I love the way radio brings music directly to the listener. Gigantic symphonies can become an intimate experience; a full opera is staged in the imagination of each listener; great performers play for you as you sit comfortably at home or in your car. It's a beautiful way to experience music, but it's not a substitute for attending a live performance. The experience of the living, breathing moment music is made, in the presence of the musicians and other listeners, adds another dimension altogether.

In the comments on last week's blog, listener Michael wrote of the "brilliantly talented artists" who worked in advertising in the mid-20th Century. He's right, they certainly were brilliant.

The television series Mad Men concludes its current season this Sunday night at 10 pm. I've been following it closely for its intricate, provocative story, intriguing characters, great acting, and period detail. I feel that Mad Men, set in the New York advertising world of the early 1960s, is the TV equivalent of those "meeting points of Art and Pop" I like to present on Spinning On Air.

I was moved when reading the many passionate comments on my previous blog post. I'm keen to know what you have to say, so please express yourself, and keep the comments coming.

Who needs radio? Online, you can pursue your enthusiasms to their deepest nooks and crannies, but with radio, you have no control over content. In this age of digital dissemination, when everything is available all the time, when you can use your computer to seek and find practically any recording you can think of, why would you listen to the radio?