Day 2

Day 2 of Times Radio, and they're still in the Cummings' list of acceptable programmes to do, with Matt Hancock at 0830. Will that be true a year from now ?

It will take long pockets to make this work. I believe it's driven by envy of the multi-media successes of the New York Times; but the UK radio market is different. For a start, we're one time zone. And we have an existing ecology of speech radio that is broader than news talk/shock jocks/public radio.

To move to Times Radio from Radio 4, you're likely to be a daytime listener who can't stand short stories, The Archers, drama, Melvyn Bragg etc. To move to Times Radio from LBC, you're likely to be someone who can't be bothered with the opinions of the general public, as expressed in the O'Brien and Fogarty phone-ins. You might also like a refuge from the down-market ads. To move to Times Radio from Radio 5Live, you're probably also avoiding the morning phone-in, as well as the rather strident sports-boosting, and the flakier Friday shows. To move to Times Radio from TalkRADIO is simply leaving the public bar for the lounge. More expensive, with carpets, and definitely less rowdy. 

To stay with Times Radio, you'll enjoy having your own, clear, modern Middle England views re-inforced, and even take pleasure in having your too-clever-by-half texts and Tweets read out. A bit like getting a letter in The Times. Are there enough of you ?