Podcastcon UK 2005 - Chris Kimber BBC

Chris Kimber - Head of Radio Interactive BBC
Podcasting is an opportunity for BBC. Spring 2004 took Reith Lectures onto mp3 downloads. HAd no idea of level of response - but had great feedback and demand for more content. This was a surprise (!). The offered 'In Our Time' as download and as XML podcast. Feedback is it's about listening to things you might not hear.

Did an official 'podcast trial' - huge variety of programmes. Portal page drives navigation and access. Lots of links to XML feeds and links to programmes. New logo.

Over 100,000 downloads per week - In Our Time still the No 1. Available on iTunes. Lots of new people access podcasting through us.

Why is this important to radio?
It's about control and portability. CF PVRs. People don't need live TV - they like portability. Lots of portable DVD players. It needs to be on-demand.

Media consumption is changing
Could have been a threat to radio - but it's not. BBC radioplayer offered radio on demand but you needed to be online. Streamed. Podcasting is 'pull' instead of 'push'. Choice, control, portability. This is big change for trad broadcasters.

Last year you could be sure that anyone listening to an iPod wasn't listening to radio - now they can. Radio is now there. Radio is at the heart of the new platforms. Radio as a medium has benefited from Podcasts.

Radio becomes more tangible
Podcasts enable this. You can pick it up and own it. You take it with you rather than receiving it by broadcast. You own it like you own your music.

Radio becomes accessible to the people
Anyone can make and distribute content. Levels the playing field [!! - oh yeah?]. Brand becomes less important [I don't agree]. New brands come in. People only subscribe if the quality is high enough. We compete with every podcast out there.

We will be forced to improve our output. Suddenly Radio 4 has competition. [No it doesn't actually].

Podcasting disagregates the medium. Brand of radio station becomes less important than the personality. Feedback is that time-shifting through genre downloads is widening participation in Radio as it brings in new listeners.

Maintaining brand
Use audio idents to keep it 'visible'. [Tried to Demo - didn't work - oops!]

How Podcasting is changing radio
Audio interviews need to be structured differently - time/advertising. New radio formats being invented. We can learn from successful amateur podcasts.

New talent will be discovered. Podcasting is a good training ground. Soon we will see this happening.

BBC's impact
We want to popularise podcasting. Here's an audio example. [didn't work - shame].