Commissioning Brief 2019 -20
bbc.co.uk/wales Commissioning Brief 2019-20
1. Introduction...... 3
2. Overall summary...... 4
2.1 Key dates and guide prices...... 4
2.2 A brief guide to Proteus...... 5
3. BBC Radio Wales in a nutshell...... 6
4. Genres for commission...... 7
4.1 Highlights from 2018-19...... 7
4.2 Themes for 2019-20...... 7 . 4.3 Comedy...... 8
4.4 Science, Technology & ideas...... 8
4.5 Arts...... 9
4.6 Features...... 9
4.7 Hour-long Programmes...... 9
4.8 Sunday Morning With...... 9
4.9 Rolling commissioning...... 10
5. Working with BBC Radio Wales ...... 11
5.1 Delivering additional content for daytime ...... 11
5.2 It’s all about the pictures...... 11
5.3 No paperwork, no programme...... 11
5.4 Delivery guidelines...... 11
5.5 Technical guidelines...... 12
6. Tariffs...... 12
7. BBC Radio Wales and the audience...... 13
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1. Introduction
BBC Radio Wales was established as a separate service in November 1978 – an event which the BBC’s historian in Wales, Dr John Davies, described as arguably ‘…the single most important happening in the history of Welsh broadcasting’. As we prepare to celebrate our 40th birthday, the year ahead will be, I hope, one of our most exciting yet.
Collaboration has been at the heart of what we have done over the past 12 months, with independent producers being at the centre of many of our developments. Our new Sunday Morning with…. programme has heard a rotation of high profile presenters join the station, including Keeping Faith star, Eve Myles, and broadcaster, Carol Vorderman. All of these programmes have been delivered by independents, and have contributed to significant audience growth in this time slot.
In comedy, 2018 started with the return of Ruth Jones to the station. Ruth was the leading voice in original Welsh sitcom Splott. It’s an example of our ambition to work with the biggest talent, relevant to Wales, for every genre. We also launched a partnership with the Machynlleth Comedy Festival. The relationship saw BBC Radio Wales having the naming rights for the main arena, and broadcasting more output than ever before from the Festival, including Rhod Gilbert and Kiri Pritchard McLean.
We’re proud to cover Welsh arts and culture. This year we launched a new monthly arts review programme, also an independent production, presented by Gary Raymond, Senior Editor of the Wales Arts Review. Another new development, this time at the Hay Festival, was Tonight at Hay, presented by the Editor of GQ Magazine, Dylan Jones. Both programmes added to the breadth and rigour of our cultural output.
This November, we will take the radio station on the road. With our birthday bus, our lead presenters will be travelling across Wales. At the same time, we’ll be part of the BBC’s biggest product launch in over a decade. BBC Sounds will be our new digital home for audio – listening live, listening again, podcasts and streaming. In October, we’ll launch new transmitters, meaning, for the first time, we’ll reach over 90% of households in Wales on FM. It is going to be a busy and exciting start to our 40th year. In 2019, the station will have full coverage and commentary of Wales at the Rugby World Cup in Japan and we’ll be making our final preparations to move to our new home, in the heart of the Welsh capital, at Central Square.
Thank you for your support, ideas and creativity in the past year. I wish you good luck with this commissioning round and the year ahead.
Colin Paterson Editor, BBC Radio Wales
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2. Overall summary
2.1 Key Dates and Guide Prices Here are the key dates in this year’s commissioning timetable:
TUESDAY 23rd OCTOBER – MIDDAY: DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS w/c Monday 5th November: notification of shortlist ideas w/c Monday 19th November: interviews with shortlisted suppliers w/c Monday 10th December: commissions published
Proposals need to be submitted via Proteus, the BBC’s commissioning and scheduling system. If you don’t have a Proteus log-in, please see Section 2.2.
Proposals on Proteus are formatted to include a very short ‘headline’ summary and then a longer synopsis in which you can outline the idea, treatment and tone of the programme. Short, succinct pitches are appreciated. Please ensure that you have approached your suggested presenters and have their agreement in principle.
If you need any further information about this document, please contact: Jeremy Grange, Assistant Editor, BBC Radio Wales [email protected] Tel: 07764 335183
Guide Prices: This year, rather than offering set tariffs for genres we are taking a different approach. We are aware that not all half-hour programmes require the same amount of production effort and we’re therefore introducing a range of guide prices to reflect that. Budgets for shortlisted ideas will be subject to close scrutiny. Here are the guidelines:
Half hour feature: £1500 - £4000 Hour long feature: £3000 - £4500 Scripted comedy: £6000 - £7000 Unscripted comedy: £3000 - £5000
OFFERS NEED TO BE SUBMITTED VIA PROTEUS BY MIDDAY ON TUESDAY 23rd OCTOBER
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2.2 A Brief Guide to Proteus Proteus is a system which is owned and developed by the BBC. It is a ‘one stop shop’ for all programme-related information for BBC Radio. It is used by internal BBC radio departments and independent productions companies to:
• create and submit programme ideas • complete programme descriptions and compliance • create running orders (including contributors and music items)
Users in the BBC networks access the system to commission radio programme ideas, create programme schedules, support play-out and generate reports.
New Users: Independent companies who do not have a Proteus account and who wish to submit programme ideas, must first contact Michelle Phillips [email protected]( ) and Ceri Goddard ([email protected]) with the following information:
• Name of company • Address • Contact Number • Contact Name • e-mail Address
They will register you with access, and you’ll then receive an email with log in information and a helpcard for guidance.
Existing users: Log on to Proteus now If you already have an existing account you will be able to select BBC Radio Wales from the Network dropdown.
Proteus support All of Wales radio’s programme paperwork will be managed through the BBC’s Proteus system.
If your proposal is successful during the commissioning round, you will be expected to attend a ‘Proteus for Independents’ training course. Your Proteus account will then be extended enabling you to access the system in order to complete programme descriptions, compliance and running orders.
To ensure knowledge of the system is retained and practically applied, you should attend a course no more than three months before your programme(s) are due for transmission.
Ceri Goddard and Michelle Phillips will be in contact with training course information nearer the time.
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3. BBC Radio Wales in a nutshell… We are the national radio station for Wales. Our mission is to create radio at the heart of life in Wales. We’re predominantly targeting the over 50’s, but we’re aimed at people who are interested in the life, culture and affairs of the country – supporting our national conversation.
And we aim to attract them by:
• News: outstanding news and current affairs, which really matters to people in Wales.
• Sport: giving priority to the moments which bring Wales together. Quality over volume.
• Live: speech led content which is distinctive, authentic, entertaining and has substance. Supporting the national conversation.
• Comedy: winning hearts, not just minds. A mix of big names and supporting new talent.
• Music, culture and events: supporting Welsh culture and entertainment in its broadest sense. A platform to reflect and celebrate Wales.
• In-depth: features which provide deep-dive moments for our listeners.
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4. Genres for commission 4.1 Highlights from 2018-19 Over the last twelve months we’ve had an exciting range of new commissions, seasons and events on BBC Radio Wales. Our Sunday Morning With… strand has brought a series of high-profile presenters to the station, including Carol Vorderman,Keeping Faith star Eve Myles and brother-and-sister team Colin Jackson and Suzanne Packer.
In Comedy we commissioned new sitcoms such as Splott starring Ruth Jones and Relocation with Steve Speirs. We’ve strengthened our links with the Machynlleth Comedy Festival with the launch of the Radio Wales Mach Arena as the main venue. This year’s Festival featured Radio Wales shows from Rhod Gilbert, our topical comedy The Leak and a stand-up showcase hosted by Kiri Pritchard McLean. At the beginning of October, as part of BBC Wales’ Comedy Season we’ll be broadcasting comedies across a week, including a brand new sitcom, Home, and two specially recorded stand-up shows.
We devoted a week of our output in July to the 70th anniversary of the NHS, an institution which affects us all and which had its origins in Wales. This included a documentary about Nye Bevan; the series A Healthy Future which looked at advances in medical research in Wales; and the hospital-based sitcom Bob Jones. On the day of the anniversary all our daily strands came live from hospitals and health centres across Wales and the day concluded with an hour-long documentary, The NHS and Me, a series of personal stories from patients and medical staff reflecting the impact of the NHS on everybody’s lives.
In Arts we launched a brand new monthly arts review programme presented by Gary Raymond from Wales Arts Review. We commissioned documentary features about the illustrator Ralph Steadman, an exploration of the song Delilah and the role of the art and performance in the lives of people with autism. We also launched Tonight at Hay, a series of nightly discussions from the Hay Festival hosted by Dylan Jones, Editor of GQ Magazine.
Commissions for our Science, Technology and Ideas strand included The Idea, a platform for original thinking, Click for Cymraeg which explored the impact of Google Translate on the Welsh language and Going Social, a revealing insight into the world of social media analytics.
Another highlight still to come this year is BBC Radio Wales’ 40th Birthday. Throughout the birthday week our presenters will be on the road with the Radio Wales birthday bus and presenting their shows from communities around Wales. In I Was There we’ll be bringing together some of the personalities - on-air and off-air - who launched BBC Radio Wales in November 1978. And there’ll be a unique take on the station’s story with Gareth Gwynn’s Twisted History of Radio Wales.
4.2 Themes for 2019-20 Next year will be a particularly busy and exciting year for BBC Wales behind the scenes as we move to our new home in Central Square. On-air there’ll be plenty to focus on too, with some key events and anniversaries which we’ll reflect both in our daily programmes and in our commissions. We welcome ideas which could play into our coverage of these events.
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The station will be carrying full coverage and commentary of the Rugby World Cup in Japan and we’d be interested in ideas for programmes which we can build around that coverage – particularly as it’s also the 20th anniversary of Wales hosting the event.
2019 also sees the 20th anniversary of the firstAssembly Elections; 40 years since Wales initially rejected Devolution; and the 50th anniversary of the Prince of Wales’ Investiture in Caernarfon. And, from Michael Sheen to Tanni Grey-Thompson, several well-known Welsh figures will be marking their50th birthdays next year.
These anniversaries are of course just a starting point. There will be other, off-diary areas which you think deserve a big treatment. These may be built around a theme, or around an area of social interest or concern. In the past we’ve looked at education, dementia and healthy eating with a series of different forms of programming across the schedule.
The bottom line is that we’re looking for big, bold ideas - ideas which surprise, intrigue and excite us!
4.3 Comedy BBC Radio Wales has a commitment to nurturing Welsh comedy talent and in the last few years we’ve built strong comedy strands like our topical news quiz The Leak; Foiled, our sitcom set in a Tonypandy hair salon; and The Unexplainers with the myth-busting Mike Bubbins and John Rutledge. In the last twelve months we’ve launched new sitcoms, including Splott starring Ruth Jones, Relocation with Steve Speirs and Bravo Two Charlies set in the world of North Wales traffic cops. We’ve also commissioned stand-up shows such as 3 Dads in which Leroy Britto explores his experience of fatherhood and Long Division which considers Wales’ north-south divide.
We have a real ambition to build on BBC Radio Wales’ strong reputation for comedy and we’re looking to commission comedy in a range of formats. We’re particularly keen to explore ways of showcasing new Welsh comedy talent. The tone of the station’s comedy is contemporary, irreverent, robust and distinctively Welsh.
4.4 Science, Technology and Ideas The Tuesday 1830 slot focuses on Ideas. It’s a platform for voices from the worlds of science, digital technology and entrepreneurship, medicine, the creative industries and other fields - people whose ideas are shaping the future.
For 2018/19 our commissions included The Idea, a platform for thinkers; Click for Cymraeg which examined the impact of Google Translate on the Welsh language and A Healthy Future, a four-part series exploring advances in biomedical research in Wales.
Our regular science series Science Café runs in this slot for 26 weeks a year but we invite proposals for returning series, short series and one-offs which explore ideas in the broadest sense and introduce new and diverse voices to explore this theme.
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4.5 Arts The Radio Wales Arts Show with Nicola Heywood Thomas runs in this slot for 26 weeks a year. In April this year we launched the monthly Review Show presented by Gary Raymond, a series which casts a critical eye over the arts in Wales and gives listeners a sense of the must-sees and the also-rans.
Commissions for 2018/19 also included documentary features on arts and the autistic mind, 50 years of the folk group The Hennessys and a tribute to playwright Frank Vickery. We are looking for stand-alone feature ideas for this slot for 2019/20, programmes which give an insight into the creative processes behind visual arts, music, writing and performance -programmes which make the arts accessible and relevant to our listeners.
4.6 Features The Thursday 6.30pm slot is the home of great documentary storytelling and insights into contemporary Welsh life. Commissions for 2018/19 have included Trust Me, I’m Your Barber in which Matthew Pritchard highlighted a fascinating initiative to improve men’s mental health; Grandparents are Great which examined the role of grandparents in 21st century Wales; The Lost World of the Welsh Suffragettes;and Colin Jackson: 25 Years a World Champion. We also re-commissioned long-running series including Jacko’s Sporting Almanac, The Secret Life of Welsh Food and Jamie Owen’s Wales.
This slot covers a wide range of subjects: ordinary lives and extraordinary lives in Wales; popular culture, from music to sport; journeys through our landscape; and in-depth profiles of key figures in the life of our nation.
We’re looking for programmes which engage our listeners, surprise them, move them and make them think. Above all, these programmes are about good storytelling.
4.7 Hour-long programmes We have a very small number of hour-long slots and usually place these on Bank Holidays and in the Christmas and Easter periods.
This year we’ve broadcast Commonwealth Dragons, the story of Welsh competitors who have triumphed at the Commonwealth Games; 1968: The Year of Dreams, a look back half a century to a turbulent and dramatic year; The NHS and Me, a series of personal stories from patients and medical staff reflecting the impact of the NHS on our lives; and a special programme for the end of the year, John Owen Jones: Home for Christmas.
4.8 Sunday Morning With………. Our new strand, Sunday Morning With… has quickly established itself in the weekend schedule with a series of high-profile presenters including Carol Vorderman,Keeping Faith star Eve Myles, Connie Fisher, Lucy Owen and brother-and-sister team Colin Jackson and Suzanne Packer.
This programme aims to provide a platform for big name presenters to attract the attention of our audience. The format will remain fairly similar regardless of the presenter – music and conversation for a Sunday morning. It’s all about the calibre of the talent. If you’ve got a strong working relationship with the right person, and can deliver in this key slot, we’re keen to hear from you. 9 Commissioning Brief 2019-20
4.9 Rolling commissioning We are not at this point intending to commission any programmes beyond March 2020. However, we know that sometimes golden opportunities arise outside of the commissioning window and we do hold a small pot of money open to allow us to consider these. The contact for these ideas is: [email protected]
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5. Working with BBC Radio Wales 5.1 Delivering additional content for daytime The content we commission needs to make a real splash and capture the imagination of our audiences. We therefore look to maximise the impact of our features in as many ways as we can. Examples range from day-long specials around a theme, cut-down features in our weekday strands or supporting interviews in the daytime strands. This joined-up thinking helps promote your programme more effectively and generally enhances the quality of our daily strands. Please outline how your material might be used in order to achieve this when submitting your offer, and be proactive in offering this material when you deliver your programme.
5.2 It’s all about the pictures Good visual imagery to accompany programmes is now an essential part of delivery. This means that images and, where appropriate, video must be supplied to represent your programme on BBC iPlayer – whether those images are from the production/ content itself, or appropriately cleared existing /archive images. The specifications for image content are outlined on the BBC website. Guidance and best practice in this area can be provided by our Radio Wales digital team. Please seek their advice, if needed, before production.
Additional information or content (where appropriate) for the website is also appreciated. This may include video; written material; suggested clips. These images and clips are also useful for press releases and on air trails. The contact for all iPlayer and website issues is [email protected]
5.3 No paperwork, no programme While the delivery process works on the whole, we have had the occasional programme delivered without the appropriate paperwork, in the wrong format, not properly numbered, and so on. If programmes and their accompanying paperwork are not delivered to the required specifications we are likely to refuse them. Everything you need to know about our delivery and technical guidelines is available on our website – link below – with examples of best practice. In summary, this is what that we’re expecting from you. These can all be completed on Proteus:
• Billing – 4 weeks in advance of tx – This is absolutely essential because all billings are now automatically made public 3 weeks before tx • Compliance Form – when the tx copy is delivered • Continuity Announcement Form – when the tx copy is delivered • P as B (Programme as Broadcast) form – when the tx copy is delivered • Music Reporting form – when the tx copy is delivered
5.4 Delivery Guidelines: http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/cymruwales/commissioning/eldelivery/radio Everything you need to know is here.
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5.5 Technical Guidelines: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/wales/radiotech_2013.pdf This document can be found on the right hand side of our delivery page under Guidance and Specifications. Please be sure you read it before delivering your finished programme.
6. Tariffs Our ambition is to commission the best ideas. We also have to consider cost and value for licence fee payers. Therefore we negotiate price on a case-by-case basis and budgets for shortlisted ideas will be subject to close scrutiny. Here are the guideline prices:
Half hour feature: £1500 - £4000 Hour long feature: £3000 - £4500 Scripted comedy: £6000 - £7000 Unscripted comedy: £3000 - £5000
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7. BBC Radio Wales – our audience
8.3 HOURS
367,000 adults listen The average amount 49% 51% to BBC Radio Wales of time spent listening each week. each week is 8.3 hours
Age profile – BBC Radio Wales audience (%) 50% 40% 40%
30% 23% 20% 10.40% 12% 7.10% 7.30% 10% 0% 15 – 24 25 – 34 35 – 44 45 – 54 55 – 64 65+
How people listen 100%
80% 68% 60% 40% 23% 20% 5.30% 0% Analogue radio Digital radio Digital TV
Where people listen 100% 77% 80% 60% 40% 18% 20% 0% At Home In Car
Source RAJAR / Ipsos MORI Quarter 2 2018 13