Introduction to Radio

Introduction to radio: blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'Introduction to Radio' on your Media 2 Coursework blog and complete the following tasks:

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’?

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.

2) What percentage of under-35s use the BBC iPlayer catch-up radio app?

just 3% of under-35s use the iPlayer catch-up radio app, which will soon be axed.

3) What is BBC Sounds?

BBC Sounds is a new app designed to bring younger listeners to BBC Radio content. It aims to fulfil its requirements as a public service broadcaster while also responding to the demands of the digital media landscape.

"BBC Sounds, a new app and website that formally launches on Tuesday with a glitzy event at Tate Modern. It 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?

 Spotify has started to include a large number of podcasts and people also use Apple podcast libraries.

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

The man tasked with making this work is Jason Phipps, a former Guardian employee who joined as the corporation’s first commissioning editor for podcasts earlier this year. He says 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.”

“We need more brash, funny, intelligent podcasts,” he says, saying the format’s intimacy is the reason why podcasts about “sex, relationships and erotic imaginations” have done so well. “It’s a perfect place to have uncomfortable conversations.”

6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant?

 “For the last few generations people have taken it for granted. It’s absolutely core to us to present everyone with that wide range of views. That doesn’t mean you have to suspend your judgment.”

“The world in which we offer this amazing idea called the BBC has changed exponentially over nearly a century and particularly in the last decade,” he says. “And because the BBC is really important and valued by licence fee [payers] it’s got to continue to be relevant.

Now read this review of the BBC Sounds app.

7) What content does the BBC Sounds app offer?

The big idea is that you download the app and then go to BBC Sounds for anything audio (apart from long-form audio books). Music, news, drama, documentaries, true crime, comedy – if you want it in your ears, you start with the orange button. 

8) How does it link to BBC Radio?

 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. 
• My other main problem is there isn’t enough content

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

 To celebrate the new app, the BBC launched a couple of new podcasts, including the aforementioned 5 Live Waco series End of Days, and Beyond Today, a 20-minute podcast that delves deeper into the big stories of the Today programme.

Beyond Today, presented by Tina Daheley, is an attempt to mimic the New York Times’s successful The Daily programme

And End of Days, exclusive to the Sounds app, is a gripping tale that interviews Waco cult victims and also End of Days talks to their families and friends. 

ShoutOut Network

Read this Huffington Post feature on the Shout Out Network and answer the following questions:

1) What is the ShoutOut Network?

The Shoutout Network is a London-based network of diverse podcasts designed to give a platform for BAME voices. It demonstrates the rise of independent media producers in the 21st century media landscape. The representation of minority voices also arguably provides an element of public service broadcasting.

The Shoutout Network, a London-based network of diverse podcasts, has put together a fantastic offer for businesses to purchase advertising slots across a range of their podcasts for three months from just £1.

2) What podcasts are offered by the ShoutOut Network?

• The ShoutOut Network is a growing podcast network that launched in 2015 with their flagship show Melanin Millennials, which focuses on socio-political issues for millennials.
• pop-culture literature podcast Mostly Lit,
• carefree comedy duo Two Fools Talking,
• theatre
• music aficionados Artistic State of Mind
• brand new football show Top 4mation.

3) What audience do they reach?

With the continual growth of these shows reaching more than 20,000 listeners per month, of which 92% are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities

4) What are the 2015 statistics on podcast listening in the UK?

According to the Online Journalism Blog, RAJAR provided data that from autumn 2015, 3.7 million adults listen to podcasts which equate to around 6.5% of the adult population.

It also adds that 57% of the people use them on smartphones, while their preferred activity to listening to podcasts was 47% while commuting and 34% relaxing or doing nothing.

5) The article suggests podcasts are ‘picking up more steam’. Do you think podcasts are the future of radio?

"Podcasts are picking up more steam in current forms of media coverage. With this opportunity to reach such huge audiences, it could be the better direction for businesses in the UK to go to expand their reach. "

Podcasts are the future of radio because not many young people use radios and they probably listen to podcasts more as they are more accessible. They could listen to them as they commute from their phones.