{"id":17848,"date":"2016-03-20T07:57:59","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T11:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=17848"},"modified":"2016-03-20T07:57:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-20T11:57:59","slug":"radio-4-doc-learning-to-listen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/03\/radio-4-doc-learning-to-listen\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio 4 Doc: Learning to Listen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Atwater-Kent-Dial\"<\/a>Looking back through my notes this morning, I re-discovered this excellent documentary<\/a> on the early days of radio listening; how radio changed the way we interacted with music and how we interacted with our radios.<\/p>\n

(Source: BBC Radio 4<\/a>)<\/p>\n

As broadcasting took the world by storm in the 1920s, the radio quickly became the hub of many households. Entire families would huddle around their receiver, each person individually connected with their own headset.<\/em><\/p>\n

But for this first generation of radio listeners, the flexible styles of listening that we habitually employ today were by no means innate – many sat silent and fully attentive, listening just as they would in a concert hall.<\/em><\/p>\n

Historian Dominic Sandbrook charts how a new, more informal style of listening gradually evolved through the 1920s and 30s, by delving into the diaries of the Austrian musician Heinrich Schenker.<\/em><\/p>\n

Schenker began to record what he heard on the radio within days of the inaugural broadcast from Austria’s first official station, Radio Wien. This rare and fascinating record, which spans just over a decade, offers tangible evidence of how new approaches to listening emerged over these formative years. We’ll follow Schenker’s journey as the radio shifts from being something that demanded his rapt attention, to eventually becoming an integrated part of his domestic life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Click here to listen to the full documentary on Radio 4.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking back through my notes this morning, I re-discovered this excellent documentary on the early days of radio listening; how radio changed the way we interacted with music and how we interacted with our radios. (Source: BBC Radio 4) As broadcasting took the world by storm in the 1920s, the radio quickly became the hub […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[508,442,3,288],"tags":[104,1347,1480],"class_list":["post-17848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-2","category-music","category-news","category-radio-history","tag-bbc","tag-bbc-radio-4","tag-radio-listening"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-4DS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65804,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/carlos-illustrated-radio-listening-report-and-recording-of-vatican-radio-bbc-april-13-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":0},"title":"Carlos\u2019 Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Vatican Radio & BBC (April 13, 2026)","author":"Thomas","date":"April 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor and noted political cartoonist,\u00a0Carlos Latuff, who shares the following\u00a0illustrated radio listening report of recent Vatican Radio & BBC broadcasts. Carlos notes: Vatican Radio & BBC: Pope Leo XIV begins Africa trip https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/HZKhVaRQOso?si=fCAgUVFaX8Vuo4US Click here to view on YouTube.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Vatican-13apr2026-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Vatican-13apr2026-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Vatican-13apr2026-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Vatican-13apr2026-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Vatican-13apr2026-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65812,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/carlos-illustrated-radio-listening-report-and-recording-of-vatican-radio-bbc-april-15-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":1},"title":"Carlos\u2019 Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Vatican Radio & BBC (April 15, 2026)","author":"Thomas","date":"April 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor and noted political cartoonist,\u00a0Carlos Latuff, who shares the following\u00a0illustrated radio listening report of a recent Vatican Radio & BBC broadcast. Carlos notes: Vatican Radio & BBC: Pope Leo XIV lands in Cameroon for second leg of his Apostolic Journey https:\/\/youtu.be\/LAIwDGHxCGI?si=EXqtob6uDA2Nxh7Z Click here to view on YouTube.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BBC-Latuff-15April2026-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BBC-Latuff-15April2026-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BBC-Latuff-15April2026-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BBC-Latuff-15April2026-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BBC-Latuff-15April2026-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65581,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/carlos-illustrated-radio-listening-report-and-recording-of-bbc-march-13-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":2},"title":"Carlos\u2019 Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of BBC (March 13, 2026)","author":"Thomas","date":"March 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor and noted political cartoonist,\u00a0Carlos Latuff, who shares the following\u00a0illustrated radio listening report of a recent BBC World Service broadcast. Carlos notes: The impact of the war in Iran on Afghanistan and Pakistan, BBC, 17810 kHz https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/VonFkRPUhdA?si=S1X4Wx0vJPErSpiS Click here to view on YouTube.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/13mar2026-BBC-Latuff-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/13mar2026-BBC-Latuff-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/13mar2026-BBC-Latuff-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/13mar2026-BBC-Latuff-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/13mar2026-BBC-Latuff-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65831,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/carlos-illustrated-radio-listening-report-and-recording-of-the-bbc-april-18-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":3},"title":"Carlos\u2019 Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of the BBC (April 18, 2026)","author":"Thomas","date":"April 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor and noted political cartoonist,\u00a0Carlos Latuff, who shares the following\u00a0illustrated radio listening report of a recent BBC Africa broadcast. Carlos notes: https:\/\/youtu.be\/9q9t_LNYVgM?si=JPJTnUnU8E__Xl3K Click here to view on YouTube.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/art-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Afrique-18april2026-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Afrique-18april2026-2.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Afrique-18april2026-2.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Latuff-BBC-Afrique-18april2026-2.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2884,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/bbc-world-service-a-lifetime-of-shortwave-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":4},"title":"BBC World Service: A Lifetime of Shortwave Radio","author":"Thomas","date":"March 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"An Antarctic\u00a0glaciologist, Burmese monk, communications professor and a Somalian tell their shortwave radio stories in this article posted by the BBC World Service in honor of 80 years of shortwave radio broadcasts. In my opinion, these stories are very much representative of the power of shortwave radio and why, for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/BBCWSRadioListening-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62715,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/04\/carlos-illustrated-radio-listening-report-april-26-27-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":17848,"position":5},"title":"Carlos\u2019 Illustrated Radio Listening Report (April 26 & 27, 2025)","author":"Thomas","date":"April 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0SWLing Post\u00a0contributor and noted political cartoonist,\u00a0Carlos Latuff, who shares\u00a0illustrated radio listening report covering the funeral of Pope Francis from several international and local broadcasters. Carlos notes: Funeral of Pope Francis: BBC, Vatican Radio, NHK and Radio Mitre: Part of news bulletins from four radio stations (BBC, Vatican Radio,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_20250426_215106065.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_20250426_215106065.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_20250426_215106065.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_20250426_215106065.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_20250426_215106065.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_20250426_215106065.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}