Charlie Connelly's new book, Last Train to Hilversum: A Journey in Search of the Magic of Radio, explores the history and the future of radio.
The title comes from the small town outside Amsterdam where Dutch radio was born, and which remains the home of Dutch media to this day. The Netherlands was one of the first nations to have a radio broadcasting system.
Charlie joined us on The Last Word to talk about the book, and described his reasons for writing it.
"Ninety percent of adults in Britain listen to the radio every week. Radio is probably bigger than it's ever been, so I thought it was a good time to reflect on where radio has come from and where it's going."
"Radio is quite a self-effacing medium. I don't think radio celebrates itself enough."
Charlie says we're at a tipping point in radio history in terms of technological advancements, but he has no desire to understand exactly how radio works because he thinks it would ruin the magic of the medium if he did.
He thinks radio has an advantage over TV in that you are forced to use your imagination rather than being spoon-fed images.
"Radio has that shared intimacy. You have to go to television, but radio comes to you. It sparks your imagination, you have to create pictures in your head."
Charlie says he is a fan of podcasts, but he does wonder what they will mean for the future of radio.
"The thing you might lose if podcasts become bigger and bigger is that sense of stumbling across things, because we don't go across the dial like we used to."
