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02/01/2007

Dylan on baseball

If you’d told me that I’d ever sit down for an hour to listen to a radio programme about baseball, you’d have been referred to a simpatico psychiatrist I know.

Many aspects of American culture captivate me. But not the parochial major sports. Baseball? American football? Basketball? I’d rather watch paint dry.

So when BBC 6 Music started its broadcasts of Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour series last night, somewhat bizarrely, with the baseball programme, I decided to give it five minutes - just to ensure the tape was running OK.

I listened. And listened. I was captivated - by the DJ’s voice, the witty delivery, the beautifully crafted script. No matter that he and his chosen music concerned baseball, here was radio at its very best – engaging, stimulating, even occasionally challenging.

For the first time in decades, I sat in front of the radio, listening intently, without distraction, for an hour – no magazines, no books, no mobile phones, no conversation, no booze. Just me and the radio. Dylan’s mastery of the medium had enticed me back to the days before rock n roll… before TV… before limitless choice.

Masterful, must-listen radio.



Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour continues on BBC 6 Music at 2100 every Friday from 12 January.

And on BBC Radio 2:
21.03.07 @ 2100-2200
28.03.07 @ 2100-2200
04.04.07 @ 2100-2200
06.04.07 @ 2000-2100
07.04.07 @ 2000-2100
08.04.07 @ 2000-2100
09.04.07 @ 2000-2100
11.04.07 @ 2100-2200
18.04.07 @ 2100-2200
25.04.07 @ 2100-2200
07.05.07 @ 2100-2300 (2 shows)

www.bbc.co.uk/radio2

And remember – BBC Radio shows are streamed online and also accessible from their websites for seven days after broadcast (UK only, for licensing reasons, apparently).




Gerry Smith

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