When I was a kid I used to fall asleep every night listening to I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again, Hancock's Half Hour, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Blackadder on cassette. I thought I was an aberration, an audio dinosaur in a 12-year-old's body. When Radio 4 Extra first launched I thought the only people who would listen would be me and anyone escaping The Archers Omnibus. I was wrong.

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In a world of podcasts and digital radio, streaming and Serial, you wouldn't have thought an audio version of Dad's Army would be a hit, but according to the latest figures, 2.17 million people tuned in every week to the BBC's audio rattle bag, making it more popular than Radio 3 and sister digital-only station 6 Music.

We complain when repeats clog up the TV schedules, but radio is different: until BBC7 came along (as Radio 4 Extra was called in its early years) most of the classics had been buried in the archives for decades, or only available as expensive audiobooks. There's nothing 'extra' about Radio 4 Extra – it's the only place to find a fix of vintage radio.

In truth, I very rarely listen 'live' to Radio 4 Extra, preferring to sift through what's on iPlayer before drifting off to sleep. And my radio panning always turns up gold.

Last summer, for example, I went time-travelling when the wonderfully eerie 50s sci-fi Journey Into Space earned a repeat. It's a relic from another era, a time when more people listened to radio than watched primetime television. It's also some of the best sci-fi this country has produced: if you want to understand what peculiarly British planet Doctor Who came from, this is the show to listen to.

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But it's not just repeats. After the first episode was aired on Radio 4, the rest of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (starring James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch) was shuffled out to 4 Extra, only to capture a whole new generation of radio listeners on iPlayer.

Acerbic American essayist David Sedaris was first broadcast in the UK over on 4 Extra, while Sarah Millican's radio Support Group had its digital debut before being called up to the main station.

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Radio is undergoing a revolution; series like Serial can get a worldwide audience from a small studio in Chicago, while millions consumer Woman's Hour and The Archers via podcast. But I selfishly hope that Radio 4 Extra will never be surplus to requirements.

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