Introduction to Radio

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

1) "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 brilliant shape,” one in nine Britons still tune in to hear John Humphrys and his co-presenters harangue politicians every week."

2) "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) BBC Sounds is " new app and website that formally launches on Tuesday with a glitzy event at Tate Modern. It will bring radio live streams, catch-up services, music mixes and podcasts together under one roof." 

4) In the digital age people tend to listen to podcasts on apps such as Spotify, where you are able to skip individual tracks.

5) Jason Phipps suggests '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'. They need personal stories and more brash, funny and intelligent podcasts.

6) BBC needs to stay relevant as "recently the BBC was banned from creating online-only podcasts for competition reasons, meaning it is now making up for lost time, Shennan says. To this end a “few million pounds” a year will be given to commission podcasts purely for an online audience."

Now read this review of the BBC Sounds app.

7) Content the BBC Sounds app offers are:

• music
• news
• drama
• documentaries 
• true crime
• comedy

8) It links to BBC Radio because '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) Criticisms of the BBC Radio Sounds app:

• tricky to access
• the search isn't sensitive enough
• not enough content

10) The two new podcasts launched alongside the BBC Sounds app were:

1. End Of Days-"exclusive to the Sounds app, is a gripping tale. I hadn’t realised that 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."
2. Beyond Today- "an attempt to mimic the New York Times’s successful TheDaily programme"

ShoutOut Network

1) The ShoutOut Network is a a London-based network of diverse podcasts that launched in 2015 with their flagship show Melanin Millennials, which focuses on socio-political issues for millennials.

2) The podcasts they offer are: they have seen continual growth to their roster of conversational shows adding pop-culture literature podcast Mostly Lit, carefree comedy duo Two Fools Talking, theatre and music aficionados Artistic State of Mind and brand new football show Top 4mation. 

3) "Reaching more than 20,000 listeners per month, of which 92% are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, the ShoutOut Network has positioned themselves in a prime place for sponsors and advertising to reach the vast community of listeners for their products."

4) " RAJAR provided data that from autumn 2015, 3.7 million adults listen to podcasts which equate to around 6.5% of the adult population."

5) In my opinion I believe that podcast are going to make a huge impact in the decline of radio, but the decrease will be static. So i don't think they will take over radio by replacing, radio will always have a place for it in the world, but people will be dependent on podcasts as they are easier to access and nowadays you can skip the any track etc.