Cbeebies Radio is changing..

The cancellation of CBeebies Radio (on Radio 7) came as a real surprise this morning. Our 3 year old came into our bedroom and said "Mummy, Daddy, can we have CBeebies on the Radio please?" ... so I turned on the clock radio and was rather surprised to see that our preset Radio 7 was now reporing as Radio 4 Extra and what was being broadcast was most definitely NOT CBeebies.



A disappointing state of affairs. Children matter - and listening in bed to CBeebies with parents (rather than gawping at the TV) is a healthy alternative that has now been lost. Yet another reason to avoid paying the TV licence...

Hi,



I'm fairly certain that with the closure of cbeebies radio there was meant to be 20 minutes of downloadable audio a day to replace it, has anybody spotted where this is? The podcast still seems to be on the 3 a week schedule so far, which is not 20 minutes long, and still has the long jingles on it.



The radio player is flash, so I have to use this at the computer, this is much harder to do with a wriggly youngster than turn on the radio - any chance of making all of this material downloadable so it can be played on an mp3 player?



PS, Just how many pre-schoolers actually filled in the survey? No wonder the average age was 50...

My family is very disappointed that the BBC has chosen to remove CBeebies radio from Radio 7. My five year old son very much looked forward to listening to this over breakfast and even learnt how to find the station himself so that he didn't miss any of it. He is currently making do with listening to CBeebies via the radio player but will this content continue to change or will it simply be a set of recordings that will then be repeated? I know there was an element of repeating material on the radio but it would be disappointing if the content available via the radio player was not updated and renewed.

Our household is mourning the loss of CBeebies on BBC Radio 7. The 2 hours of high quality radio have long been an integral part of our afternoon routine, "listening again" on our digital/wi-fi radio. My 4 year old, Andy, would rush to his room for rest time on hearing me start up the radio, and stay quietly there for 40 minutes (until after "Justin"). Then he'd carry the radio around with him for the remainder of the show, playing near or dancing to the music, and stopping to avidly listen to stories or special programs. I loved listening along with him, or just going about my activities knowing he's well entertained. My 2 year old, Hannah, who has special needs, also enjoyed the music and watching us dance.



We're glad the podcast remains, and that certain segments are available online, but it won't be the same. In particular we will miss the quieter "wake up hour" which (ironically) provided the perfect mix for rest time. Sugar Plum Storytime & Justin's "Once Upon A Time" are particular favourites that I have not seen on the website.



We'd love to see a second "restful" podcast available, perhaps using repeats of these excellent segments interspersed with calm music (30-40 mins).



Thank you to all who produced CBeebies on 7. Andy's vocabulary, general knowledge and listening skills have noticeably improved since children's radio has been a part of every day.



Our other regret is that Big Toe Books is no more - I was looking forward to Andy being old enough to enjoy it.



The 4 O'Clock hour just does not even begin to live up to the quality of CBeebies.



Thank you.

We used to listen at breakfast time on radio 7. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth when it didn't work on Saturday, but we found it on the website. I hope there's going to be some new content soon, because we're getting to the point where we've heard almost everything on all of the shows several times.

We are really lamenting the loss of the CBeebies early morning radio show. It was perfect non-screen based early morning entertainment keeping our five year old happily and quietly in bed until 7am and listening through breakfast. The content was brilliant and developed language, listening and concentration skills. Although the show can still be accessed, it can't be so easily accessed. Previously my daughter just had to press a button - we didn't even need to get up or help her with this. Now someone has to log on and locate the radio player or download the show for her. Needless to say there will now no doubt be even less takeup of the service. It seems that the BBC took the easy route and cut radio programmes from the group least able to complain about the cut. Children can't easily choose to listen to the radio and are dependent on adults to express their complaints; hence there are probably likely to be less complaints than if an adult programme was cut. It was pretty perfect scheduling in my view; most parents don't want their children up before 7am and this was a great way of starting the day slowly and peacefully. It is a disgrace that the BBC can't find room for one hour of children's linear radio in the early morning anywhere within its schedule. Apparently we can address concerns directly to the the BBC Trust at https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/complaints_appeals/index.shtml. I plan to do this but it would great if others did too.

I got a call from four-year-old twins pleading for me to tell them how to find the BBC Morning Wake-Up hour that previously was on BBC Radio 7.



I had no answer for them.



They loved that programme. When I listened to it, I loved it too. It was just right for a morning-cleanse of the fog of sleep. Recorded, it was an unbeatable afternoon activity.



It was so much better than video stuff. The children had to use their brains, their imagination! It gave them appreciation of classical music. It told beloved stories. It spoke to them in their language.



There was nothing in the UK or America like that morning show. It gave our youngsters a lasting impression of the quality of the BBC: an impression they will carry with them into adulthood.



To whom can we write, to bring back the CBeebies Wake-Up Hour?????

We are devastated CBeebies Radio has been downgraded to just one hour on the radio player. For a start it will not play on my sons iPod (due to flash content). My son has severe cerebral palsy and is registered blind. It was dreadful having to explain to him CBeebies radio was no longer available. One of the very few programs he enjoyed was the two hour radio program (we played on his iPod each morning from iPlayer). Radio based programs are much better for the visually impaired as things are described so they can be understood by listening rather than TV where so much must be understood visually to make sense.

Big Toe books also seem to have gone, he loved listening to many of those stories, they were so well read and produced.

I doubt the BBC will bother to respond to this in any way, (no response to such previous comments like "why is Something Special, a program made with Special Needs in mind, not Audio Described?")

Still I hope it will help for you to know how little thought the BBC gives disabled people especially the blind.

To Sam who asked where we write to complain about the loss of the CBeebies early morning radio show - apparently it is the BBC Trust: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/complaints_appeals/index.shtml. I am going to complain so I hope others do too.

I was glad to find the 1 hour program on the website - I understood previously that there'd only be the 20 minute podcast. However (echoing above comments) it is impractical having the computer as the only means for listening.



This is because

(a) leaving a preschooler unsupervised with a laptop for rest time is not advisable

(b) the screen is still there (screen-free entertainment is a rare and valuable thing these days)

(c) I nearly have a heart-attack when my little one tries to move the laptop by himself (he used to carry the radio around with him)



Can the BBC please, please, PLEASE make the 1 hour show available on iPlayer???



This would allow us to listen via Wi-Fi on our radio or other portable devices. MUCH more practical for listening with little ones - who are supposedly the target audience.



One other thing: If, as you say above, you are hoping more people will listen, perhaps it could be more obvious on the website that the radio player (and hopefully iPlayer) is available, and perhaps an occasional promotion on the home page would be useful. I am fearful that listenership will continue to decline which may put the final nail in the coffin of children's radio in the English speaking world. That would be a sad day indeed.

I heard about BBC Radio 7 morphing into Radio 4 Extra and to be honest assumed that the bulk of the playlist would just 'move over', including CBeebies at 06:00 every day. Well, I was dismayed to find out that CBeebies has been dropped, as my 3 children love listening to this and it makes a much needed change from screen-based entertainment.



We used to listen to CBeebies almost every day via the iPlayer plugin on our Logitech Squeezebox Radio. It was a great way of calming the children down, especially just after school when they are tired and getting fractious.



Anyhoo, so I trawled the web to see what happened and ended up here. "CBeebies Radio will become an on-line audio service" it says in the blog above. Eh? "But surely the BBC doesn't expect us to use a computer or smart phone with a web browser to listen to it, it is bad enough that I had to buy DAB-type radios to access iPlayer to listen" I thought. But then I saw "download the podcasts to entertain your little ones while you're on the move". Yay! I thought, I can access podcasts on our Logitech Squeezebox . . .



So I have spent this evening setting this up and OMG what have the BBC done? At https://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/cbeebies gone is the lovely varied 2hr programme with the very calming classical music start. No, we are down to a 25 minute programme (is this part of the austerity measures afflicting the UK?!?). It starts with one of the CBeebies presenters reading out a legal disclaimer (bizarre!), then it is 3 minutes (of a 25 minute programme) of a horrendous 'jingle song' about CBeebies radio and how great it is. Yes 12% of every programme taken up by this numbing drivel. The thought of having to listen to that every day sends shivers down my podcast player!



Please BBC give us back Natalie, the relaxing classical start and a programme of a decent length. We wouldn't mind even if it was re-runs of the old Radio 7 CBeebies programmes; that would be better than what the move to Radio 4 Extra has taken from us.



2 sad parents and 3 sad boys signing off :-(

On behalf of: Catherine Carey - CBeebies Interactive



Hello



The radio team have been in touch with the following response:



Thank you for your comments about the changes to CBeebies Radio and the schedules for BBC Radio 7 / Radio 4 Extra.



As you may be aware these changes came about following a BBC Trust Review of Radio Services. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/february/radio_347.shtml



BBC Radio 7 carried a series of trails about their rebranding, but I am sorry that these changes to the output came as a total surprise. CBeebies didn't sit comfortably within BBC Radio 7's scheduling and unfortunately this had an impact on the number of people able to find and enjoy our output. However, I can assure you that we are committed to providing high quality audio content for children to enjoy. I know it won't be exactly the same, but I genuinely feel we have an opportunity to engage with a majority of our target audience by offering an "appointment to listen" service to families that fits in with their schedules, routines and daily lives.



Although we no longer broadcast our shows on BBC Radio 7/Radio 4 Extra we are running an overnight broadcast at 2:00am every morning until the 17th July 2011. It's also still possible to hear the remainder of the current series of programmes via https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/radioplayer or via https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer, and the podcast for that series of shows will continue to be made available until that date too.



The changes you are referring to "20 minutes of downloadable audio" will begin in July and as I mention in the blog, we intend to work with parents and find out how best we can help them and their children enjoy our content. The answer to your question about content being available to download and play on an MP3, etc. is yes! - that is exactly our ambition.



It is always great to hear that you have enjoyed listening with your children and thank you for your passion about the value of radio and listening skills. Your feed back is so valuable and I would truly welcome your suggestions on how we can continue to engage with children given that we no longer have a linear broadcast.



Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Thank you, BBC for the response. I have tried in vain, however to find any CBeebies radio on iPlayer, and it's not showing up on the BBC 4 Extra schedule at 2am either.

Has there been some mistake, or am I missing something?

"We have received lots of positive feedback telling us how much children have enjoyed listening to CBeebies Radio programmes" - so why take it off?



Our 5 year old used to love listening to cbeebies in the mornings. We even got her a pink DAB radio to listen to it on. Any parent knows that if you played cbeebies radio on the computer, they would want to play on the computer rather than listen to it. And what on earth is the point of playing it at 2am?



You have to realise that cbeebies radio was a great way of bringing up younger generations listening to radio. It also gave our little girl a bit of independence (she would always switch on her radio when she woke up in the morning - not any more). Therefore, in the longer term, you are shooting yourselves in the foot by removing cbeebies from your DAB schedules. Thanks a lot!

I draw little comfort from the radio team's blog. How can I enable my daughter to access CBeebies radio in the early morning as she used to? I have never downloaded a podcast in my life and whilst I am sure it's not beyond my ken I don't have an MP3 player and my daughter's radio doesn't have a docking port. So unless I go out and spend a whole lot more money (having only relatively recently invested in a digital radio) my only option is to leave my laptop in her room, get up, log on and find the programme - not a very attractive option in the early hours. And the 2am broadcast is definitely out of the picture.



I may be proved wrong but I can't for the life of me understand how the new format will attract new listeners - it's has already alienated our family and we are already fans. Compared to just pressing a button and listening to the radio, the new format seems to involve such a lot more effort, organisation and planning that in reality it's just unlikely to happen - for most people it's simply going to be much easier to turn on the TV. Realistically, given how busy families' lives are, the only time in the day when the BBC could guarantee consistently reaching the majority of children is in the early morning and it seems that the reason it didn't was because people were completely unaware of the service - none of my contemporaries had ever heard of CBeebies radio. With better marketing and promotion it should have been able to significantly increase listener numbers.

Slightly confused because Cbeebies radio currently seems to be broadcast daily at 02.00 during the 'Selection of World Service' programmes on radio 4.



I personally prefer the actual (usually fascinating) World Service programmes and wonder how many children are listening at this hour?