Radio Waves: Slow on the uptake

Slow on the uptake: Jarvis Cocker presents Wireless Nights on Radio 4
Slow on the uptake: Jarvis Cocker presents Wireless Nights on Radio 4

The first reference to a “slow oven” was in 1747, but it was not until the 1970s that slow cookers were on sale. Only in the 1980s did the Slow Food movement begin (in Italy). In media land, however, as opposed to gastronomy, the slow phenomenon has advanced more speedily.

Delayed Gratification, a quarterly news journal that is nothing to do with tantric sex, but is all about context and perspective, has been published since 2011 and boasts that it is “last to breaking news”. Between 2009 and 2013, Norwegian TV showed a series of snail-paced documentaries, one of which — a live broadcast of a seven-hour train journey from Bergen to Oslo — was watched by 20% of the country’s population. There was also