What do Britons care about? Forget the pollster(民意调查机构)s and their charts on topics like immigration and the economy. To know what really occupies the minds of the British day to day, instead read the descriptions of BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show, which runs on weekdays from 12pm to 2pm.(要知道英国人日常所想，不如读瓦恩节目的简介。) One recent programme examined “Iran and chicken welfare”. Another, last December, explored “pornography and garden centres”. To read them is like combing through Britain’s subconscious(潜意识).
英国人关心什么？忘掉民调机构及其关于移民和经济等话题的图表吧。要想知道英国人日常真正在想什么，不如去读BBC广播二台杰里米·瓦恩节目的简介，该节目在工作日中午12点至下午2点播出。最近一期节目探讨了“伊朗与鸡的福利”。去年12月的另一期则探讨了“色情作品与园艺中心”。阅读这些简介就像梳理英国的潜意识。
Video, as the 1979 pop song had it, was supposed to have killed the radio star. It has not done so in Britain. Nor, more surprisingly, have podcasts or smartphones. Overall, the country listens to about as much radio as it did 20 years ago: around 1bn hours a week. And Britain’s most popular channel is Radio 2, a BBC station which offers a mix of music and talk. The reasons for this are revealing(有揭示作用的) not merely about radio but about modern Britain.
正如1979年那首流行歌曲所唱，视频本该杀死广播明星。但在英国，这并未发生。更令人惊讶的是，播客和智能手机也没有做到。总体而言，英国人收听广播的时长与20年前大致相同：每周约10亿小时。而英国最受欢迎的频道是BBC广播二台，它提供音乐和谈话的混合内容。其原因不仅揭示了广播的现状，也揭示了现代英国的状况。
Radio 2 is unusual: not all BBC stations have fare(进展，表现)d so well. The corporation, which until 1972 held a legal monopoly(垄断) on the British airwaves(广播频率，电波), has seen its audience numbers fall rapidly in recent years. The once influential BBC Radio 1, which describes itself somewhat un-youthfully as “a youth music station”, has lost almost half of its listeners since 2000. Radio 2, by contrast(相比之下), is thriving(繁荣的，兴旺的): it remains Britain’s biggest single station, with almost 14% of all listening hours spent in its company.
广播二台与众不同：并非所有BBC电台都如此成功。这家公司直到1972年还合法垄断英国广播频率，近年来其听众数量迅速下降。曾经颇具影响力的BBC广播一台自称“青年音乐电台”，这有点不符合青年气质，自2000年以来已失去近一半听众。相比之下，广播二台蓬勃发展：它仍是英国最大的单一电台，几乎14%的收听时间都花在它身上。
Radio Britain
广播英国