Karl Whitney: Don’t touch that dial: Talking about books on the radio

Writers don’t really get tutored in the art of talking about their book on the radio, where conversations thrive on small talk

Karl Whitney: ‘When I do retune the radio it’s often to go from one local station to another. There’s a significant amount of pleasant, banal chatter on them.’

Recently I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the radio. It’s been a companion as I move house, burbling away happily in the background as I wait for a delivery or struggle with the mass of cardboard that builds up in the corner of the room once furniture has been assembled.

I bought a new radio specifically for this purpose: An AM/FM radio that’s largely unremarkable. It’s analogue in the extreme. It hasn’t heard of Bluetooth and, frankly, doesn’t want to know about it.