BBC World Service - Fewer Smiles Across the Miles

Just read a really awful article in the Guardian about BBC World Service. Facts are taken off the recent documentaries, but Rupert Sawyer is just playing critic rather than listening to the output. Seems to write so he can get Twitter followers. Why does the Guardian commission this sort of rubbish? Charlie Brooker it is not.

So what has really changed at BBC World Service? It was interesting listening back to the old promo material of BBC World Service in the 1990's in the past few weeks and comparing it with the sound now. It's a lot tighter, but because continuity has been eliminated, it's a lot less personal. There were remarks about the weather in London which added a shared experience - a little dash of colour. The range of programmes has been drastically reduced in English and that, for me, means less time spent listening.

BBC WS radio is certainly the station for other news journalists. I think programmes like Newshour and From Our Own Correspondent have improved. But I miss the smiles I get on other networks - like the News Quiz on BBC Radio 4. That programme is radio's equivalent of the Daily Show. It's very powerful satire. Helps put the current affairs programmes into perspective.

I think it's time to rethink the Feedback shows on BBC WS - whether it is World Have Your Say or Over to You.  They are becoming empires within their own networks, as though these programmes are the only place where listeners "can have their say". This doesn't happen on BBC domestic radio, so why in external broadcasting?

I believe the approach that , for instance BBC Radio 4 PM takes, to integrate the blog and social media comments into the regular programmes is equally important. Because then listeners feel more involved in all the programmes, not just the feedback shows. It needs a light touch - just a hint of colour. I don't hear many smiles on the World Service any more. And comedy on the network didn't make it into this century.

When Podcasts are better than the original...

This article seems to confuse production with distribution. There are some brilliant podcasts out there which are available to download individually or you can subscribe to it through iTunes as a podcast. Podcasting to me has always been about subscribing to a favorite programme and having it pushed out to you, instead of having to go somewhere to pick it up each time.

Podcasting via the Apple Platform has always been an afterthought. If you use iTunes outside the UK, then you have to make do with the archaic iTunes interface which is linked to the iTunes store in your country. So in my case, the iPad keeps bouncing between Dutch and English, booting me out of the English language podcasts I follow and sending me off to the Dutch podcasts each time I update.

The fact that you can record and mix audio on any laptop has inspired a few people to come up with very creative formats which wouldn't work on the radio because they are perceived by the radio bosses as too specialist. I'm glad that This Week in Google isn't on the radio, for instance.

I'm also starting to see examples where the podcast is becoming better than the radio programme. A good example is the radio version of Click! which used to be called Digital Planet until a few months ago. The show was recently reduced in length from 28 to 18 minutes a week as part of the cuts to BBC World Service. Those involved haven't yet got used to the new rhythm and what's we're really getting is a truncated and rather breathless version of the older programme with what sounds like rather forced link-ups with the TV show and two line promos for other science programmes on BBC World Service radio. I've stopped listening to it on air because I know that the podcast version is longer, contains more reflective and relaxed extras and can fit into a more natural listening length for a format of this type, which is about half an hour for me. Strange that the BBC spends money on putting the TV version into a useful web/Tv context, but doesn't do the same with the radio programme where they appear to have to resort to other platforms to engage with their audience. The radio webpage is the true definition of dull...