Essential Classics - The Continuing Debate

[french frank]

No, that doesn’t suit me at all! I want a piece of paper I can annotate in green ink. I hate reading stuff on line. I want to go through RT when it arrives on a Tuesday, read about new programmes, drama etc. on telly and see the cast lists, see at a glance the details of R3 and R4 and so on. It’s specially useful here in Scotland as even the Guardian doesn’t give the variations in TV programmes and doesn’t list BBC Alba or the new BBC Scotland channel.
I rest my case.

There is a printable pdf. Doesn't have pictures though :-P

[french frank]

There is a printable pdf. Doesn't have pictures though :-P

Bother . Of course, I was forgetting there are people who still watch TV, but you did mention Through the Night.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

“Why are you still buying the Radio Times?”

Habit and (misplaced?) loyalty. I’ve grown up with it, never missed a copy even on holiday. We always had it at home including during wartime and my sister and I each carried on with it when we left home. Where else can I see details of ‘Through the Night’? Sad to see the way it’s gone of course.

I stopped buying the Radio Times when Alison Graham started forcing her opinions on readers. She’s saved me a fortune.

[LMcD]

I stopped buying the Radio Times when Alison Graham started forcing her opinions on readers. She’s saved me a fortune.

I got fed up with:
Alison Graham and her attempts at being controversial
Out-of-date programme details
Incorrect programme details and other inaccuracies
Lengthy articles about programmes/topics/people that are of no interest to either of us
Somebody's obsession with repeats of 'Dad's Army'.
I use the Radio and TV guide in Saturday's 'Times' and supplement this with information easily obtainable online. While the latter isn't entirely error-free, it's at least usually up-to-date.
It's scarcely surprising that the circulation of the 'Radio Times' continues to fall.

[oddoneout]

I too was a lifetime RT reader until I realised that the only bit I actually wanted and needed(the R3 schedule) was becoming useless due to lack of space and high error content. I use the local paper's weekend supplement as a basis to which I add daily scribbles from online TV and R3 schedules about things I want to hear/watch. The money saved from not getting RT pays for the paper and as a bonus I get all sorts of material that is of interest and relevance - unlike the magazine trappings of RT.

[Dave2002]

We gave up years ago, though with a couple of lapses when there were very cheap offers and I also wanted to have a direct debit to set up an interest bearing account, which I thought would work with a subscription. Sometimes there are offers in the RT which are quite good, and could arguably cover the cost ot the issue - but if you know where to look the offers can be had without actually buying the magazine. We hardly miss it at all, though we do usually buy the Christmas edition.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes - the Christmas double issue is the only time that I ever buy it (though I suppose that makes me a "regular" customer?) - and that more out of "tradition" than anything really useful in the magazine. Last year's (ie, the most recent) I found tedious, and something of a waste of the fiver it cost.

For telly listings, the cheapest weekly (the one with the same cover of miserable-looking soap characters on the cover every week - and the headline telling me that a character I'd never before heard of, and whom I didn't know had gone away, was "back") does for me - and Andrew's online listings for Radio. Anything I miss is usually "filled in" from comments on the Forum.

[gurnemanz]

The criticisms of RT are all valid. I don't need 95% of it and am not yet in the market for stair lifts of step-in baths. I do still find it offers useful immediate access to the bits I do want - main TV channels on one double page with cast details etc, also niche channels like Talking Pictures and some doc channels that the daily paper doesn't bother with. I only listen to Radios 3, 4 and 5 and it has at least some pertinent details on eg concert performers, opera and radio play castlists all in one place. I know you can get this on you mobile but this is can be fiddly and less readable. I would miss it and the only reason I would give it up would be to save £3 a week, but it's still just about worth it.

[Serial_Apologist]

I find it useful for a quick look for programmes I want for the week, and indicate in red biro, a paper clip to quickly access the day's pages for TV and radio.

[cloughie]

I find it useful for a quick look for programmes I want for the week, and indicate in red biro, a paper clip to quickly access the day's pages for TV and radio.

I bet the biro will outlast you!

[Serial_Apologist]

I bet the biro will outlast you!

On the contrary cloughie - since Thatcher's introduction of neoliberal economics, Bic biros - which are the best - mostly come in clumps, the majority of which are blue and black, with maybe one or two red ones in the pack if you're lucky. The influence of red on our young people is obviously considered subliminally subversive. I had to go over the road to the post office, and buy five separately.

[teamsaint]

On the contrary cloughie - since Thatcher's introduction of neoliberal economics, Bic biros - which are the best - mostly come in clumps, the majority of which are blue and black, with maybe one or two red ones in the pack if you're lucky. The influence of red on our young people is obviously considered subliminally subversive. I had to go over the road to the post office, and buy five separately.

Fill yer boots, S-A. 10 for £2.44

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B006YRR2KY/ref=sr_1_6_olp?keywords=red+ballpoint+pens&qid=1554729758&s=gateway&sr=8-6

( Shouldn't you be listening to the Hoddinott Variants.......)

[cloughie]

On the contrary cloughie - since Thatcher's introduction of neoliberal economics, Bic biros - which are the best - mostly come in clumps, the majority of which are blue and black, with maybe one or two red ones in the pack if you're lucky. The influence of red on our young people is obviously considered subliminally subversive. I had to go over the road to the post office, and buy five separately.

No, my point was that maybe you do not need to use tge biro too much because of the lack of things you might wish to watch or listen to! Maybe you find more gems than I do!

[LezLee]

On the contrary cloughie - since Thatcher's introduction of neoliberal economics, Bic biros - which are the best - mostly come in clumps, the majority of which are blue and black, with maybe one or two red ones in the pack if you're lucky. The influence of red on our young people is obviously considered subliminally subversive. I had to go over the road to the post office, and buy five separately.

You’ve actually got a Post Office?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

You’ve actually got a Post Office?

So have we - it used to be just the local Greengrocer's, before it "expanded". Does everything a Post Office is needed for - with the advantage of being open more regularly: before the "proper" Post Office shut down a couple of years ago, there used to be regular queues waiting outside in the rain at 2:05pm waiting for the staff to get back for the 2:00pm after-lunch opening. (Amusing ourselves by reading the "Keep This Post Office Open!" poster in the window.)