Interactive Radio and Television

The radio and television stations in the UK are quite different from the radio and television stations in the US. It's not just the structure that's different, though. It is, to a large extent, the relationships between radio, television and the public.

England has national radio and television stations, called Radio1 thru Radio5, and ITV1 and ITV2. There are stations with other names as well, but the most widely listened to radio stations are Radio1 and Radio2 and the most widely watched television stations are ITV1 and ITV2.

The radio stations, not just the national radio stations but also the local city stations, discuss a huge range of topics, from national debates and news to ASDA/Wal-Mart's recent $19 men's suit to things that happen in shows on television, especially ITV1; and ITV1 and ITV2 cover an equally broad range, throwing a couple of soaps and reality TV shows into the mix as well.

The biggest difference I noticed in both radio and TV when I first got here is that they are both very interactive with the public.
Radio DJs, all mixed up with the news and music, are continuously urging viewers and listeners to text, call in or e-mail, asking for the public's opinions, experiences and ideas regarding news items, what happened on particular television shows the night before, national policies up for debate and so on.
The television networks create shows specifically designed for viewer participation, shows that require a public vote to secure a winner, weather that winner is a person, a charity, or an organization, etc.

Whether or not you watch television doesn't necessarily matter, though, because you're going to know about popular shows weather you want to or not if you listen to the radio or read the papers; these mediums are knit together with the people, creating this mesh of general information flowing through the nation, inundating the public with both useful and utterly useless information. In any case, news spreads fast.
But most things never make it past the first day; they get talked about on the radio until everyone and their dogs are aware of the situation, then die and shrivel into almost nothing, like a sudden panic attack that everyone just wants to forget about. There are some things that are talked about consistently, though, some things that are on everyone's minds, things that bug them, like global warming and Iraq.

My favorite radio stations over here are Radio 2 and the Classical station, I think it's Radio5 or something. I haven't really listened to Radio3 or 4, but I have listened to 1, 2 and 5, assuming 5 is indeed the Classical station.
Radio1 is a very youth oriented, dance/pop type station that seems to be to be rather disjointed and confused with nothing much to say.
Radio2 is something that young people, people that want to be considered cool, don't want to admit they listen to... it's a station for "the old man," not for the old man's kid. The music on that station is a mixture of classic rock, 80's and music like that of Snow Patrol, Interpol, Michael Bauble and Scissor Sisters. It is, I think, a good mixture of music with radio shows and DJs that tend to be interesting as well as funny, plus they give regular traffic updates, which are quite handy.
The Classical station is, in my opinion, amazing. The music they play is a fantastic mixture of soothing, heart wrenching and uplifting pieces that usually go very well with the English countryside. It's not like NPR's classical music in South Florida at all .... I have a hard time listening to the classical music they play on that station. The Classical station they have here is, as I said before, amazing ... I wish I could take it with me wherever I go.