radio 4 - connecting with the rock and roll generation 1 bbc radio 4 connecting with the rock and...

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Radio 4 - Connecting with the Rock and Roll Generation

BBC Radio 4

Connecting with

the Rock and Roll Generation

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Some Facts about Radio 4• 13,000 programmes a year across 14 genres.

• 180 hours of religious programming a year

• Live Cricket coverage.

• Conversation

• 700 hours of news bulletins a year

• 1300 hours of daily current affairs programmes

• 440 hours of weekly current affairs

• Factual programmes on history, farming, science, health, music, poetry, technology, natural history, religion, gardening, law, language, culture, arts, film, ideas, business and consumer affairs.

• 800 hours a year of original drama and readings

• 300 hours of original comedy a year.


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News drives the audience

Source: RAJAR, Q2, 2002

Today

PM/1800WATO

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Radio 4 – its audience:

• 9.5 million adult listeners a week

• 4.74 million listeners to the Today programme on the average day

• Listen for an average of 12.7 hours a week

• 2 million listen for > 20 hours!

• Takes 11.3% of all listening in the UK

• It’s the no.1 station in London – share of 16%, more than Capital 95.8 and Heart combined

• More than half use the internet once a week or more (above the UK average)

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Who listens?

13%

21%

30%

36%

35-54

55-64

65+

15-34

AGE

50.0%

50.0%

Women

Men

SEX

SOCIAL GRADE

37.0%

13.0% 15.0%

35.0%

C2

AB

DE

C1

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WHO are our audience ?57

54 53 5351 50 50 50 49

4542

32

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30

40

50

60

70

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Average audience age is 53

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Fabulous Fifties - wealth:

• They control an estimated 80% of the wealth of the UK

• And 40% of the consumer spending

• 17% of them have over £50K in savings

• 58% of them have no mortgage

• At their epicentre :

– Cash rich men aged 50-54 who at £312 per week have the highest disposable income of any demographic group

• Therefore, some of the Baby Boomers are booming

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A mould-breaking generation:

• Teenagers

• Rock and Roll

• Beatle mania

• Recreational drugs

• Sexual revolution

• Social revolution

• Direct political involvement: Vietnam, CND, Thatcherism, New Labour, Anti War March

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A mould-breaking generation:

• An end to deference: equality matters

• Liberal parents - feelings matter

• Loved high and popular culture

• Food and drink revolution

• Technological advances - Space Travel

• World travel

• Digital Revolution

• Information age

• Individualism and Society

• Hedonism and “giving back”

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Some promises haven’t delivered:

• End of jobs for life - dramatic short-termism

• Collapse of Trade Unions

• Denigration of professions

• Denigration of idealism– “Why is this lying bastard lying to me?”

• End of free higher education

• Their children may be the first generation who don’t become more affluent than they are – 23% of 20-30 year olds still live with their parents – many

can’t afford to leave

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In short:

• Baby boomers are resilient

– Grew up in the Cold War – and a very uncertain world

– But felt they could change things

• Are a generation generally unafraid of trying the new

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Consumer insights - age can be deceptive

• Over 50s display a renewed appetite for knowledge and information – and they have the time to satisfy it

• They want experiences and brands with integrity

• They have sufficient sense of self to build their identity around what they do, not what they buy

• They like information but they also want to be entertained

• They are much more open minded than the young give them credit for.

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Consumer insights:

• Age is changing – we are all younger longer….

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Why is Radio 4 succeeding with this audience?

• The Radio 4 brand has integrity

• Radio 4 touches their interest in the wider world and their journey of self-discovery

• Radio 4 has wit and subversive comedy

• But above all, Radio 4 engages not with age, race, class, gender but with a mindset…

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The Radio 4 mindset:• A huge pleasure in discovery - of new information,

new comedy, unexpected and moving experiences.

• Expectation for programmes which demand sharpness and concentration

• ‘Lean forward radio’ - one-to-one conversations for all sorts of moods

• Willingness be surprised– Open-minded about subjects and coverage from

different angles

• Part of a World Culture– Interested in wider content than just relevant to their daily life

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In-depth, revelatory journalism:

• Original journalism on Today

• File on 4

• Face the Facts

• It’s My Story- Damilola witness

• Inside the Foreign Office

• Martha Stewart Trial

• Public Enemy Number One

• Mosque in the Mendips

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Information and irreverence:

• Changes in News: – revamped PM with Eddie Mair

– BH with Fi Glover – wry, witty, modern without trying too hard.

• Home Truths, Veg Talk, Woman’s Hour

• Lightening up without dumbing down

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Comedy: • Refreshed the mainstream

– JAM

– Clue

– The News Quiz

– Paul Merton, Ross Noble, Julian Clary, Linda Smith, Jeremy Hardy, Mark Steel

• Continue reputation for new comedy– The Consultants series 2 (from Edinburgh to R4 in 3 mths.)

– This is Craig Brown – cast include Rory Bremner, Harry Enfield, Edward Fox

– Inner Voices :Dylan Moran, Stewart Lee, Curtis Walker, Reginald D Hunter – comic monologues

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Recent transfers from Radio 4 to BBC television:

• World of Pub

• Mark Steel Lectures

• Sean Lock’s 15 Storeys

• Dead Ringers

• Little Britain

• Grease Monkeys

• Ross Noble - tbc

• The Consultants - tbc

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Surprises:

• Harry Potter on Boxing Day

• His Dark Materials trilogy

• Lord of the Rings

• The new Establishment and younger generation of voices:– Nigella Lawson, George Clooney, Jamie Oliver, Vic

Reeves, Vittorio Radice, Jeremy Clarkson, Emmy Lou Harris, John Cale, Jo Brand.

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… and the unexpected:

• Joan Armatrading on Ireland

• Sandi Toksvig on yodelling

• Garth Crooks on black footballers

• Ian Hislop on hymns

• Mark Radcliffe on music

• Al Murray on Thackeray

• Paul Gambaccini on great one-off gigs

• Lemn Sissay doing JB Priestley’s English journey

• Brain May on Astrophysics

• David Baddiel – piloting new debate formal

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But our core values remain:

• Trust is key

• Never compromise on quality – get it right.

• Reliable information and in-depth analysis

• Scepticism, irreverence, wit, imagination

• Adventure: offer the unexpected – in content, tone and voices.

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Has it worked?SINCE 2000:-

• Listeners up by 800,000; Share from 11% to 11.7%

+9%+14%

All adults Over- 50sListeners

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It can work for the young too:

• Growth amongst under-35s, too, albeit by more modest 6%.

• But this is a remarkable achievement given the aggressive targeting of this age group by the many new and existing radio stations, not to mention TV channels, Playstations, etc

• Shows that age can be less important than mindset - programmes that work for the Fab Fifties can also work for the under 35’s.

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Has it worked?

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“Every day, without exception, I hear on Radio 4 programmes that make me laugh and cry, that grip and intrigue and force me to find out more, that inform, educate and entertain and are sometimes impossible to turn off. These alone are worth the price of the controversial licence fee.”

Paul Donovan Sunday Times

Has it worked?

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BBC Radio 4 Sony Radio Academy Station of the Year

2003

radio 4 - connecting with the rock and roll generation 1 bbc radio 4 connecting with the rock and...

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