I've been listening to some old episodes of Ed Reardon's Week over the last few days. I'd forgotten how enjoyable it is, even though (or maybe because) half the references go clean over my head.
For a while I was considering an attempt at a Reardonesque diatribe for this post, complete with disparaging references to Radio 4 Extra (extra what, precisely?) and its schedulers (no doubt composed entirely of twelve year-olds) but neither my vocabulary nor my vitriol is up to scratch.
And so I shall resort to my own medium to make my point: data.
There have been seven series' of Ed Reardon's Week, running between 2005 to 2011. I've looked at the BBC programme pages and the number of broadcasts each series has had. The initial broadcasts of series one to three pre-date the records so I freely admit that this isn't exactly a rigorous, "More Or Less" level analysis.
This graph shows the number of times each series of Ed Reardon's Week has been broadcast since 2007 (1-3) or since its first broadcast (4+). I've eliminated direct repeats but included repeats on 4 Extra that followed more than a month after an initial broadcast on Radio 4.
Well, that doesn't look terrible but it's not exactly comparing like with like. Series seven has had the same number of broadcasts in 14 months as series four has since November 2007. How could I express that as a graph, you might ask. You might, but no reasonable person would.
Nevertheless the answer is, like this:
Due to the fact that I'm still not quite up to speed on Excel 2010, the calculations aren't as elegant as I'd have liked but this graph is attempting to show a sort of broadcast-per-day for each series.
The time period for each is measured from the date of the first broadcast recorded on the programme page (so the caveat stands about series 1-3).
I realise that this post has turned into a exercise in how to thoroughly alienate your reader but the point I'm trying to make is this: 4 Extra, please stop repeatedly broadcasting the first two series' of programmes. Ed Reardon is only one example of many great comedies that are stuck in a repeating loop of their early years. Occasionally the third season comes along after a six months or so (Vent!) but, more often than not, series one starts again a year later.
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| It's okay if this graph makes you feel that I need to get out more. It makes me feel the same way. |
I do realise that 4 Extra is all about repeats. I love that! My listening experience would be a lot narrower without the fabulous range and depth of the 4 Extra schedule. I also realise that new listeners are probably more likely to stick with something if they can hear it from the beginning
But please, I'm begging you 4 Extra, consider the graphs, look at your own records. Series four hasn't been broadcast for four years. Surely longer-term listeners deserve the reward of something new from time to time?
Because the alternative is more graphs. And no one wants that.
If I were cynical I'd say the beeb are rationing the later repeats because as of 2008 they've been flogging Ed's shows on CD. But of course, I'm not.
ReplyDeleteNice graphs btw. No pie charts though?
Thanks! That explanation hadn't occurred to me, probably due to insufficient cynicism. I shall work on that.
DeleteThere are no pie charts because of the time-based element of the data. As the first bar graph shows, series 4, 5 & 6 have had the same number of repeats (therefore the same area of the pie) but counts alone can't show the fact that the time since last broadcast is so long.
You got me thinking though and I decided I needed a bigger sample. I looked at programmes that have at least four series and counted the number of unique broadcasts for each series.
Here's a pie chart (hope it works).
The results actually show less bias towards the earlier series than I'd expected but I've not worked out the time-since-first-broadcast figures yet.
For reference, the programmes included are: Absolute Power; Bleak Expectations; Clare in the Community; Count Arthur Strong; Ed Reardon's Week; Old Harry's Game; & Revolting People (because they're just ones I could think of.)
Obviously there's the same caveat that these figures contain only the broadcasts on the BBC site so there will be a number of earlier broadcasts missing. There's also a chance that some of the later series are not yet eligible for repeat on 4 Extra but most don't fall into that category.
Nice pie chart. I know what you mean about needing to represent the time component. Maybe have overlaid spokes emanating from the centre of the pie to represent the time component since initial broadcast? This might be a lot of work but I'm thinking you could get the beeb to do it for you under a 'Freedom of Information' request? Gotta be worth a try.
DeleteI think you may be confusing "lot of work" with "fun data challenge"! As someone who has been on the receiving end of Freedom of Information requests, I'm determined that I'll never inflict them on anyone else. So I've been thinking about how to represent this data in a pie chart without losing the time element and here's the result. (I've reverted to just Ed Reardon stats for this)
DeleteI'm actually a lot more pleased with the result than I thought I would be. The width of the pie sectors still represent the number of broadcasts but the concentric circles each represent a six month period. If a line is present, that's when it was broadcast. For example, series 1 was broadcast in the second half of 2007, the second half of 2008, the first half of 2010 and the first half of 2011.
The areas in themselves have no direct mathematical significance but they do give visual weight to more recent broadcasts over older ones.
Thanks for the suggestion, I think only More or Less could tell me if this is actually a sound statistical analysis but I'm certainly happy with it. This has turned out to be an even better way of demonstrating why 4 Extra should broadcast series four, five and six!
Brilliant!! This could easily be the basis of a T-Shirt design.
DeleteI have no doubt that when the Controller of Radio 4 Extra sees this he will have to think again.
Hehe are you going to tell them or shall I?!
DeleteThough should it be a T-Shirt? It might be more fitting if it were some utterly pointless promotional item that Ed would first steal, then be scathing about. Probably with a literary pun-based slogan courtesy of a twelve-year-old head of 'brand'.
On second thoughts, T-Shirts would be easier!
And for anyone interested in graphs, here are some more.
ReplyDeleteHaving stumbled on this post last year, I thought it worth mentioning that series 4 started another airing this Sunday (5th May).
ReplyDelete