BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 – Radio2Day

Broadcasting House Sunset - James Stodd

Here in the UK today (June 22 2011), BBC Radio 2 is trying out a clever marketing trick.

They are pairing up all of the presenters from different shows and genres to present in different parts of the day. It’s being described as “a-12 hour on air celebration of everything the station has to offer”.

For a station like Radio 2, 2DAY gives a great opportunity to showcase the range of what they offer to listeners who may only tune in for certain parts of the day. Of course, there’s a danger that having hooked people in, they’ll come back expecting the same every day. But at least they’ll have heard a sample of everything else that the station offers. And that will hopefully make them want to sample more. For the people who complain that the BBC wastes resources promoting the mainstream offerings from their radio stations, this is a nice example of using the mainstream presenters to help showcase the outer parts of the schedule.

I really like the style of the TV trail that they have created to promote it too. It’s a bit like one of those children’s puzzles where you slide the pieces around to finally get the full picture. It’s a nice visual metaphor and resolves with all the presenters on it as well.

Related articles

• Radio 1 and 2 ‘should streamline management’ (guardian.co.uk)
• UBC to produce Radio 2′s Sounds of the 60s (guardian.co.uk)
• Learn Radio (and TV) Production Skills for free from the BBC (jamesstodd.com)

Radiodays Europe 2011 #rde11

The case is packed. I’ve got a pocket full of Danish Krone. And I’m off to Copenhagen for Radiodays Europe  2011.

It’s the first time I’ve been to this European conference, though I spoke at Radiodays Denmark a couple of years ago, and am very much looking forward to experiencing the hospitality of this fine city. In fact, there’s a particularly nice bar round the corner from Radio 100 where @jamescridland, @newsleader and others enjoyed a nice variety of local brews. I’m also looking forward to catching up witha couple of old radio friends including Ryan Seacrest’s Executive Producer, Dennis Clark who I last saw when Ryan broadcast his show from Capital FM’s studios in London in 2007.

I’m on a panel entitled “Imaging and Branding – from strategy to successful branding” along with a number of other producers and presenters from the USA and Europe. I’ll include some insight from BBC Radio 1 and 2 about how their strategy feeds into their production – and how it’s more than just imaging and promos.

There’s one thing I’d have liked to show – but time precludes – and it’s this film produced by the agency PHD Worldwide. It was designed to stimulate marketeers about what our young audiences want from brands. And it’s a real eye opener. Nik Goodman wrote about it on his blog a couple of weeks ago – but if you haven’t seen it – it’s worth a watch.

So, if you are coming to RadioDays, hopefully you’ll come and say hello – or maybe Skål

Learn Radio (and TV) Production Skills for free from the BBC

Image via Wikipedia

The BBC College of Production website  has just launched.

 Now, anyone – not just BBC staff – can get a basic insight in the skills needed to make great TV, Radio or Online content. There are profiles of jobs, background “how to” films and details of talks and training courses.

In the radio section, there are details of music scheduling, setting up microphones, making a trail for Radio 2, and the role of a station sound producer.

For budding TV producers, you can learn about self-shooting, special effects, developing programme ideas, and how to shoot on green screen.

And if you need to know more about blogging, there’s a section on that too.

It’s a vast (and I guess constantly evolving) resource. See more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/collegeofproduction/

Related Articles

• Two in running to buy BBC Magazines (guardian.co.uk)
• Delivering Quality First: plans for online radio (bbc.co.uk)
• BBC iPlayer to feature ITV, Channel 4 and Five shows (telegraph.co.uk)