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’?

It has half the national market, with dozens of stations reaching more than 34 million people a week. The problem is that ever since the BBC was founded almost a century ago it has been based around an era of broadcasting that was designed towards a comprehensive offering: a shared listening and then viewing experience.

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

Just 3% of under-35s use the iPlayer catch-up radio app.

3) What is BBC Sounds?

It 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?

Many people listen to radio content on different platforms such as Spotify since they have 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.

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

“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?

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?

Music, news, drama, documentaries, true crime, comedy, podcasts, playlists. 

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?

One main criticism is that 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?

End of Days and Beyond Today. End of Days is about the Waco cult victims and how many of the Waco cult victims were from the UK, mostly recruited from the Seventh-Day Adventist church. Beyond Today 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.