Radio Number One: now you can watch it on the Web

“Wow, what a studio”; “Congratulations, very, very nice”; “I like it a lot, so clear and bright”; “Very nice indeed”. These are some of the comments received by the blog of Luca Viscardi. The artistic director of Radio Number One cannot hide the enthusiasm for the renovated studio: it’s bright, with white desks, colour on the walls, and large windows. It’s really stylish, with the very latest technology.

A lovely change in practical terms, and not only. Behind the new desks, we can see the desire to go on in a structured way, attentive to how the world of radio has changed. Although the philosophy of radio always remains the same (“Our way of doing radio has always relied on being well-rooted in the area, and on having good knowledge of it.”), the new technologies and continual changes in the world of communication have forced them to “keep up with the times”. “The live broadcast studio is no longer divided; today, announcers and hosts occupy in the same space. The windows overlook the road, and ‘look’ towards the audience; it’s essential to cultivate relations with the outside.”

And this is why, from next week, it will also be possible to watch Radio Number One via webcam, twenty-four hours a day. The image of the radio host shut inside a sound-proofed room is long past, although the good habits still remain. “Lots of information, we’ve got six news programmes a day, and music.”

With one million listeners a week, and about three hundred a day, Radio Number One is continuing to grow, in concrete ways. “Just last week, we arrived in Liguria, our new signals reach La Spezia, the Cinque Terre and the Cisa Pass,” Viscardi continues. “We don’t know how it will end up, but we’d like to be able to cover all of our possible catchment area.

Other changes have been made to the scheduling. The “Emilio Bianchi Show” and the “Gli Inaffidabili” (“The Unreliables”) are still the most popular, together with “Donne al volante” (“Women at the wheel”), and now there are great hopes for a new evening programme. “We’re thinking of a new programme, where the hosts choose the music they play, and not the listeners, which is what usually happens.” In the meantime, work continues in the studios in Bergamo, where the aerials are always broadcasting.