Radio tasteless waste of time

[charmbrights]

Almost all of the vast series of short broadcasts advertised as The Listening Project on Radio 4 fall in to one of two classes: uninteresting, or worse nastily in bad taste in that the topic should be totally private.

The basis of this series is that two 'ordinary' members of the public are encouraged to talk about some episode in their lives and have that recorded and stored for ever.

The BBC web site describes it as

Capturing the nation in conversation to build a unique picture of our lives today and preserve it for future generations.

We are asking people up and down the country to share their thoughts and feelings in a recorded conversation with a loved one or relative. What you talk about is up to you.

The relatively few episodes I have heard seem to be totally untrained people trying to broadcast commentary on some episode in their lives which is ultimately relevant only to them and which, in many cases, certainly should not be made public.

The proper way to achieve their aim of building a "picture of our lives today" is by the equivalent of the WW2 Mass Observation process.

[Teddy Bear]

Never listened to it but looking at those featured on the 'recent' page I see

• Hopes and Dreams : Kenny and Natalie
  Escaping the yoke of running a busy restaurant while raising a young family.
• Mark is a writer. Alys is an illustrator. How creative is their relationship?
• The reality of choosing to marry a man 25 years older than yourself.
• Harriet meets Martin the paramedic who treated her thirteen years ago.

So I can understand what you mean.

Although to be fair, on their featured section they show

• Fleeing the Holocaust: Ruth and Ruth
  Friends discuss being put on the Kindertransport rescue mission and their Jewish roots.
• Forgiveness and friendship: Thea and Brigitte
  Thea is Jewish, Brigitte is German. Brigitte talks of her guilt about World War Two.

Which looks as they might have been interesting.