Today (BBC Radio 4)

Today
GenreNews, current events, and factual
Running time
  • 120–180 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home stationBBC Home Service (1957–1967)
BBC Radio 4 (1967–present)
Hosted by
Edited byOwenna Griffiths
Recording studio
Original release28 October 1957 (1957-10-28)
WebsiteProgramme website
Twitter

Today, colloquially known as the Today programme, is BBC Radio 4's long-running morning news and current-affairs radio programme. Broadcast on Monday to Saturday from 06:00 to 09:00 (starting on Saturday at 07:00), it is produced by BBC News and is the highest-rated programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks.[1] In-depth political interviews and reports are interspersed with regular news bulletins, as well as Thought for the Day. It has been voted the most influential news programme in Britain in setting the political agenda,[2] with an average weekly listening audience around 6 million.[3][4]

  1. ^ "Wogan's listenership close to 8m". BBC News. 2 February 2006.
  2. ^ "BBC News tops MPs' survey". BBC Newswatch. 14 April 2005.
  3. ^ "Rajar radio figures round-up: Radio 4's Today loses 300,000 listeners following departure of Jim Naughtie". Press Gazette (Press release). Progressive Media International. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016. According to figures released by Rajar, it had an average reach of 6.8m listeners per week in the first three months of 2018, compared with 7.1m in the first quarter of 2015.
  4. ^ Sherwin, Adam (4 August 2016). "Brexit effect helps BBC Radio 4 Today programme win record audience". Today's weekly audience soared to 7.35m listeners [...] The figure exceeded the programme's previous record high of 7.18m in 2011, according to figures from listening bureau Rajar.