Most months have four Fridays, and we know what to do with them. We put out a podcast: a different but related one for each Friday in the month.

Sometimes, however, a month has five fridays, and then we have to think again. We put out an episode of our occasional series, designed for just this purpose. This, then, is the first episode of Friday Number Five.

Owen Kelly looks at (and listens to) the very first sound recordings ever made and then asks how they turned into public radio, and what we might consider the funniest radio sketch of all time.

We then find out what all this has to do with cultural democracy.