Radio, music, podcasts – BBC Sounds: Public service radio and podcasts in a platform world

Abstract

<jats:p>In 2018, the BBC announced plans to replace their long-established ‘iPlayer Radio’ service with a new platform called BBC Sounds. The new service was promoted as a single space where listeners can consume BBC radio, music and podcasts, creating a single point of interaction between audiences and content. This is, however, far more than an exercise in reframing public service radio content in a new app; it is also a practical application of these policies through the commissioning of content made for online, specifically, younger, audiences. This shift happens not only at a time where traditional broadcasters are exploring ways to re-engage younger listeners but as commentators search for the ‘Netflix of Podcasts’ This article explores the manner in which the BBC Sounds project is a response to current trends in the radio industry and to which it recognizes podcasting as an audio medium that is distinct from but institutionally connected to radio.</jats:p>

Examining Podcast Listeners’ Perceptions of the Journalistic Functions of Podcasts

“…Today podcasts are a significant area of growth and experimentation for journalistic storytelling (Berry, 2020; Sherrill, 2020), and the most famous podcast to date is a work of journalism. In 2014, Serial revolutionized podcasting.…”

Identifying future trends by podcast mining: an explorative approach for Web-based horizon scanning

“…As a medium for decentralized science communication, the term "podcast" mainly refers to exclusively produced audio shows, but in certain cases, a podcast can also be a recorded television or radio show, lecture or live dialogue with a field expert (MacKenzie, 2019;Bonini, 2015). The term "podcast", has cultural, technological, political, and economical dimensions (Berry, 2020). Within 15 years, podcasting has become a new medium of cultural and artistic expression (Morris et al, 2020).…”

“…In particular, the diversity of new audio is part of what makes podcasts significant as a sonic, cultural form. Podcasts challenges corporate broadcasting models, even though podcasting is still related to many radio shows offered as podcasts (Berry, 2020). The main point of difference from traditional radio shows lies in the listeners' active decision making when it comes to choosing which podcast to consume.…”

“…Often podcasts are uncut and characterized by spontaneous changes in topic, which leads to a "talkier" and less structured or crafted concept. This is especially interesting for younger people who prefer the essence of listening to a person telling a story, news or something completely different (Berry, 2020).…”

The relationship between environmental context and attentional engagement in podcast listening experiences

“…Markman ( 2015 ) and Berry ( 2016 ) charted the evolution of podcasting as a medium and highlighted its similarities with radio, citing commonalities in production practices, the cultivation of parasocial relationships between host and listener, and the desire to recreate a feeling of “liveness” through social media and other forms of transmedia engagement (Edmond, 2015 ), despite the “time-shifted” nature of podcast consumption. Despite the advent of on-demand radio, available alongside podcasts through streaming platforms such as BBC Sounds (Berry, 2020 ), radio is still predominately a linear format, mainly consumed in the car, home, and workplace (Consortium, 2022 ). In contrast, podcasts are consumed across a wide variety of different environmental (Chan-Olmsted and Wang, 2020 ), situational (Nyre, 2015 ), and social contexts (Perks and Turner, 2019 ), in some cases fluidly traversing multiple changes of context over the course of a single ubiquitous listening experience (Morris and Patterson, 2015 ).…”