John Humphrys criticises successors on ‘irritating’ Today programme | John Humphrys
For more than three decades, John Humphrys has delighted and infuriated listeners on the Today show as he confronts the nation’s politicians in his distinctive, pointed style.
The former presenter of the BBC’s flagship radio news programme, now a listener himself, is equally striking in his assessment of the current version of the programme. Is it his decision? Frustrating.
Humphrys writes in the Guardian: “After 33 years of being the guy on radio who has been informing (and probably sometimes annoying) listeners, I am now the man shouting on his radio about how offensive the show has become.”
The focus of his ire is not the tone of the interviews, which were often the focus of complaints during his reign. Instead, his critique speaks of congratulatory exchanges between presenters, enthusiastic greetings for interviewees, and persistent rhetorical tics.
“It’s not the things that really matter that start the boredom,” Humphrys writes. “This is what challenges the meaning of IQ. In my new listener mode, IQ means ‘irritation quotient,’ and this has a lot to do with the way presenters communicate.”
“You’ve surely noticed the unconditional gratitude that host and guest show to each other. There are fewer and fewer guests who don’t feel the need to curry favor with the interviewer. ‘Thank you SO much for inviting me!’ has become standard. The correct answer to this should be: ‘On the contrary. ‘There wouldn’t be a show if there wasn’t someone to interview.’
“Instead, there is a heated competition between host and guest. Again, some hosts are more guilty than others.
“So what are we to make of the presenters occasionally making small talk with each other about the importance (or otherwise) of an interview one of them has just completed? As astute listeners may have noticed, even some of the presenters seem extremely uncomfortable with this.”
He also expresses annoyance when a contributor “or, God forbid, even the occasional presenter or reporter finds it a real challenge to complete an interview without ‘knowing…’ probably followed by ‘So…’.”
Humphrys features host Amol Rajan, who announced he was leaving the show to pursue his own business in the creative economy.
Humphrys writes: “The best example of this may be Amol Rajan’s insistence on always emphasizing the definite and indefinite articles in any sentence.” he writes. “In his world, the ‘A’ bomb went off in the Palace of ‘Westminster’. Dear reader, I apologize if you never noticed it, but if you haven’t, I bet you will now.”
Despite Humphrys’ criticism, there is genuine dismay at the program with Rajan’s departure; higher-ups see his engaging style as a crucial part of keeping him relevant.
And despite the upheaval of the digital revolution in the media industry, Today still appeals to more than 5 million listeners a week.
Humphrys accepts that BBC executives may have had an idea about the feedback he offered about the programme. “I think if I were the editor of Today I might have thought of the phrase ‘pain in the ass,’” he writes.
He also says he may stop listening if budget cuts to the program go further, and acknowledges that the program is more protected than others. Previous rounds of cuts have seen the show’s dedicated correspondents disappear.
“Otiose? Almost always,” Humphrys writes of the series. “Disturbing? Deeply. But would I really die on this hill? Probably not. Then again… you know what?”
“And if the big bosses insist on cutting its budget, it sometimes has to use last night’s TV news and have less ‘Today’ and more ‘Yesterday’ – then Radio 3, here I come!”
