TV on the radio

This weekend will see the re-awakening of a quite important BBC debate.  Is radio "visualisation" a pioneering new activity, or is it really television ?  And does the answer to the question matter ?

The trigger is the playing of DVDs in Sunday's chart show with Reggie Yates, so that the programme is a little more interesting to website viewers. Radio 1's "Head of Visualisation" Joe Harland sells it better than this in an interview with The Evening Standard.  Other radio watchers, like James Cridland, have become irritated by the headline "Radio 1 breaks new ground" - rightly, because plenty of people have done this before.

The earliest UK collision of tv and radio I can remember came in the early 80s, when trials were conducted of cameras in the Radio 4 Today studio, as a potential response to emerging breakfast tv plans at ITV. Andy Walmsley tells the story here.

It was a failure. But around the world, there are now discussion and interview programmes that are made, live or recorded, that work effectively on tv, radio and the web. CNN had Larry King; Radio 4 and BBC News share the costs of Evan Davis' "Bottom Line" - it gets additional funding, which probably pays for the nice lighting, from The Open University.

I think Tim Davie, the BBC's Director of Audio and Music, meant something different last month when he said "We are moving to a screen world".  I think it was really a call for new and better ideas.  Current BBC "visualisation" runs from the stark colours and primary school fonts that accompany radio stations on Freeview, through sassier graphics and Twitter feeds on the web, to the appalling "security camera" views of empty seats in the studios of 5Live, Salford. On the way, BBC Radio is making a charge on the Red Button, with more and more expensively-filmed concerts from Radio 2 and even 5Live.

The core issue for the BBC in pursuing this route is expense. There's no additional licence fee - and to look good, you require good lighting, a good tv director, and BANDWIDTH.  You could "visualise" nearly all radio, given enough money - but the people at BBC Vision and the BBC Trust would like to know where you're getting the dosh.  How many additional servers has Joe Harland put in place for Sunday ?