Radio: Introduction to radio

 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.
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?
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 – including BBC material 
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.
6) Why does the BBC need to stay relevant?
“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?
 “responding to your tastes, your moods”, “playing with form and content” and “public service running through its veins”. Amazing what an app can do, really. (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.
9) What are the criticisms of the BBC Sounds app?
The programme information a little tricky to access, and the search – as ever with the BBC – isn’t sensitive enough. “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.
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 (make sure you use a capital D in search, or it won’t turn up: insert rolly-eye emoticon here), 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 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.

And 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. There are moments when you want more specifics (the first episode is vague as to what David Koresh actually talked about), but it’s a very interesting show.