College of Production round up: Sustainable production and radio podcast

I’m Denise Roach, content producer at the BBC College of Production website. Our site is a free online learning resource for the radio, television and online production community offering videos, podcasts and articles from broadcasting innovators and experts.

At CoP we look at how producers and programme makers bring world class content to global audiences every week. This week we go even deeper and look at how technology can impact not just on your production, but on the planet.

We all know it’s our duty to look after the planet in any small way we can, from recycling plastic bottles to cutting down on food waste and that goes for producers and programme makers too. In our latest film BBC Dragon and green champion Deborah Meaden leads the call to action to get producers to think about sustainable production, making programmes with as little negative impact on the environment as possible.

It’s a heartening film inviting producers to revisit their own productions and inspire their teams to follow suit with practical and effective ideas for any producer to follow. From using solar powered generators on remote shoots, low energy lighting on set, to using tools to help you measure the carbon value of all elements of your production - all can help the BBC hit its environmental targets and will help producers save money in the long run, a ‘win win’ all round.

Your band is in London, your lead singer is in New York and you’ve got to get their live session out on air. How do you make that happen? The unsung heroes of radio production were given the chance to shine this week as we chatted to the talent behind the scenes in our studio manager podcast.

Ian Painter, Bob Nettles and Ian Deeley have a wealth of experience working across both commercial and BBC radio and over the years have seen the role of the studio manager change as digital technology like Skype, Google Hangouts and other emerging communication technology like audio over IP, push the boundaries of what’s possible on radio.

Magical and technically challenging moments like these demonstrate how the skill and experience of a studio manager, married with technical know-how, ultimately glues the production together so that the audience never see the joins. Whether you’re a radio producer or a bedroom based podcast maker, it goes to show that what the audience doesn’t hear counts just as much as your content.

And talking of great content, the folks at the Natural History Unit continue to produce world leading programmes and are extending traditional broadcasting to online and social media platforms. A great example is Planet Earth Live. You can see how online producer Paul Deane worked with teams from around the world to make it happen in this film.

Denise Roach is a content producer for the BBC College of Production.