The World at One, or WATO ("what-oh") for short, is BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime news and current affairs programme, which is broadcast from 1.00 pm to 1.45 pm from Monday to Friday. The programme describes itself as "Britain's leading political programme. With a reputation for rigorous and original investigation, it is required listening in Westminster". Because of the programme's nature it is often agenda setting, with interviews leading the headlines from lunchtime through to early evening.

From 7 November 2011, the programme was extended in length to 45 minutes (from 30 minutes). This has meant the thirty minute programmes at one time broadcast immediately after "The World at One" (such as Brain of Britain) have now found a new time slot on the Radio Four schedule. A fifteen minute programme now fills the gap till 2pm.

History [link]

The programme began on 4 October 1965 on the (then) Home Service and its launch is considered to have been key in making news programmes 'appointment to listen' broadcasting. As the then head of BBC Radio, Jenny Abramsky, noted, the programme started at a time when the Today Programme was still in a more comfortable magazine format. The World at One "broke new ground in news broadcasting and was one of the reasons why radio is still important today," helping establish a form of current affairs programme that influenced the creation of Newsnight in 1980 and Channel 4 News in 1982.

The first presenter, William Hardcastle, was a former editor of the Daily Mail. The Radio Academy Hall of Fame says he "had a businesslike, but warm broadcasting voice, and a style that emphasised fact rather than comment, bringing some Fleet Street urgency to the radio presentation of news". Hardcastle did not want to do the programme every day so Andrew Boyle suggested he share the job with William Davis another presenter whose career did not wholly depend on the BBC.

In 1998, the then Controller of Radio 4, James Boyle reduced the duration of the programme from 40 to 30 minutes as part of a series of schedule changes.

The World at One is still known for its robust journalism. After a short introduction to the programme, there is a 6 minute news bulletin, followed by serious political interviews and in-depth reports. Its audience reach has risen recently to approximately 3.3 million listeners, with an average daily audience of around 1.4 million.

Robin Day, James Naughtie and Nick Clarke are amongst the list of previous presenters of the programme.

From late 2005, Shaun Ley presented the show while Clarke recovered from an operation to remove a cancer in his left leg. Clarke returned part-time in August 2006. Other stand-in presenters have included Brian Hanrahan, Guto Harri, Laura Trevelyan, Stephen Sackur, Carolyn Quinn, James Robbins and Mark Mardell. The current main presenter is Martha Kearney - who presents from Monday to Thursday, with Ley usually in the chair on Friday.

In 2012 the programme was nominated as one of the best news and current affairs programmes in the Sony Radio Awards.

The previous week's programmes can be listened to again using the BBC iPlayer or downloaded as a podcast.

Many reporters and producers have spent some time working on the programme including Sue MacGregor, Kirsty Wark, Charlie Lee-Potter, Ted Harrison, Jonathan Dimbleby, Roger Cook, George Alagiah, Jenny Abramsky, Roger Hearing, Sian Williams, Peter Biles, Kirsty Lang, Martin Fewell, Shelagh Fogarty, David Jessel, Nick Ross, Ben Bradshaw, Juliet Bremner, Susannah Simons, Pallab Ghosh and Martha Kearney.

Presenters [link]

• William Hardcastle (1965–1975)
• William Davis (1965–??)
• Brian Widlake
• David Jessel (1970-1972)
• Robert Williams
• Sir Robin Day (1979–1987)
• James Naughtie (1988–1994)
• Nick Clarke (1994–2006)
• Martha Kearney (2007–present)
• Shaun Ley (2005-present)

Editors [link]

• Andrew Boyle (from 1965)
• Julian Holland (1970s)
• Derek Lewis (1970s/80s)
• Jenny Abramsky (1981–1986)
• Roger Mosey (1988–1993)
• Kevin Marsh (1993–2002)
• Richard Clark (2003–2004)
• Colin Hancock (2004–2007)
• Peter Rippon (2007–2008)
• Jamie Angus (2009–2010)
• Nick Sutton (2010-present)

See also [link]

• Today – Radio 4's early morning stablemate to The World at One.
• PM – Radio 4's early evening stablemate to The World at One.
• The World Tonight – Radio 4's late evening stablemate to The World at One.
• The World This Weekend - Radio 4's Sunday stablemate to The World at One.

External links [link]

• The World at One at BBC Programmes
• The Radio Academy Hall of Fame - William Hardcastle