| Product: |
Radio Times |
| Date: |
01/06/01 (99 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Very good terrestrial TV listings with regional anomalies accounted for, listeners of Radio Three and Four will like the radio listings, Alison Graham's columns are excellent, the Andrew Duncan interview is occasionally diverting
Disadvantages: Poor coverage of subscription TV channels, most radio stations and films, the picks of the best television of the day are useless, the columnists and editor take a very mainstream view of television (with the exception of Alison Graham)
The 'Radio Times' is nothing short of a British institution being the first magazine available on these shores solely dedicated to telling us what was on the wireless. Needless to say, things have moved on since issue one came out and the magazine has recently undergone a revamp making this a good time to access its various merits and disadvantages.
The listings themselves are obviously the most important facet of a listings magazine but, on this front, the 'Radio Times' delivers a mixed bag. When it comes to what's on terrestrial television stations, it excels. The channels and programmes (incorporating regional variations) are clearly laid out and the descriptions are concise and to the point, providing the reader with a brief programme synopsis, 'VideoPlus' number and such information as whether the programme a repeat or shown in widescreen. However, the magazine's choice of the best programmes of the day leaves a lot to be desired as the editorial team tend to choose whatever is new or popular whether it is good television or not.
As well as the terrestrial channels, the 'Radio Times' also caries listings for subscription television stations. However, these are inadequate to say the least. Sky Digital viewers subscribing to the more expensive packages have access to over one hundred channels yet the 'Radio Times' only lists twenty-three of them (Sky One, UK Gold, Paramount Comedy, E4, The Sci-Fi Channel, BBC Choice, ITV2/S2, UK Drama, UK Horizons, Granada Plus, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, National Geographic, The Biography Channel, Animal Planet, Performance, Artsworld, BBC Knowledge, British Eurosport and Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and Extra). If you want to know what is on every subscription channel in advance, a specialist magazine is a must.
The radio listings in the 'Radio Times' are every bit as good as the terrestrial television ones - that is if you only listen to
BBC Radio Three and Four. The other BBC national are woefully neglected as are the BBC local stations who are only afforded one double page per week between them. As well as this, the only commercial station covered is Classic FM. Where's Virgin Radio, Talksport and Atlantic 252?
The film section of the 'Radio Times' offers reviews of every movie on terrestrial television that week, a selection of the best on the subscription channels (including the various pay-per-view services) and one review each of that week's cinema and video releases, the former written by Barry Norman no less. Although Mr. Norman's record as a reviewer is good, I would take the reviews of the films on television with a pinch of salt. The star ratings given to the movies seem to be in direct proportion to the amount of money spent on the production of the picture and not the quality of the acting/script/direction. Good examples of this are 'Titanic' (five stars out of five), 'Independence Day', 'Mission: Impossible' and 'Under Siege' (all four stars). As anyone who has seen these films will attest, none of them are worth more than two.
To stand out from the crowd the 'Radio Times' dedicates its first forty pages or so to television and general interest columns, articles and interviews. The television-related columns and articles are mostly pap set aside to extol the virtues of the latest 'reality TV' show or substandard sitcom. The general interest pieces are also unspectacular. There's Andrew Duncan interviewing, Polly Toynbee ranting, John Peel rambling, Dr. Mark Porter health scaring and whichever TV chef is flavour of the month recipeing. Alison Graham, however, saves the day. Her 'Soap & Flannel' and 'View' columns, dedicated to soap opera and general television respectively, are consistently accurate, hilarious and, in the case of 'Soap & Flannel', not without a large helping
of irony, something sorely lacking in the rest of the magazine. These two pieces are almost worth the cover price alone.
Although this opinion may not seem glowing in its praise of the 'Radio Times', I still buy it every week and would recommend it over the woeful competition (which are, in the most part, 'Hello' with television listings). The magazine has many faults but is still the best there is.
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