All talk

Two entertaining Twitter debates about the direction of speech radio in this country over the past 24 hours.

The first was sparked by the first commissioning round for podcasts to be carried on BBC Sounds (i.e. unassociated with any particular existing broadcast network). The commissioning notes include 11 commandments, presumably written by new hiring Jason Phipps...

1. A podcast is not a radio programme even if radio programmes are consumed as podcasts. 

2. For a younger generation who will never own a radio, podcasts are their radio but, reread rule 1.

Normally BBC commissioning notes are rigorous about their audience information. But No 2 looks like an assertion to some experts; we await more.

More worrying to this reader are Mr Phipps' commissioning themes and his pricing mechanisms.  He wants stuff that is "Funny Quirky Odd", "Dramatic Storytelling", "Discover, Explain" and "Pop Cultures, Sub Cultures". Underpinning the themes, he wants ideas targeted at food and drink; money and personal finance; style; sports and sporting stories. And yet, says the brief, "We are looking for content not available anywhere else on the BBC."

He offers "3 episodic types" - "Strands", which means 25 or more podcasts, at £1k to £5k per episdoe; "Box sets", eight to fifteen episodes at £6k to £8k per episode, and "Flagship" - a limited number of commissions per year. "Blue chip collaborations with top journalists, producers and creatives."

The other debate is about LBC's strategy with Eddie Mair. He had a weekly reach around 4m on PM; how many can he bring to the LBC slot record of around 85,000 ?  Try the thoughts of Adam Bowie and Steve Martin.