From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

Looking for something to fall into the arms of Morpheus to on Sunday
evening I asked POI's smart speaker to ask BBC Sounds to play The
Growing Pains of Adrian Mole. When she failed to do so I asked her to
play Radio 4 Extra and then to ask BBC Sounds to rewind some hours which
she did and announced that she was playing The Diary of Adrian Mole from <appropriate time plus a few minutes>.

From the speaker came an earnest young man's voice reciting poetry
which clearly came from the author of Lo, The Flat Hills of My Homeland. Except it wasn't, it was Poetry Please which was overrunning. When Mole finally began he started with a poem he was entering for Brainbox
Henderson's literary magazine and it was, indeed, indistinguishable in
style from its predecessor.

I like to think Sue Townsend would have been amused.

john
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On Tue, 26 May 2026 11:00:52 +0100, john ashby <johnashby20@yahoo.com>
wrote:

Looking for something to fall into the arms of Morpheus to on Sunday
evening I asked POI's smart speaker to ask BBC Sounds to play The
Growing Pains of Adrian Mole. When she failed to do so I asked her to
play Radio 4 Extra and then to ask BBC Sounds to rewind some hours which
she did and announced that she was playing The Diary of Adrian Mole from ><appropriate time plus a few minutes>.

From the speaker came an earnest young man's voice reciting poetry
which clearly came from the author of Lo, The Flat Hills of My Homeland. >Except it wasn't, it was Poetry Please which was overrunning. When Mole >finally began he started with a poem he was entering for Brainbox >Henderson's literary magazine and it was, indeed, indistinguishable in
style from its predecessor.

I like to think Sue Townsend would have been amused.

I dunno about smart speakers and all these things that want you to use
voice control but I think it is probably time that BBC Sounds upgraded
its radio schedules properly and stopped trying to run the whole
shebang on an old BBC Micro.

Some of your problems I recognise from my attempts to look things up
on line.

For example, Intrigue is over[1] and the BBC News summary has
finished. I want to know what's coming up on Woman's Hour so I click
on the handy-little graphic but it's still showing Intrigue.

I wait a couple of minutes more, refresh, and now the graphic shows
Woman's Hour. I click through from what is now the Woman's Hour link
and the programme information page still sends me back to boodily
Intrigue! It's a couple of minutes more before I can read the Woman's
hour programme summary from the Woman's Hour link.

Yes, I think the late Sue Townsend would have been amused - but I also
think the late Liz Truss -oops! I mean the late Lynne Truss- would
have deplored the state of the BBC programme information pages.

I couldn't help thinking of dear Sue Townsend and her novel, The Queen
and I during all the shenanigans over the Andrew, formerly known as
Prince, and his forced removal from Windsor. Deja Vu all over again.



Nick
[1]Never mind that, podcast-style, we are four minutes into the
programme before Sue Mitchell tells us the name of the programme. Is
there a more boring, monotonous voice on Radio 4?[2]
[2]Don't all answer at once!
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 26/05/2026 12:10, Nick Odell wrote:

Yes, I think the late Sue Townsend would have been amused - but I also
think the late Liz Truss -oops! I mean the late Lynne Truss- would
have deplored the state of the BBC programme information pages.

What infuriates me is that if one opens the BBC Sounds homepage one is presented with large "logos" across the page for selecting Radios 1, 1A,
1D, 1X, 2 & 3. To be offered any more choice one has to find and click
on a small arrow, doing which produced a scrollable page with a totally different layout which does include ALL the available stations.

Yes, I know one can set up short-cuts to all the stations of particular interest - which I have done - but it does make me so cross that fans of
the the Radios 4 and anything else above 3 are made to feel like
second-class citizens whose preferences are of lesser importance.
--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 26.5.26 12:25, Jenny M Benson wrote:

Yes, I know one can set up short-cuts to all the stations of particular interest - which I have done - but it does make me so cross that fans of
the the Radios 4 and anything else above 3 are made to feel like second- class citizens whose preferences are of lesser importance.

Hardly an accessible design - so unlike the BBC which is always going on
about such things.
--
Kosmo Richard W
www.travelswmw.whitnet.uk
https://tinyurl.com/KRWpics
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 26/05/2026 14:33, Kosmo wrote:

On 26.5.26 12:25, Jenny M Benson wrote:

Yes, I know one can set up short-cuts to all the stations of
particular interest - which I have done - but it does make me so cross
that fans of the the Radios 4 and anything else above 3 are made to
feel like second- class citizens whose preferences are of lesser
importance.

Hardly an accessible design - so unlike the BBC which is always going on about such things.

I suspect it's built for a touchscreen, so it's easy to swipe the
station logos.

Doesn't everyone have touchscreens now?[1]

john

[1] Rhetorical.
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 2026/5/26 14:49:28, john ashby wrote:

On 26/05/2026 14:33, Kosmo wrote:

On 26.5.26 12:25, Jenny M Benson wrote:

Yes, I know one can set up short-cuts to all the stations of
particular interest - which I have done - but it does make me so cross
that fans of the the Radios 4 and anything else above 3 are made to
feel like second- class citizens whose preferences are of lesser
importance.

Hardly an accessible design - so unlike the BBC which is always going on
about such things.

I suspect it's built for a touchscreen, so it's easy to swipe the
station logos.

Doesn't everyone have touchscreens now?[1]

john

[1] Rhetorical.

_All_ web designers should be obliged to spend a finite time accessing
their pages via a VGA screen. (Ideally using keyboard keys - arrows and
tab - only.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

So much to do. So little desire to do it.
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 26/05/2026 14:49, john ashby wrote:

I suspect it's built for a touchscreen, so it's easy to swipe the
station logos.

Yes, but if you want upwards of Radio 3 you still have to go to another
page. Why can't ALL the stations be given equal prominence on the first
page?
--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 26/05/2026 21:45, Jenny M Benson wrote:

On 26/05/2026 14:49, john ashby wrote:

I suspect it's built for a touchscreen, so it's easy to swipe the
station logos.

Yes, but if you want upwards of Radio 3 you still have to go to another page.-a Why can't ALL the stations be given equal prominence on the first page?

Swiping left on the stations' logos would scroll the list in the same
way as clicking on the little arrow, but leave you on the sounds home page.

john
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 27/05/2026 07:50, john ashby wrote:

Swiping left on the stations' logos would scroll the list in the same
way as clicking on the little arrow, but leave you on the sounds home page.

Oh yes, so it does!... on my tablet, but I am almost invariably using my desktop computer during the day when I might want to listen to R4 or
R4X. only use the tablet for R4X at night and have a direct link for that.
--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 27/05/2026 11:22, Jenny M Benson wrote:

On 27/05/2026 07:50, john ashby wrote:

Swiping left on the stations' logos would scroll the list in the same
way as clicking on the little arrow, but leave you on the sounds home
page.

Oh yes, so it does!... on my tablet, but I am almost invariably using my desktop computer during the day when I might want to listen to R4 or
R4X.-a only use the tablet for R4X at night and have a direct link for that.

Why not put a direct link to R4 and another to R4X on your desktop ?
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From Newsgroup: uk.media.radio.archers

On 27/05/2026 13:40, BrritSki wrote:

Why not put a direct link to R4 and another to R4X on your desktop ?

i have for R4X which I listen to every day. Don't really know why I
haven't got around to making the Sounds link one for R4 specifically,
though I usually only use it once a week (for GQT.) A large proportion
of my radio listening I actually access via get_iPlayer.
--
Jenny M Benson
Wrexham, UK
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