Radio Week
The picks of the best of this week’s radio
ENTERTAINMENT Private Passions
SUNDAY, 12NOON, BBC RADIO 3
★★★★ Brian Cox is playing Johann Sebastian Bach on stage, so it’s no surprise that the composer is among his musical choices. He also picks music by Mahler, Verdi and Joni Mitchell as he talks about growing up in Dundee, being obsessed by film at a young age and how, after seeing Albert Finney in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, he decided he too could make a go of acting.
Nicole Appleton
SUNDAY, 4PM, MAGIC RADIO
★★★★ The former All Saints singer warmed up by hosting a series of specials on female artists on Magic Radio last year. Now she joins the station to present the new early evening weekend shows.
FACTUAL Killing Death Row
SUNDAY, 1.30PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★ With the number of executions in the US down, Livvy Haydock considers the future of Death Row. She meets an inmate waiting to die and one saved at the last minute.
The Lyric Feature
SUNDAY, 6PM, LYRIC FM ★★★★
When the town of Banagher in Co Offaly decided it wanted its story told, instead of turning to a historian or academic they commissioned the poet Jessica Traynor. In
STORY: James Scully and Jessica Traynor
A Place of Pointed Stones, Jessica explores the history and folklore of Banagher, meets some of the locals, and we hear new poems and a new song inspired by her research. Local historian James Scully takes her around, showing her the bridge over the Shannon, the local Martello tower, the hidden graveyard, and locations associated with the town’s literary connections with Anthony Trollope and Charlotte Brontë. He also presents her with two possible versions of the origin of the saying ‘That beats Banagher and
Banagher beats the devil’.
Heart and Soul
FRIDAY, 11.30AM/ 10.30PM,
BBC WORLD SERVICE ★★★
Whether you believe them or not, some people say they’ve had near-death experiences. David Ditchfield tells his story here — his coat caught in a train door, he was dragged underneath until he was thrown clear. In hospital, he says, he left his body and saw a tunnel of light and a waterfall of stars, with glowing, healing presences beside him. He has since channelled his experiences into creating art and music.
MUSIC
Aedín in the Afternoon FRIDAY, 1PM, LYRIC FM
★★★★
Bill Evans, Billie Holiday and Billy Joel are all on the music menu this afternoon, as well as Paul McCartney, Paul Brady and Paul Lewis. Aedín also includes a selection of songs sung by the great Peggy Lee, and Irish singers Síomha and Niamh Regan perform with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
Steve Lamacq
WEDNESDAY, 4PM, BBC 6 MUSIC
★★★★ Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter Nadine Shah joins Steve ten years after he first invited her on to his programme.
Cuan an Cheoil THURSDAY, 7PM, RNAG
★★★★ Well-known fiddle player, Oisín Mac Diarmada, will be chatting with Liam Ó Maonlaí on this week’s Cuan an Cheoil and the best of music will be heard from these two talented musicians. A visual stream for this programme will be available on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s YouTube channel every week.