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Surely it is time for Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 8, a dedicated children's service?

Even if it using a mono, low-bandwidth service on DAB, or uses space on the Digital 1 multiplex, it really must be time to have a dedicated service.

For one thing, Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 7 would be a much better adult service if the children's programmes were removed. Even if the existing schedule was repeated during these hours!

If there was a dedicated Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 8 for children, it could have CBeebies radio as daytime service with a "CÖ÷²¥´óÐã" audience for breakfast and late afternoon.

A CÖ÷²¥´óÐã service could have "Newsround" on each hour.

The evening could be a speech-based service for teenagers, perhaps with shorter "remixed" versions of suitable programmes from Radio 4, such as "Material World" or "Living Planet".

The Christmas programming you've mentioned is all from my childhood, and I'm pushing fifty. Wouldn't you be more likely to attract children with something more current? My daughter, who's ten, enjoys Michelle Paver, Jaqueline Wilson and Darren Shan -I'm sure there are plenty of others. It's time to replace Just William with Horrid Henry.

In the first Guardian article that you linked to, you said:

"It was attracting a fraction of a fraction of children in the country," said Damazer. "While there is certainly life with podcasts and CDs, the fact is that it is incredibly hard for linear listening to find an audience with children."

I'm curious as to why you didn't try Go4It as a podcast before cancelling it?

Also, shouldn't you post a message on the Go 4 It website saying that it's been cancelled? Currently, there's no indication that it's ended.

/radio4/gfi/

Having read the Guardian article more closely, I see that it ends on 24 May, not immediately. You might want to clarify that in your post as not everyone will read the Guardian article.

Sorry for yet another post, but it also might be good to link to the press release announcing the changes:

/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/03_march/17/childrens.shtml

The makers of 'Dead Ringers' will be gutted and 'sick as parrots'..

However, it is pleasing to see that the 'Go 4 ..' idea will live on in some form to give the satirists some further targets for their work...

If you are looking for a replacement programme, here's an idea:



Best wishes,


Olly

@lordBeddGelert: Unfortunately, Dead Ringers looks like it's been cancelled :(

Also, the original presenter, Matt Smith (not to be confused with the next Doctor Who) was the one who said 'Ace' a lot (according to Wikipedia: , I wasn't listening to Radio 4 back then) so they'd have to find a new angle anyway.

@Olly: That does sound like a good idea, certainly more interesting than another "recorded discussion programme"...

@bowbrick: The link to Olly's blog post doesn't seem to have shown up yet (I assume in the "Bookmarks" section?).

I wonder if it really matters.
Children these days like more TV and computers and more technology than the radio. They are raised to watch colours and movement, both of them absent in radio (in any radio, not only radio 4).
So it looked like an illusion that Go4it would be successful.
Leave them to grow up and when tired of technology, they will find radio 4 :-).

Am I a lone voice? I'm really pleased to hear the end of Go4It. It's rare that I have to re-tune my radio from R4 but 7.15pm on Sundays is that time - it's even forced me to watch Top Gear instead on occasion!

@loislaneleeds: You're certainly not alone, judging by the reactions of some on the Message Board:

/dna/mbradio4/F2766774?thread=6414577

You should have had a live phone-in presented by a pop star with verbalised twitter feeds etc. You should have taken advantage of radio's unique capacity to be agile.

This radio show sounded like Blue Peter with a walking stick.

My family love listening to Go 4 it we all listen after the Archers on a Sunday evening and I am so glad that there has been something on Radio 4 for them.

They are the next generation, if you don't provide any children's programmes how can you ever think that they will learn to love the radio.

I guess that it is worth pointing out that Radio 3 dropped its children's programme, 'Making Tracks', as well, Mark.

I think that it is difficult to find ways of connecting with a younger audience, and all I can suggest is more of a non-linear approach.

The Doctor Who prom, for example, brought a younger audience to classical music, although they are unlikely to tune into Radio 3 in vast numbers.

The best bet for Radio 4, in my view, is to collaborate with other Ö÷²¥´óÐã programmes which do reach a younger audience.

Cheers! c. ;)

My three year old is too young for Go4It, so won't miss it, but she's a big fan of CBeebies Radio on Radio 7.

But not as much of a fan as she is of the Now Show! Whenever I turn on the radio (usually R4) she asks whether it's time for the Now Show yet. We had difficult times in our house when it was the News Quiz's turn! And of course she has a high recognition of the Archers theme-tune, like any small child in a Radio 4 household. (She quite likes Classic FM too, if you don't mind me saying so.)

I mention all this because children's radio does seem quite a complex thing, and young children quite often enjoy radio aimed at adults. Children's TV is a different matter, you can clearly see which programmes are aimed at which age-groups and kids can spot programmes for their profile a mile off, but radio does seem to be rather more blended. (This is a similar conclusion to Martin Kelner in the Guardian, but it is my experience as well.)

I am not entirely displeased that Go4It is about to go. I love the programme; I listen to it every weekend whilst cooking Sunday dinner. But I am 46 years old; my daughter, Katie who is 11 point-blank refuses to listen to it, even if I've drawn her attention to a featured topic in which she would otherwise be very interested. "It's boring dad" is the ubiquitous reply.

She has a point. The content is rarely engaging for all of its intended audience. Moreover, whilst I do not subscribe to notions of caste and class, it is clearly evident that the programme only caters for middle-class or otherwise priviledged children. This is reinforecd by the content matter and the clearly exclusive make-up of invited child participants in the studio. Those accents and the vocabulary used give much away about their backgrounds. I have yet to hear a working class, or otherwise socially excluded child's voice on Go4It. Quite surprising, given the Merseyside roots of its presenter, Barny. He'll certainly miss the programme as its evidnet from his enthusiasm during the programmes that he loves what he does and, to be fair, he really does engage with the children in the studion. Somehow, I doubt he will be taking a place in the dole queue. I hope he may encourge his superiors to find a suitable replacemnt platform.

It is a great shame that this sole childrens' programe on Radio 4 has for so long failed to engage a broad sphere of children in the wonderful world of talk radio. Yet, for that reason alone, it should go.

The argument is specious. If your children's program attracts adults, then you don't need to rebadge the slot and commission a new programme, you just need to rebadge the slot. If you want to move the goalposts, you don't need to redefine the game.

Go4It attracts an adult audience for good reason - in part, at least, it explores issues and current events from a children's perspective, which is valuable for both the people who are children and the vast majority of people who aren't. Even adults blessed without children have to interact with them sometimes, and the counterbalance Go4It's provided for the perceptions of children that are common in this part of south-east London has helped diminish some of the natural fear and loathing. As a programme aimed at children, Go4It's been a failure. As a programme about (and partly by) children, it's been a respectable success.

If you have to replace it with adult-orientated programming, then there's no reason it shouldn't focus on children's issues. Despite the novelty of a Children's Minister in government, children have no voice in the world of adult-targetted broadcasting, and hardly a presence at all unless they are dead. Even an adult might think that unfair.

I am SO glad it's gone. It ruined early Sunday evenings. It was a 'turner-offer' in the same league as The Archers, Something Understood and the weird chanting thing from churches on Sunday mornings

It is a great disappointment to my family that Go4it is being cut. My 7 year old was just becoming interested in the radio because of Go4it and she looked forward to sunday evenings. It was a great alternative to the vast amounts of visual stimulation that kids subject themselves too and something that she and I could enjoy together. Whoever carried out the market research and told Radio 4 that no children were listening got it sadly wrong. Is it too late for the powers that be to change their mind?!
Yours hopefully...

As a primary school Head Teacher I found 'Go For It' laughable as a vehicle for engaging children with radio media. A comment above called it 'Blue Peter with a Walking Stick' and I entirely agree. The desperate attempts to be 'cool' were embarrassing, vicariously, to listen to.

There is a possibility that Radio 4 is not a forum for children and that is not a bad thing. It doesn't have to attract children it just needs to attract their parents. Then those children will listen, as adults, because their parents did.

Is that too long term for targets?

My daughter, aged 10, really enjoyed Go4IT, espeically when Barney Harwood was presenting, and she is devastated that it is going. It was the only radio program aimed at kids like her and it is hard to explain to her how this is fair when there are so many programs for adults. She loves CÖ÷²¥´óÐã television and internet too, and has no problem including radio in the media she chooses. Yes I cringed at it a little, but I am not 10. She loved it and I think it is a tragedy that the bbc has given up on something which really hit the spot. I really hope they will think again about this

Here's an edited version of an email I just sent Mark Damazer.

A couple of weekends ago, I had to tell my 8-year old son that Go For It would no longer be running. He burst into tears. He asked why and I told him that Mark Damazer, who runs Radio 4, had decided that because not enough children listen to it, it wasn't worth doing any longer. His initial response was "I hate Mark Damazer", but a more considered response was "But there must be some children who like it? Don't children matter on the radio?"

According to the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's own figures there are on average 22000 children in his age bracket listening. A public service broadcaster should only withdraw a service for a minority if that minority is well-served elsewhere. According to audience figures for Radio 3, in the average hour there are only about 70000 people listening*, and yet that is considered enough to justify an entire radio station. Yet you apparently cannot justify 30 minutes of children's broadcasting despite having 22000 listeners.

Don't tell me it's about balancing the needs of listeners. Radio 4's total audience is about 10 million people a week. So these 22000 are about 0.22% of the audience. They have 30 minutes out of about 140 hours of programming - or about 0.35% of the available programming time. Doesn't look that disproportionate to me in the context of reaching an audience which by the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's own admission is hard to reach.

I hear it is to be replaced with an adult discussion programme. Don't we have plenty of those already on Radio 4? Why throw out something unique in favour of something you have almost every day? A public service broadcaster does not need to chase ratings, and that audience of 50+year-olds is already incredibly well-served on Radio 4.

The press release says that Radio 4 is committed to family-friendly listening, and then lists some drama and story programmes. The comments above point to readings on Radio 7. That's good, but where's the factual programming?

My discussion with my son took place after an absolutely excellent programme in which David Starkey discussed the life of Henry VIII with schoolchildren. Tell me where else my child, or we as a family, can listen to programmes of this quality - interesting, age-appropriate, factual discussion, especially on history and science? Don't we think that kind of programming is worth doing? Is the Ö÷²¥´óÐã saying that this is not an audience which should not be served on radio, even if it isn't very large? If you don't do it, who will?

Children like my son are the Radio 4 listeners of tomorrow. I grew up listening to Radio 4's children's programmes, and have listened to Radio 4 throughout my adult life. I only hope my son will do the same - at the moment every time he hears the "This is Radio 4" announcement, he says "I hate Radio 4."


* figures from - Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 3 attracts 11512000 hours of listening per week which equals an average of c. 68500 listeners per hour.