Radio Week
The picks of the best of this week’s radio
ENTERTAINMENT Oliver Callan MON-FRIDAY, 9AM, RTÉ RADIO 1 ★★★★★
Oliver has stepped seamlessly into Ryan Tubridy’s old slot and his show is a sharp hour of entertainment with discussion of trending topics, the latest in sport, the arts and everything that’s hopping in Irish life.
Soul Music FRIDAY, 8.30PM, BBC RADIO 4 EXTRA ★★★★★
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the death of Dusty Springfield and here’s a timely repeat of an entertaining show about her haunting song The Look Of Love. Lyricist Hal David tells how he and Burt Bacharach wrote the song in London at breakneck speed for the 1967 James Bond spoof Casino Royale. The programme also hears from people for whom the song has special personal meaning, and includes cover versions by Gladys Knight and Isaac Hayes.
FACTUAL Three Million SUNDAY, 1.30PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★★
Kavita Puri’s compelling series tells the story of three million Indians who died in the Bengal Famine in the Second World War. Kavita finds eyewitnesses to the horror and explores shameful reasons behind the deaths.
Ritual MONDAY, 9.45AM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
This latest fascinating book by the Greekborn, US-based anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas examines how important apparently pointless ceremonies and rites of passage are to us, and how they ‘make life worth living’. He has studied ritual traditions across the world, and he starts by considering the archaeological site of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. Before they even learned to farm, people gathered at this place of pilgrimage and its monumental temple, which dates to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic age (9,500 BC and 8,000 BC).
Tús Áite WEDNESDAY, 5PM, RNAG� ★★★★★
A special edition of today’s programme will be broadcast from An Siopa Leabhar in Harcourt Street in the heart of Dublin where Fachtna Ó Drisceoil will focus on the main issues related to the referendums that will take place on March 8. A panel of politicians will be taking part in the debate along with a live audience.
DRAMA The Listening Room THURSDAY, 2.15PM, BBC RADIO 4 ★★★★
Cathy Tyson stars in this collaboration with the Prison Radio Association, which brings to life the true stories of five people whose lives have been upended by violent crime. Writer Harriet Madeley interviewed three victims and two perpetrators of serious violent offences, and turned their words into a script. All of those interviewed were determined to move on after the event and, following a trial and punishment, they were given the chance to take part in Restorative Justice that would see them meeting the person on the other side of the fence.
MUSIC Aedín In The Afternoon FRIDAY, 1AM, LYRIC FM ★★★★★
Today’s show features stunning music from Grammy award-winning American composer and conductor Maria Schneider, whose compositions has been hailed as evocative, majestic and magical. There’ll be Irish tunes from The Gloaming, Anúna, Síomha and Mick Flannery. Plus, a little French music from violinist Daniel Hope and French pianist Hélène Grimaud plays Bach.