Archives for May 2010

After an exciting six months, my attachment with 5 live Interactive is coming to an end. I'm taking a short break and then I'll be back working with Peter and Aasmah on Drive (getting Peter tea, no doubt).

So I just wanted to say so long to the blog and all of its contributors. I've enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with people who are so interested in 5 live and passionate about the station's future.

In a few weeks time, my colleague Ellie Reuter will leave Victoria's programme to start her time on the interactive attachment, so expect to see her appearing on the blog and on 5 live Connect. Please make her feel welcome!

In the meantime, the blog will be in the more-than-capable hands of the interactive team and Steve Bowbrick.

Thanks again! All the best.

Aaron Eccles is a senior producer at 5 live

We get a huge amount of correspondence into 5 live Interactive every week and we try to answer as much of it as possible.



The most often asked question is, why can't I hear 5 live on my mobile phone?



We normally send back a long wordy explanation as to why, up until now, this has been so problematic. Until today - when the answer changes to, well actually you can.



Historically the problem we have had is that most mobiles carry FM radio. 5 live remains on AM. Hardly any mobiles carry digital stations, which once again eliminates 5 live and 5 live Sports Extra.



But from today, in time for the impending World Cup and Wimbledon fortnight, 5 live is available on your phone.

My colleague in BBC Audio and Music, James Simcock, summed up how this will work:

As a user, once you navigate to a BBC Radio mobile site, you'll see a link to 'Listen Live' under the name of the show now on air near the top of the page. Before audio streaming begins, an interstitial page displays detailed guidance and a warning on costs, in order to help users avoid any bill-shock. A couple of clicks later, via a majority of mobile devices (iPhone & iPod Touch to come) you'll be able to access all of the BBC's national radio networks.

You can read James' full post on the BBC Internet blog.

Brett Spencer is the editor of 5 live Interactive

• You can see the 5 live mobile website here.

For 227 new MPs, today is the first day of work at the House of Commons. To mark the occasion, Victoria and her programme set up shop across the street and invited all elected representatives to come down to collect a welcome gift. It was a booklet called Commons Sense (PDF), written by 5 live listeners, that spells out what people expect from their MPs. You can watch a video about the idea and listen back to the whole show here.

So as MPs got to work on their first task, choosing the next Commons Speaker, we asked four 5 live presenters to cast their thoughts back to the election campaign. Nicky, Victoria, Peter and Tony were kind enough to jot down their highlights from what's been a fascinating few weeks.

NICKY CAMPBELL

The most surprising moment of the election campaign for me was Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, saying to me 'We meet at last...' when he arrived to take part in the Phone in. My most enlightening moment was when Lord Pearson, from the UK Independence party, told our listeners that venison should 'always be well hung.' But by far the most riveting moment was on the day before the election, when Gordon Brown took calls. It was his last stand - a last-ditch attempt to convince the listeners that he was the man to lead the country.

VICTORIA DERBYSHIRE

Our 5 live audience debates sizzled and crackled in the way that TV leaders' debates didn't. Listeners in Leeds, Middlesbrough, Bromsgrove and Luton questioned leading politicians on the subjects voters care most about - the economy, immigration, expenses and crime. The Immigration Minster Phil Woolas, the 3 men who wanted to be Home Secretary (who'd have known Theresa May would land that job in the end), the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the BNP's Deputy Chairman - all joined us for some passionate and pointed conversation. The TV debates had 76 rules - we had only one - be polite...and the result was voters debating intelligently with politicians.

Now that was an interesting election...the first truly three party race, the first with television debates, and now the first coaltion government since before even I was born.

I'll remember in particular my days on the road with the leaders...days of frantic and in some respects pointless activity which culminated one afternoon with me standing outside a school. Inside the school was the prime minister and indeed all the broadcasting equipment we needed for the programme which began in precisely ten minutes time. The local council had decided in its wisdom to ban the media from their property. Fortunately they did allow us into the car park...so that was the venue for Drive that afternoon.

But I will remember the election most for the Friday, when a VERY dedicated team and I broadcast from outside the Commons for no less than nine hours, and for the Tuesday on which the whole story drew to its dramatic conclusion. We sat in a tent on the green opposite the Commons and the political world came to join us. It was simply five hours of pulsating breaking news, a story both vitally important and full of twists. We stayed with it until it concluded. On no other radio station would this have happened. It's why I still love the job.

TONY LIVESEY

We began and ended our election coverage by making history. In between, I was chased by Batman! So, all in all, it's been QUITE a lively month on Livesey.

It all kicked-off with the first Prime Ministerial TV debate. My programme came live from a bar round the corner from the venue in Manchester and as well as being an historic moment in British politics, it was also my first 5 live OB! (And you think Brown, Cameron and Clegg were stressed!).

We followed that broadcast with further OBs from the Bristol and Birmingham TV debates. It was while doing a live insert into Drive from University Square in Birmingham that I was chased by Batman AND Robin. The Fathers For Justice protestors were carrying a Bat-megaphone so I had to head for safety to the Bat-coffee shop!

The Livesey programme also parachuted into a Rochdale pub on the night of Bigot-gate and we ended our run with two nights of 4-hour programmes covering the coalition and the change of government. Tuesday's show began just after David Cameron became PM and went on until 1am, just moments after Nick Clegg finally announced that the Liberal Democrats had backed the coalition. Lord Ashdown greeted the decision on-air with just one word: Hooray!

Not a bad summation of a gruelling but thrilling month in the life of 5 live.

Aaron Eccles is a senior producer at 5 live

• Download a PDF of 5 live's Commons Sense.

I promised I'd write about the latest set of RAJAR listening figures when they were published. Well they're out today and they show that 5 live's weekly audience is the second highest in the station's history (in case you're interested the highest came in 2002 at the time of the Japan/South Korea World Cup).

5 live now has 6.48 million listeners a week. That's up 370,000 on the last set of figures and up more than a quarter of a million on this time last year. Encouragingly it's the first time our weekly reach has been above 6 million for five quarters in a row. Our share of total radio listening is now 4.6 per cent - a 0.1 per cent increase from last quarter.

5 live Sports Extra's audience has risen slightly to 0.68 million and the total audience for 5 live and 5 live Sports Extra now stands at just over 6.5 million, again up on both the quarter and the year. There's also a marked rise in digital listening which is so important for our future because of the limitations of medium wave.

There's a good performance across the schedule with many news and sport programmes showing reasonable gains. I've consistently said that one quarter is far too little information to judge the new weekday schedule so we'll need to see how the numbers settle down over the next few months. Trends are what really matter with RAJAR figures and we're obviously encouraged by the overall station performance.

After the drama of the election, we're looking forward now to the next few months; our key priorities are to chart the impact of the early months of the new government and of course to offer the best possible coverage of the World Cup - as well as anything else the world throws at us.

• RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) is jointly owned by the BBC and commercial radio trade body the Radio Centre. Participating listeners are asked to record their radio listening in quarter-hour time blocks for one week.
• The RAJAR figures for 'linear listening', not including on-demand listening or podcasts, in a table and the official quarterly press release (PDF).
• In the press, the big RAJAR stories were the overall growth in digital listening, Chris Evans' huge Radio 2 debut and the big jump in listeners to 6 Music. 5 live's boost to listening was covered in The Guardian and The Times.

5 live is the Sony Radio Academy Station of the Year. Winning any Sony Award requires a submission to the Sony judges - experts from around the UK radio industry.

And here, for the first time ever, is 5 live's submission to the Sony judges. First, the 'best of' selection made by the station's editors from the whole of 2009's output and, second, a selection made from a single day's broadcasting, specified by the judges.

Highlights of 5 live's 2009 output.

Highlights of 5 live output from 4th November 2009.

Aaron Eccles is a senior producer at 5 live

• Controller Adrian Van Klaveren wrote about 5 live's triumph at the Sonys earlier this week.
• All of the Sony awards, including Gold for Mark Kermode, two Silvers for Victoria Derbyshire and Bronze for Breakfast are listed on the Sony Awards web site.
• The submission rules for Station of the Year from the Sony Awards web site.

Last night 5 live won the top award for any UK radio station - UK Radio Station of the Year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. It felt all the sweeter because it's the first time in twelve years we've won this award and only the third time in the station's history.

The award matters because the judges are an independent panel of some of the most respected names in the radio industry. The entry for this category includes highlights of the year, a selection of output from a specific day not of our choosing and supporting written material. To come out on top is a great boost to all of us here; this is what the judges said:

"This year's winning entry came from a station at the top of its game with an enviable roster of skilled presenters. We heard a selection of the very best in speech radio: penetrating interviews, evocative description, topical news and sports commentary, phone-ins and entertainment."

Mark Kermode also won a Gold Award as Best Specialist Contributor, there were two Silvers for Victoria Derbyshire and a Bronze for 5 live Breakfast.

There are many people to thank - our presenters, programme editors and producers, studio directors and managers and everyone involved in running the station. But above all I would like to thank all of our listeners. In the end the sound of 5 live is about connections and relationships, your stories and the things that matter to you. We're thrilled at what we've achieved over the last year but we want to use this as a platform to go on to even greater things.

Adrian Van Klaveren is Controller of BBC Radio 5 live and 5 live Sports Extra

After a month of talking about little else, it's almost time for us to put our election coverage on hold. While the polls are open, the BBC's various outlets won't be covering any election-related issues. That includes our blogs. Here's the official line:

In line with the political parties and other UK broadcasters, the BBC will not be reporting the election campaign or offering discussion about the campaign while the polls are open on May 6th on any of its outlets. Our messageboards and many blogs will remain open on Polling Day, but we ask all users to refrain from discussing the election while the polls are open. Usual BBC House Rules will resume once the polls are closed after 10pm on May 6th. See the guide to the special election house rules for more information

That means we've had to close the comments sections on some of our election-related entries on this blog. But they'll re-open after the polls close at 10pm.

Thanks for your understanding and cooperation!

• You can find out more about the BBC's guidelines during election periods here.

James Bridgeman is Senior Producer for 5 live Interactive

So the campaign is almost over. Months of planning, miles of travelling, and at least a few moments of madness. As the party strategists wonder whether their campaigns have worked, I've got five minutes to look back at our own campaign.

We started with the ambition that we'd reflect your concerns, your issues, your priorities as closely as possible. We'd let you talk direct to the politicians, and engage with the debate and with our programmes, at all times. We'd get all round the UK. Have we achieved it?

On Breakfast, you've been able to question the leaders on the Phone-in. Victoria hosted four live audience debates where 200 of you came along to debate crime, immigration, the economy and trust with senior politicians - all four were electric and its fair to say you didn't hold back with your views!

Tony Livesey also invited an audience to debate the debates every Thursday night. Unlike the TV audience, ours jeered and cheered throughout. Gabby Logan introduced us to the 5 live election families - floating voters who may well decide this election like never before. Peter Allen spent a day travelling with each of the main three party leaders. His conclusions? It's all a bit frantic...

Lesley Ashmall spent three days in Scotland, reflecting a very different political dynamic. Mark Hutchings gave us the picture in Wales, and Stephen Nolan presented this weekend from Northern Ireland. Our political reporter Chris Mason thinks he's done three and a half thousand miles criss-crossing the UK.

But despite all the planning, this election took all of us by surprise. Not even the most seasoned Westminster hacks claim to have predicted so-called Cleggmania. And then there was Gillian Duffy. We're at our best on a breaking story, and across last Wednesday afternoon and evening we gave our audience every twist and turn of this mini drama (or soap opera, depending on your viewpoint) as we all watched a white front door for longer than we ever have before.

We worry that the election, and politics, are a turn off. Unlike our telly colleagues we don't get daily audience figures. But today Gordon Brown attracted huge numbers of calls and texts, and we had record numbers of you getting in touch during "bigot-gate".

Tomorrow, as the nation votes, I'll be having a bit of a lie in. And then I'll be among the team here overnight, when Victoria and John Pienaar bring you all the results and the unfolding story of the night live, and once again you'll be at the heart of our coverage. And then, whether there's a clear majority or a hung parliament, there'll be a huge story to report on Friday when we've cleared the schedule for an election special with Peter and Aasmah. We've got presenters out with all the major parties and with our audience across the UK.

It could be a very busy weekend. I'm not sure when I'm going to get a lie in again...

Hayley Valentine is 5 live's Head of News

Its being reported that 36% of voters are still making up their minds where to put their cross on 6 May. Maybe we can help.

Since the election was first called on Tuesday, 6 April, the 5 live election story has been bringing our listeners the radio debate online. Pulling together audio with politicians, pundits and the public broadcast on 5 live, listener comments made on 5 live Connect and news stories, the election story allows the user to hear and review what the different parties think about the key issues.

There were times during the final couple of weeks leading up to the launch of the election story that I didn't like the whizzy flash tool very much. It kept me awake at night, it seemed to be fraught with complications, and as fast as one thing was solved another would creep out from under the carpet with an evil grin as if to say - "you're not getting rid of me that easily."

I suppose it's like giving birth. Once it was live all the anxiety, pain and long hours leading up to its birth were forgotten, as I looked at it and cooed. It was a proud moment, made more so when it started to grow as more content was loaded into it daily and it became the audio story of the election on 5 live and across the BBC.

The election story was a team effort between 5 live and magneticNorth, our production partners in Manchester. We are looking forward to becoming neighbours in the future. The succes of the election story has been achieved by working alongside News Online and elsewhere across the BBC - Radio 1, Radio 2 and the Today Programme. We've linked to other fantastic online digital offerings who have returned to the favour.

Since its launch it's garnered more press than anything 5 live Interactive has ever done. In the week of launch, 5 live's unique users increased by 22% with audio on demand seeing an 18% rise. But more importantly, I believe it to be an excellent historical resource of what's been hailed by some as one of the closest election races in Britain for decades. What's more, if we all awake on 7 May and we have a hung parliament, then there's the flexibility to keep the story running. We can add more content to the rich tapestry of colour that's already there to reflect not just the election campaign but also the immediate election aftermath.

So if you're one of the 36% who's yet undecided about who to vote for on Thursday, you may want to visit the 5 live election story to listen again to the different party views on the issues relevant to you.

Kate Darlington is a senior producer at 5 live. She's responsible for overseeing the election story.