Introduction to radio

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. Radio 2 alone reaches 15 million listeners a week and for all the criticism of the Today programme 

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

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 is a streaming media and audio download service from the BBC. It includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand and podcasts.

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

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.

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

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.”

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.

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.

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

Beyond Today:
An attempt to mimic The New York Times's successful The Daily Programme. They tackle questions relevant to what society's focus is on at the moment and tries to appeal to the younger years in terms of what stories are being made prominent.

End of Days:
An Exclusive to the Sounds App, "is a gripping tale." An insight to the life and history of the occult in the UK. The podcast essentially talks to their friends and family however targets topics that would allow it to be a "very interesting show."