Radio: A True Love Story (Hardcover)

This book is not a history of radio nor is it a manual or how-to guide. It is, however, filled with delightful personal anecdotes about speach radio spanning the corridors of the BBC World Service in Bush House, through the early years of BBC Local Radio (she worked at Radio Oxford) to the heart of BBC Radio at Broadcasting House. Libby's joy in talk radio is clearly with the Radio Four style and her attitudes hark back to Lord Reith and the BBC's founding fathers. This is not a criticism for it makes an interesting backdrop to today's radio services. Not for Libby the shock-jock approach to the 'phone-in nor the music driven disc-jockey speak but the (apparently) slower-paced world of radio documentaries and features and the fast-moving news and current affairs departments are her chosen arenas. The book is filled with personal stories and she paints superb pictures of the characters that inhabit the world of the wireless (management, production staff and presenters). The book is also an appeal for speach radio which, she feels, is too easily overlooked in a BBC obsessed with television ratings in the digital era. Yet the book has hopes that this unique brand of public service radio will survive.

Radio: A True Love Story is an engaging read. It doesn't overpower the reader with names and places but peppers the tales with personalities who add colour to the tale. Libby's love of the medium comes through loud and clear and that is what makes this a joy to read and recommend.

The book takes a lighthearted look at Purvess' rise through the ranks of local radio before breaking through the glass ceiling of male dominated national serious radio. Interspersed throughout are some genuinely interesting snippets of social histroy charting the development of radio broadcasting from the early days of Reith through to the explosion of mass commercial radio later in the century.

Funny at times, Purvess intelligently manages to convey the importance that radio has had on our day to day lives.

This book is not a history of radio nor is it a manual or how-to guide. It is, however, filled with delightful personal anecdotes about speach radio spanning the corridors of the BBC World Service in Bush House, through the early years of BBC Local Radio (she worked at Radio Oxford) to the heart of BBC Radio at Broadcasting House. Libby's joy in talk radio is clearly with the Radio Four style and her attitudes hark back to Lord Reith and the BBC's founding fathers. This is not a criticism for it makes an interesting backdrop to today's radio services. Not for Libby the shock-jock approach to the 'phone-in nor the music driven disc-jockey speak but the (apparently) slower-paced world of radio documentaries and features and the fast-moving news and current affairs departments are her chosen arenas. The book is filled with personal stories and she paints superb pictures of the characters that inhabit the world of the wireless (management, production staff and presenters). The book is also an appeal for speach radio which, she feels, is too easily overlooked in a BBC obsessed with television ratings in the digital era. Yet the book has hopes that this unique brand of public service radio will survive.

'Radio: A True Love Story' is an engaging read. It doesn't overpower the reader with names and places but peppers the tales with personalities who add colour to the tale. Libby's love of the medium comes through loud and clear and that is what makes this a joy to read and recommend.