounds exactly as his shows on 5Live did. I don't expect him to shift much from the straight-ahead politics content, without being over-opinionated, that he offered during his time at the BBC.
Mariella Frostrup has a great radio voice and the Rose McGowan is a great first interview subject. This is pure Radio 4 stuff and BBC people should be concerned. If The Times can bring interviews from its print product into this environment then Radio 4 IS going to suffer.
For a media wonk (or wanker, depending on where you stand on my personal qualities), connecting the radio station with the newsroom at the paper, as Times Radio is doing is interesting. Give insight into the sausage being made. But will the paper come to hate that? Possibly.
The historian Sarah Churchwell was just on. She's excellent. I'd love to see them take a bigger risk and give her a show alongside a black historian. They won't. But they should. Most of their analysts on American politics (past and present) are piss weak.
George Osborne is now on Matt Chorley's show arguing -- as ever -- for austerity. Chorley has challenged him about as much as a small puppy challenges a Rottweiler.
They're now talking to a woman who set up a company that sells shoes for people with bunions. It's a gentle item and perfectly fine, but it feels like it's to promote something (beyond the bunion shoes).
I'm taking a break from this shortly to go to the shop and... buy a newspaper. I really don't know why I do this to myself.
Good interview with Malorie Blackman now. But that's more to do with the fact that she is such an excellent speaker than the quality of the questions being thrown at her.
The wonderful Professor Priyamvada Gopal is now on Times Radio and is being given a harder time than the Prime Minister, the elected leader of our nation, was just given by the presenters. As usual, the Professor is handling it extremely well, a model of grace.
It all feels very cosy. Tom Newton-Dunn's post-Boris Johnson interview analysis was largely focused on the chats he'd had with the Prime Minister's SPADs as they made their way to the studio.