hetismij, DH and I have toyed with the idea of moving to France, but I am deterred by the fact that I would be unable to listen to the BBC in the way I do now; waking to the Today prog, enjoying Radio 4/4 extra during the day, and tuning into TMS are joys that i would find it difficult to live without.

now if someone tells me that I will be able to get Radio 5 live & live extra whilst i work in my french garden, I might consider it.

>>Ruth nearly running off with the hired help is probably the last storyline I followed.<<

Aww naww..........!

(Shows how out of touch I am, too. I switched to R3 years ago when I realised the Today programme was more irritation than it was worth).

>>now if someone tells me that I will be able to get Radio 5 live & live extra whilst i work in my french garden, I might consider it.<<

Of course you can with internet radio. Either a specific device, or a laptop or tablet or smartphone + Wifi + Bluetooth headphones + TuneIn or similar app. No probs (subject to the limitations of battery life): I'm listening to R3 with a cup of tea in a Tirolean hotel as I type this.

Ann - Radio 5 live is just about audible here on a normal radio, but it does suffer dreadfully from atmospherics. At least R4 only gets bad during a thunderstorms.

We have all BBC radio stations (except WS which no longer broadcasts to western Europe) on our cable, but I still like my old clock radio, and tranny to carry around with me. Maybe it's time for us to invest in some remote speakers and get all high tech about things.

I never listen on the internet - and indeed many programmes are not available on the net for copyright reasons. Can't listen to TMS on the net for instance, unless I were to set up a proxy server, which I can't be bothered with.

Of course you can with internet radio. Either a specific device, or a laptop or tablet or smartphone + Wifi + Bluetooth headphones + TuneIn or similar app. No probs (subject to the limitations of battery life>>

sounds complicated Patrick, and then there are the copyright problems that Hetismij refers to. like her, I just want to walk out into the garden with my tranny. [no, stop it.... I am channelling Brian Johnstone as I write....]

This brings to mind that old favourite by the Master Singers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z2jwDcb9wI

"Over three quarters of the population never even listen to the radio station (Radio 4) which broadcasts it. Interviewing me for a programme on the station this week, even one of its presenters admitted she thought only old farts like me, in my kind of cosy rural microtown, listened to the station for more than half an hour a week."

I was horrified at this paragraph - I was about to join the revoloution and man the baricades. In the current UK climate of define Britishness and British values, I put Radio 4 very near the top of my list.

If the average "consumer" is only averaging 1/2 an hour a day, then I am probably skewing the figures alarmingly (And that is without adding Test Match Special)

me too, Willit, though I listen to TMS on Radio 5 live extra so that doesn't count.

However, most of my friends of my age are also Radio 4 fans. Where things change are with my younger colleagues - despite their undoubted brains, very few of them listen to radio at all it appears. I suspect that they weren't brought up in a Radio 4 household. My kids who were do listen but only when we're here - whether they will change as they get older I don't know.

PS - I owe my best exam result in my finals to You and Yours - fancy that!

>>sounds complicated Patrick, and then there are the copyright problems that Hetismij refers to. like her, I just want to walk out into the garden with my tranny. [no, stop it.... I am channelling Brian Johnstone as I write....]<<

It isn't, though there are lots of options depending on exactly what sort of thing you want to do while listening to internet radio (ooer missis)*. For radio broadcasts, the BBC doesn't seem to mind, even welcomes, listeners over the internet, as far as I can tell from presenters comments on R3. Copyright doesn't seem to be much of an issue (except where they're carrying broadcasts from other people, such as the live relay from the Met Opera in New York).

*e.g., whether you want to be tethered by a loudspeaker or cabled headphones, whether you want to carry the equipment around with you, as you can do with a smartphone, and suchlike questions. There are just different ways to use the internet to listen to radio, but the basic principle is simple: if you've got the internet, you can listen to BBC radio (and thousands of other radio stations too) on it anywhere in the world.

Alan Bennett : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01p2yb9

There are two sides to this story.

As a method of conveying information The LW Shipping News is badly dated. Any of us with a boat capable of need the sort of information that they provide have on line Internet weather overlays on our chart plotters. I am old school and would never rely on technology over charts and skills. However, some of the latest kit on the market is invaluable.

The second aspect is the unbelievable comfort which is gained from bunking out on The Clyde, knowing that you are facing NWesterlies and a 20 foot swell the next day.....whilst listening to the forecast.

It is an old friend.

Patrick, unless you have a U.K. IP address there are restrictions on what you can listen to on the BBC. So if Ann moved to France she would need a proxy server to listen to all the BBC offers radio wise, or hope her cable provider carries it.
The Beeb is popular in the Netherlands so cable providers here normally carry the radio as well as TV though we have to pay extra for 3 & 4, worth it for Only Connect alone btw.

But depending on where in France, a £50 UK freesat decoder and dish would get you most UK radio channels as well as the TV. Add a pair of wireless headphones, and Voila!

>>Patrick, unless you have a U.K. IP address there are restrictions on what you can listen to on the BBC.<<

Television is indeed impossible without a proxy service of some kind, but I don't seem to have had any trouble listening to BBC radio when connected through local wifi in Paris, Barcelona, Hamburg, Vienna and the Tirol - except once for a third party relay (the Met Opera in New York).

Patrick - when we were in Valencia recently, our internet connection to the cricket was blocked for some reason -can't imagine why. perhaps there are more rights issues for cricket than there are for classical music? i'm sure that indoors there wouldn't be a problem that we couldn't solce but it's mobile access that seems to more difficult.

it seems a pretty petty thing to be worried about but if you're moving for quality of life, the little details matter!