Your own fantasy Radio Programme on Archaeology

[BAJR]

Imagine a Radio 4 offer for a magazine programme on archaeology?


What you would like to see in such a programme? Strands run weekly for a period of about 5-6 weeks or each series. A typical magazine programme has about five items, some of them will be recurring items with different subjects each week.

So to give a few examples you could have things like: an item where we answer a listeners question, an item where someone explains a find,then a featured dig, a report from a volunteer, a news round up, an archaeologist joining a metal detectorist to see what they find...

You also have a range of subjects that you might cover - volunteering, digs round the world, technology and archaeology, archaeology news, learning about different time periods and types of sites etc.


So, if you were making a fantasy archaeology programme - what sort of things would you want to hear?
What sort of range of things would you want it to cover?

For example if we were making such a programme now - what would be your top things to put in it?


Tell me what your fantasy programme would have in it, and you never know.

---- to be honest, this is more than just a fantasy ---- it is very very real. But I need it quick!

[Greyfriar]

Perhaps a regular piece on a monument or group of monuments which are at risk, dilapadated or generally in need of some TLC - there's plenty of them and it would be useful to highlight the fact to a wider audience that there's more to our heritage than Stonehenge, some castles and stately homes...

[ken_whittaker]

My choice would be:

slot based on an hybrid model of the broadsheet 'Country Diaries' format, with a bit of R4 From Our Own Correspondents/Thought for the Day thrown in ... regular dispatches from a number of regional activist correspondents able to express an appreciation of the archaeological dimension of sense of place and reflect on its contemporary values;

arts slot, providing a suitable critique of fiction authors, artisits and exhibitions that claim the mantle of 'archaeological' approaches, perspectives and methods.... there's a lot of them out there, not just in the UK. Its about time we returned the favour and exercise the right to judge how credible are the 'creatives' and thier often idiosynchratic take on the discipline. Perhaps could also highlight the more innovative museum interpretations where there is a strong creative element. Suspect this could generate a fair amount of debate and feedback;

Essential - a science slot....suggests Alex 'Bollock' Bayliss as an obvious regular contributor;

A review slot...highlighting research or guidance that has implications for public policy on heritage management and visitor promotion....would be useful for getting regulators and politicians to engage in public discourse on the subject, perhaps in discussion with practitioners who are directly affected;

A slot that adds an international perspective, we can be far too myopic in the UK.

Thats about it, although I just realised that I have simply wrapped archaeology around the Farming Today format....still might work, we seem to be as adept at bemoaning our lot as the farming community... although to give them thier dues, at least they are around when it goes to air at 5.45am, suspect we'd have to look at a far later timeslot.

[P Prentice]

theoretical debate by archaeologists, anthropologists and philosophers and summation by an historian

[deadlylampshade]

Hypnotic regression therapy for random archaeologists to their favourite historical character so that we can understand all the very puzzling things that archaeology throws at us...

[kevin wooldridge]

As long as there was still room for a twice daily 'Archers' you can fill up the other 23.5 hours of radio with whatever you like....

[BAJR]

Well Archers did do archaeology once if I remember... though perhaps more in teh Fenlands model!

The pitch is in now... so lets see what happens!