In which I offer some useful readings about the art and practice of journalism and why it matters. I’ll ask about whether small-scale radio stations can get an idea of how many people are listening without having to shell out a shed-load of cash to an audience research company. I’ll consider whether voice-over artists have … Continue reading Radio listeners, TV trailers, voice-overs and book reviews…
Tag: Radio Journalism
Radio: What’s Another Year?
In which I reflect on the events of 2023, consider some of the challenges ahead in the UK radio industry, and listen to a song and watch a TV sitcom about the wireless. To start with, here’s an excellent summary of 2023, the Beeb’s latest annus horribilis. https://bylinetimes.com/2023/12/13/ministers-accused-of-waging-culture-war-on-bbc-amid-licence-review-and-more-cuts/ Meanwhile, a view from Rhodri Talfan Davies, … Continue reading Radio: What’s Another Year?
BBC Local Radio: “Digital First” Autumn 2023 updates…
I’m writing this in the middle of September, and I'm not the bearer of particularly good news I'm afraid. In this piece I’ll hear claims about BBC long-term policy mis-decisions, and how the planned changes are "ageist and abelist" (but the presenter who said that, found her comments had been cut from the BBC Sounds … Continue reading BBC Local Radio: “Digital First” Autumn 2023 updates…
BBC Local Radio: is “Digital First” the End?
It is with a heavy heart that I write this. As a raw radio hack I graduated from the London College of Printing in 1982 – a training ground for some of the best local radio talent of that generation. I worked in BBC Local Radio for the next two decades: at Leicester, Lincolnshire, Derby, … Continue reading BBC Local Radio: is “Digital First” the End?
Where ivory towers meet the world of radio…
I’m writing this in the autumn of 2022. It’s the first time in two years that academics have gathered together for their late summer rituals – known as conferences. There’s a whole etiquette to these things. In theory an academic conference is spread over one or two days. It starts with a general talk from … Continue reading Where ivory towers meet the world of radio…
Why Technology Is to Blame for 100 Years of Radio… Probably.
This is the second in a series of articles about the technology behind radio. In this episode, amongst other things, I'll be taking issue with the word "podcast". Read on to find me turning into a grumpy old codger as I winge about how this word has become an umbrella term to denigrate aspects of … Continue reading Why Technology Is to Blame for 100 Years of Radio… Probably.
The Broadcast Century | How radio determines technology… Perhaps…
Warning: the following Beeb-orientated material contains mentions of butchery, brothels, and breaches of health and safety. As well as sheep… This article, and its sister, as well as the third part,is an imperfect and only partial list of ideas. However, this is not a “listicle”; I detest such things because they are the squalid evidence … Continue reading The Broadcast Century | How radio determines technology… Perhaps…
The BBC century: the World Service and the Cold War – part 2 of 2
In the previous episode I talked about W. H. Auden and his worries about world events in the 1930s, heard through radio reports on the BBC both at home, and abroad. I also recalled my time on attachment as a producer – plucked from the frontier outpost of Local Radio in Derby to work on … Continue reading The BBC century: the World Service and the Cold War – part 2 of 2
The BBC at 100: how the Corporation, Auntie Beeb, is talked about
Click this image to see a sample chapter The BBC has, throughout its one hundred years, had a delicate relationship with politicians and governments. From the standpoint of early 2022 that sentence may seem to be something of an understatement. Let me fill in some historical context, and explain how I've been researching other ways … Continue reading The BBC at 100: how the Corporation, Auntie Beeb, is talked about
Writing for radio: it’s what we do…
Martin Cooper. So, after forty years in the broadcast media business, including two decades teaching young journalists about the arts of the trade, I’m still finding that I have to explain what “writing” has to do with “radio”. Over the course of listening to hundreds of hours of BBC and commercial radio output for my … Continue reading Writing for radio: it’s what we do…
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