Americana (radio series)
Encyclopedia
Americana was a British radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4
from spring 2009 to autumn 2011. It offered a "mix of discussion, interviews and features, with a focus on the voices of ordinary Americans" and was touted as the "successor for the late Alistair Cooke
's Letter from America
."
Americana premiered May 31, 2009 with Matt Frei
as presenter; According to Frei, he expected listeners to Americana would hear "what America is talking, arguing, fretting, laughing and, yes, dreaming about. We hope to surprise, entertain and inform. And by letting America itself do most of the talking we promise never to be dull." After Frei left the BBC in May 2011, Jonny Dymond took over as presenter.
In July 2011, BBC Radio 4 revealed that Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams
, "interest[ed] in wider internationalism and less emphasis on the US", decided to cancel Americana, effective in autumn. The show's final episode was broadcast on September 11, 2011; the topic was the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
from spring 2009 to autumn 2011. It offered a "mix of discussion, interviews and features, with a focus on the voices of ordinary Americans" and was touted as the "successor for the late Alistair Cooke
Alistair Cooke
Alfred Alistair Cooke KBE was a British/American journalist, television personality and broadcaster. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and Alistair Cooke's America, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theater from 1971 to 1992...
's Letter from America
Letter from America
Letter from America was a weekly 15-minute radio series on BBC Radio 4, previously called the Home Service, which ran for 2,869 shows from 24 March 1946 to 20 February 2004, making it the longest-running speech radio programme in history...
."
Americana premiered May 31, 2009 with Matt Frei
Matt Frei
Matthias Frei better known as Matt Frei is a German-born British television news journalist and writer, presently the Washington, D.C. correspondent for Channel 4 News.-Personal life:...
as presenter; According to Frei, he expected listeners to Americana would hear "what America is talking, arguing, fretting, laughing and, yes, dreaming about. We hope to surprise, entertain and inform. And by letting America itself do most of the talking we promise never to be dull." After Frei left the BBC in May 2011, Jonny Dymond took over as presenter.
In July 2011, BBC Radio 4 revealed that Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams
Gwyneth Williams
Gwyneth Williams is the controller of BBC Radio 4. She grew up in South Africa and attended St Hugh's College, Oxford.-Earlier career:...
, "interest[ed] in wider internationalism and less emphasis on the US", decided to cancel Americana, effective in autumn. The show's final episode was broadcast on September 11, 2011; the topic was the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.