Introduction to radio:
BBC Sounds
1) Why does the article suggest that ‘on the face of it, BBC Radio is in rude health’?
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 (“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.
3) What is BBC Sounds?
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?
Convincing people to break their existing habits and put their trust in a BBC-only app will not be easy. Spotify has started to include a large number of podcasts – including BBC material – directly in its app and a growing number of people listen to the radio via voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa. Although there is the prospect of commercial radio being added later, industry voices have raised concerns that the app is a solution in search of a non-existent problem.
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.
6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant?
“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.
“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.”
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. 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. You want music to cheer you up? Here’s a big beats hip-hop playlist “to keep you moving”. You’d like to know how Rita Ora made her album? Try this short behind-the-scenes doc. How about something spooky for Halloween? Here’s a selection of drama, music and stories. (Also a five-minute pumpkin-carving soundscape, and an explanation of why we carve pumpkins in the first place: I listened, it’s lovely.) All the BBC podcasts you might enjoy are here, plus a few non-BBC ones (Guilty Feminist, Griefcast).
8) How does it link to BBC Radio?
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.
9) What are the criticisms of the BBC Sounds app?
Beyond Today, presented by Tina Daheley, is an attempt to mimic the New York Times’s successful The Daily programme, and the two shows I’ve heard 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 (though the word “flaunt” should be banned, especially when used to refer to women). It would be nice for the programme to refer to actual breaking news, as in The Daily’s “here’s what else you need to know” end section, but it’s not a bad start. A few days after the Beeb, the Guardian launched its own daily, behind-the-scenes-of- journalism podcast, Today in Focus, which I’ll review next week.
10) Two new podcasts were launched alongside the BBC Sounds app. What are they and why might they appeal to younger audiences?
greatbigowl.com
Devised and hosted by comedy writer Sarah Morgan, this podcast asks three questions of its guests: their favourite scary scene from film or TV; something that made them scared as a child; and a fear that they still have now. Guests include Richard Osman, Alice Lowe, Carrie Quinlan and plenty of others of the standup ilk; the chat is open and revealing. (Robin Ince is on the most recent Halloween Spectacular and is super lovely.) The sound production has improved a lot since The Fear joined Great Big Owl’s podcast offerings for its most recent series.
thenosleeppodcast.com
In 2010, a Reddit forum, itself called NoSleep, became a place for people to post original scary stories. An online version of telling spooky stories round the campfire, the podcast version started a year later. Created by Matt Hansen, hosted and produced by David Cummings, NoSleep the podcast offers short horror fiction, atmospherically read by Cummings. As a horror-wimp, I approached this podcast with caution, but it’s very enjoyable and weirdly comforting to listen to while under the duvet in the dead of night.
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