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The reel thing: Revisiting analogue tape in the digital age

7 June 2019

Digital technology has long replaced analogue in almost every aspect of our lives. But what have we had to sacrifice? For their 100th episode, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4’s The Digital Human went back to the pre-digital era of radio making to find out.

The Analogue Human

For their 100th episode The Digital Human went back to the pre-digital era of radio.

Analogue has character. We can relate to it.
Aleks Krotoski

Making radio documentaries used to mean several tape machines playing at once to combine interviews, music and narration. Editing was done with a razor blade and sticky tape.

In The Digital Human, Aleks Krotoski and her team explored how digital and analogue technologies make us think differently by going 'old school' - putting down the keyboard and mouse in favour of original tape machines.

Listen to the show

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