Introduction to Radio

 BBC Sounds

Read this Guardian feature on the launch of BBC Sounds and answer the following questions:

1) Why does the article suggest that ‘on the face of it, BBC Radio is in rude health’?

The reason why the article suggests that ‘on the face of it, BBC Radio is in rude health’ is because it has half the national market, with dozens of stations reaching more than 34 million people a week. Radio 2 alone reaches 15 million listeners a week and for all the criticism of the Today programme (“editorially I think it’s in brilliant shape,” says Purnell), one in nine Britons still tune in to hear John Humphrys and his co-presenters harangue politicians every week.

2) According to the article, what percentage of under-35s used the BBC iPlayer catch-up radio app?

 Although millions of young Britons continue to tune in to traditional BBC radio stations, Purnell says just 3% of under-35s use the iPlayer catch-up radio app, which will soon be axed. This is a negative towards the BBC as this shows that people are losing interest and attention into what the BBC can offer meaning that their audience can go off to other different competitors like Spotify or Apple. 

3) What is BBC Sounds?

BBC Sounds is a new app and website that will bring radio livestreams, catchup services, music mixes and podcasts together under one roof. 

4) How do audiences listen to radio content in the digital age?

Audiences listen to radio content in the digital age by using Apple Podcasts and Spotify which shows that people are adapting and changing their ways by using devices such as phones, laptops or even computers to listen to radio content now instead of following tradition and listening on just a radio. 

5) What does Jason Phipps suggest is important for radio and podcast content aimed at younger audiences?

James Phipps, a former Guardian employee, and the man put in charge to make younger audiences interested in radio again says that there is a need to reconsider the entire tone of how the BBC tells stories, shifting away from rigid formality if it wants to attract the precious under-35 audience: “It has to be a warmer, more story-led journey. You need to report the very personal experience of it. “The very best stories are fundamentally anchored around the personal experience. You’re trying to find the human in the machine. Journalists have a process but younger audiences can find that very cold and want to access the actual response of human beings. They really want to understand the heart of the story.”

6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant?

The BBC needs to stay relevant because it has been a part of peoples lives for the past century and "because the BBC is really important and valued by licence fee [payers] it’s got to continue to be relevant."

“Otherwise you leave the BBC set in aspic and increasingly irrelevant. If you believe in the BBC you have to let [it] flourish in spaces where it can have a greater public value than market impact. That’s what we seek to do: be relevant.”

Now read this review of the BBC Sounds app.

7) What content does the BBC Sounds app offer?

The BBC Sounds app offers a various amount of different podcasts and playlists of different music and radio stations which keeps their listeners always busy with their app. 

8) How does it link to BBC Radio?

BBC Sounds links to BBC Radio as the app lets you click through to any live BBC radio station, but it also offers you other forms of listening, from podcasts to playlists.

9) What are the criticisms of the BBC Sounds app?

Sounds is easy to use, though I found the programme information a little tricky to access, and the search – as ever with the BBC – isn’t sensitive enough. (Looking for the new 5 Live podcast about the Waco siege, I typed in “5 Live Waco”, but only got old programmes). My other main problem is there isn’t enough content. “Spooky Sounds” only offered me 11 shows; “Be Curious” just 10. The BBC has thousands of amazing audio programmes! If you browse podcasts via, say, the Apple Podcasts app, you have 16 categories to choose from, and within each, at least 20 series to try. Sounds needs to feel as packed as Netflix in order to properly work.

10) Two new podcasts were launched alongside the BBC Sounds app. What are they and why might they appeal to younger audiences?

BBC Sounds

End of Days (Radio 5 Live) | bbc.co.uk

Beyond Today (Radio 4) | bbc.co.uk

BBC launched a couple of new podcasts, including the aforementioned 5 Live Waco series End of Days (make sure you use a capital D in search, or it won’t turn up: insert rolly-eye emoticon here), and Beyond Today, a 20-minute podcast that delves deeper into the big stories of the Today programme.

End of Days is a gripping tale about how many of the Waco cult victims were from the UK, mostly recruited from the Seventh-Day Adventist church. End of Days talks to their families and friends. There are moments when you want more specifics (the first episode is vague as to what David Koresh actually talked about), but it’s a very interesting show.

Beyond Today is presented by Tina Daheley, is an attempt to mimic the New York Times’s successful The Daily programme, and the two shows aren’t bad. The first, about whether the UK has enough money, had too many audio tricks; the second, about an Iraqi Instagram star killed for being too provocative, was very good 

These two new podcasts on the BBC Sounds may appeal to a younger audience as it may be easier for young people to follow and understand as Beyond Today is only a 20 minute podcast which is quite short compared to the traditional run time of radio which normally goes on for hours. Furthermore, the subjects or topics that both of these podcasts can refer to can relate to younger audience members which might help to pull and grip them into the story more easily.