The radio industry, talking shop with itself.
Stuart Clarkson and Roy Martin run a conversational podcast about the UK radio business, recorded everywhere from Radiodays Europe in Riga to the Radio Festival. Long-form career interviews sit alongside industry tributes, awards coverage and shop-talk about how stations actually get made.
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Radio people rarely get interviewed properly about their own craft. The Radio Today Programme exists to fix that. Stuart Clarkson and Roy Martin front a British industry podcast that came back after about six years off air, revived after conversations at Radiodays Europe 2026 in Riga, Latvia, where person after person told them to start it up again. They said no, repeatedly, and then did it anyway. The format is loose but the questions are pointed. Long career interviews form the spine: Paul Rowley, freshly departed from BBC Local Radio after covering Westminster for 37 years, walking back through hearing Alan Freeman's Pick of the Pops at seven, the first week of Radio City in Liverpool, LBC, IRN and a career he says he never applied for. Andy Peebles appears in an archive conversation from 2017, published after his death at 76, recalling the John Lennon interview in New York in December 1980, plus Piccadilly, BBC Local Radio, Smooth, Gold and 13 years at Radio 1. Tributes are handled with care rather than solemnity. A special on John Evington, who died after cancer and liver cirrhosis, gathers friends and colleagues from an industry he joined in 1978 at Piccadilly Radio in Manchester, covers his 22 years at Signal Radio, a group programming role with the Wireless Group, and his later push into small-scale DAB. Awards and industry rituals get their own episodes, including Radio Academy 30 Under 30 with Sam Bailey and several of the listed names such as Scarlett O'Malley, Nels Hilton, Rosina Bernard and Katie Johnston. From the Radio Festival there are conversations with Helen Thomas about the pleasure of a room full of radio people, and with the head of 1 Extra about an unconventional route to running a national network. Programming strategy surfaces naturally in these conversations, including a candid account of how Greatest Hits Radio grew, why signing well-known broadcasters mattered, and the argument that great music radio depends on presenters who can contextualise songs with authenticity. The vocabulary is unapologetically trade: group programming, community licences, small-scale DAB. Nothing is over-explained, but nothing is gatekept either, because the explanations arrive as anecdotes rather than definitions. Episodes open with a bit of nonsense and turn serious fast. They close with a request for guests to come forward, and a cheerfully sceptical take on the usual like-and-subscribe routine. Conference specials, obituary specials, awards specials and straight interviews all sit in the same feed, which makes the archive feel less like a series and more like a running record of a business and the people in it. It is nostalgic without being sentimental, and practical without being dry.
Made for: People who work in radio and audio, from presenters and producers to programmers and station managers, plus listeners fascinated by how stations and shows are actually built. It suits anyone who knows the difference between commercial, BBC and community radio and wants the stories behind the credits.
What sets it apart: Rather than reviewing radio from the outside, it reports from inside the trade, with hosts who use industry shorthand naturally and can pull an archive interview off the shelf when a broadcaster dies. Conference dispatches, awards coverage, tributes and long career interviews share one feed.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
RadioToday Programme turns industry interviews, event conversations and broadcasting memories into a detailed oral history of UK radio.
RadioToday Programme treats radio as both an industry and a collection of working lives. Stuart Clarkson moves between event-floor conversations, career interviews and archive recordings, asking how stations change, how presenters develop and what broadcasting institutions…
Radio's backstage door swings open, if presenter moves and Ofcom policy both count as gossip.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A loose radio comeback that sharpens into a useful conversation about presenters, momentum, and network pressure.
RadioToday Programme returns after roughly six years away, with Stuart Clarkson and Roy Martin recording at Radio Days in Latvia. The comeback opens in a loose, self-aware mood, giving Matt Lomax credit for making it happen and Ricky Lee for nudging it along.
Andy Peebles's radio life comes through in warm, detailed stories about Lennon, Radio 1 and the culture around both.
An archive interview turns into a compact portrait of Andy Peebles: a broadcaster with a long memory, a feel for detail and a career shaped by proximity to major music figures.
A warm festival conversation about radio careers, network ambition, and the value of gathering in person again.
Radio Festival 2021 catches the industry easing back into the room after a year online. It opens with Helen Thomas, Chair of the Radio Academy and Head of Radio 2, reflecting on the pleasure of hearing different voices in person again, while also acknowledging how the Academy's…
A brisk career lookback connects Toby Anstis's TV beginnings, Heart milestone, and a pirate family-tree detour.
Toby Anstis's 20 years at Heart gives this episode a clean reason to range across the route that led there: a psychology degree, a BBC One broom-cupboard handover from Andy Peters, and the overnight Heart show where the radio chapter began.
A radio interview where a dream job is inseparable from the life that made it matter.
Dean McCulloch's conversation with Daryl Morris is most compelling when it treats radio as something shaped by lived experience, not just career ambition.
A year-end radio discussion uses live, on-demand, and local speech to rethink service design.
The Radio Today Programme wraps 2019 with a year-end look at where radio may be heading, with Stuart Clarkson's pre-Christmas man flu leaving more of the conversation to Roy Martin and James Cridland.
Anna Martin interviews writers and couples about the real stories behind Modern Love essays.
Knox and Jamie turn celebrity gossip, film deep dives, and streaming news into weekly comedy.
Two hosts revisit one film, show, or book a week, plus long personal tangents.
A Brazilian journalist spends years reinvestigating unsolved child disappearances in Paraná.
Cris Bartz and Juva Lauer alternate debate and interview episodes on Brazilian social issues.
Robert Wright interviews specialists on Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Taiwan, and open-source AI.
Daryl Morris interviews Dean McCullough, host of the Gaydio Breakfast Show, about his experiences over the past year.
Roy Martin discusses how radio double acts cope during lockdown, featuring an interview with Bush and Ritchie from Absolute Radio, plus highlights from a Radio Academy disability inclusion event.
["James Cridland argues that Global has a clear acquisition strategy while Bauer still looks unsettled after buying UKRD, Lynx, Cellador, and Wireless.", "Stuart Clarkson and Roy Martin then run through 2019 changes at Capital, Heart, Smooth, LBC News, Greatest Hits Radio, Scala with Mayo, Country Hits Radio, and Magic of the Musicals.", "The conversation turns to BBC moves like Zoe Ball on Breakfast, Sarah Cox on Drive, Lauren Laverne on Desert Island Discs, John Humphrys leaving Radio 4, and the BBC's removal of UK live stations from TuneIn in favour of BBC Sounds.", "James and Roy argue that format regulation, AM shutdowns, small-scale DAB, podcasting, and ultra-local speech stations such as Alfred in Shaftesbury will shape which stations survive."]
Stuart Clarkson and Roy Martin announce the return of the Radio Today program after six years, inspired by conversations at Radiodays Europe in Riga, Latvia.
Stuart Clarkson presents an archive interview with the late radio broadcaster Andy Peebles, reflecting on his career and famous John Lennon interview.
A tribute to radio industry veteran John Evington, featuring his own reflections and memories from colleagues after his death.
This episode discusses the Radio Academy's 30 under 30 list for 2021, featuring interviews with the chair of judges and some of the honorees.
Paul Rowley discusses his 47-year career in radio journalism, including his recent departure from the BBC after 28 years.
The RadioToday Programme covers the Radio Festival 2021 in person at the News UK building in London, interviewing seven senior UK radio industry figures in quick succession.
Stuart Clarkson interviews Toby Anstis on the RadioToday Programme to mark Anstis's 20th anniversary at Heart, the UK's biggest commercial radio brand.
Rebecca Frank and Victoria Easton-Riley discuss Bauer's Women in Programming initiative, focusing on training and championing female talent in radio for International Women's Day.
Roy Martin discusses how radio double acts cope during lockdown, featuring an interview with Bush and Ritchie from Absolute Radio, plus highlights from a Radio Academy disability inclusion event.
A preview of the Radio Academy Festival 2020, featuring interviews with organizers Sam Bailey and Nick Pitts, and a chat with Roy Martin about his new car.
Stuart Clarkson discusses the return of Dr Fox to United DJs, reflects on the sudden deaths of radio presenters Chris Needs and Tomo, and previews David Lloyd's Radio Moments.