MELVYN BRAGG’S heavyweight Radio 4 discussion programme In Our Time is hardly the obvious choice for the iPod generation. But last month, the programme was downloaded 70,000 times on to listeners’ computers and MP3 music players, in a new type of broadcasting that is set to become widespread soon.

Known as “podcasting”, listeners sign up for radio programmes that are then automatically saved on a computer or an MP3 player such as an iPod after they are broadcast. The BBC is the first British broadcaster to trial the service.

Simon Nelson, the executive behind the new service, said: “We want people to listen to radio programmes when they want, where they want. So far, we’ve been very surprised by the interest that listeners have shown in what is a highly intelligent radio programme.”

The download version of Lord Bragg’s 45-minute show is available for a week from Thursday mornings, a few hours after it airs. It takes about a minute to download using an internet broadband link.

Podcasting dates back to the summer when Adam Curry, a former presenter with MTV, the music TV channel, wanted to distribute an internet radio show. With the help of other technophiles, he helped to develop software called iPodder to support his ambition.

David Docherty, the chief executive of YooMedia, the TV technology company, said: “A few months ago, podcasting barely existed. Now if you put the word into Google, you get many, many hits.

“This could be great for people who want to listen to genres like drama, but who never get the chance because they’re always too busy.”

Despite the infancy of the technology, the BBC is keen to press ahead. More programmes will be podcast early next year, although the corporation has not decided exactly what it will make available. The spoken word is likely to dominate the next few months.

The difficulty in getting DJs and music radio on to iPods and other MP3s is that podcasting is so new that there are no rights agreements between the music industry and radio broadcasters with respect to radio downloads. Today, internet players do not allow listeners to save radio programmes on to their computers, amid fears that some or all of the content can be copied freely elsewhere.

The worry for the record labels — which have only just discovered a way of making money from the internet, through paid-for services such as iTunes — is that people will get another way to get free access to high-quality songs.

In Our Time was chosen, in part, because the BBC controls all the key rights to the show and because Lord Bragg, the veteran cultural commentator, and the programme’s producers were keen to find ways to expand its audience. Even without being able to download and copy programmes, listening to the radio on the internet is becoming more popular. Last month, the BBC recorded 6.15 million visitors who listened to radio from its website.

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