Commissioning Brief
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RADIO COMMISSIONING Commissioning Brief Commissioning Brief No. 47163, Round 3, 2022/23 SCIENCE MAGAZINE TENDER from April 2022 to March 2025 with option to renew for up to two additional years V3 updated by LL 18.06.21 BBC Radio Commissioning Brief_v1.3_2021 03 04 CONTENTS SECTION A: EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITY ...................................................................................... 3 Radio 4 ................................................................................................................................................. 4 The Science Magazine opportunity ..................................................................................................... 5 Presenter .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Key requirements ................................................................................................................................. 5 Proposal to include .............................................................................................................................. 6 Diversity and Inclusion ......................................................................................................................... 6 Success Measures ................................................................................................................................ 6 Risk Management ................................................................................................................................ 6 Price ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 SECTION B: PROCESS, ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION .................................................... 8 The four stages ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Assessment criteria .............................................................................................................................. 9 Evaluation team ................................................................................................................................. 10 SECTION C: THE COMMISSIONING TIMETABLE .................................................................. 11 SECTION D: FULL PROPOSALS AND REFERENCE INFORMATION ........................ 12 2 of 12 BBC Radio Commissioning Brief_v1.3_2021 03 04 SECTION A: EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITY Commissioning Brief ID / Title: 47163 / Science Magazine Commissioning owner Mohit Bakaya Commissioning contact Lea Lauvray Commissioning Brief title Science Magazine Network Radio 4 Guide gross price £5500 Genre Factual Schedule slot Thursday 1630, repeat Thursday 2100 Duration 28’ Number of episodes per Approx. 52 year Live / recorded Live or recorded Transmission period April 2022 to March 2025, with an option to renew for up to two additional years Production location If live, from a BBC studio Geographical location undefined Important: If you are on the Radio & Music supplier database, you need not complete an eligibility form. There is no short proposal stage. Your proposal must be submitted via Proteus before noon on 15 July 2021 Please submit in good time to avoid unforeseen network problems. Late submissions will not be accepted. Enter it under Radio 4, Round 3, 2022-2023, brief 47163, Science Magazine. It should be no longer than six sides of A4 using Arial font, size 11, in the full synopsis field of the Proteus form, including all the information requested in this brief. 3 of 12 BBC Radio Commissioning Brief_v1.3_2021 03 04 Radio 4 Radio 4 is unique in the breadth and quality of its informative, educational and entertaining programming. Every day, on air and online, Radio 4 has more original content than any other broadcaster in the world. Its authoritative news and current affairs journalism is complemented by programmes exploring many areas, including science, arts, history, religion, ideas, drama and comedy, offered through regular strands, one-off programmes and special seasons. In the first quarter of 2020 (the most recent for which figures are available) Radio 4 was reaching a weekly audience of 11 million, with an average age of 57. The latest RAJAR report is available on the Radio 4 Commissioning website. An audience pack relating to this commission will also be available on the site. The station is always seeking to understand and reflect the changing nature of the UK, and the changing consumption of audio content. We want to find new ways of reaching beyond our existing base, to extend our journalism and storytelling to audiences that might be poorly served by other media, right across the social and geographical landscape. We are passionate about letting as many people as possible in on the Radio 4 secret, by finding imaginative new ways to engage them. Further, as the podcast market grows, we aim to attract a new generation to Radio 4 as the home of intelligent audio, whether broadcast or on-demand. BBC Sounds offers us a brilliant opportunity to reach listeners who may not yet have the Radio 4 habit. There is an avid and growing online Radio 4 audience. There are around 26 million downloads of Radio 4 content each month, around 15 million of them within the UK. All Radio 4 programmes appear on BBC Sounds and we also commission content which is either digital-first or digital-only. Increasingly, we want our content to work on both platforms. We have had great success here with Intrigue: Tunnel 29, Girl Taken, The Whisperer in Darkness, Grounded with Louis Theroux, You’re Dead to Me and many other commissions. We also know that flagship Radio 4 programmes, like The Archers, The News Quiz, In Our Time and Desert Island Discs, are extremely popular on Sounds. Most of the listening in BBC Sounds - live and on demand - is to Radio 4 content. We want to build on this success with this important strand tender. Mohit Bakaya Controller, Radio 4 & Radio 4 Extra 4 of 12 BBC Radio Commissioning Brief_v1.3_2021 03 04 The Science Magazine opportunity From Covid 19 to climate change, Krispr to AI, science is changing our world. The understanding of that science, the methodology behind it and the ethical choices involved are increasingly essential to our citizenship. If Radio 4’s job is to make sense of the world for our audience, we cannot achieve this without describing, analysing and interrogating the scientific forces that swirl around us. Radio 4 is looking for a weekly, year-round programme that connects science to the way people live and the way in which it is dramatically changing our landscape. Crucially, this should be a programme that takes science and scientific discovery out of the lab and into people’s homes and lives in a way that clarifies, engages and feels relevant. It must not trade solely on the science journals or features stories with little reference to people’s lives. It must be intelligent, curious and grown up in tone but it must not place barriers between the audience and the understanding of science. All scientific disciplines should be explored over the year and serious thought will need to go into how to make the more complex disciplines, such as particle physics, accessible to the audience. The successful supplier will need to think hard about the unique challenges for radio, compared to TV or print. As this is a weekly show, the editorial engine, edition to edition, is mostly what has happened in the world since the last programme. That topicality means that solid, proven science journalism skills and experience are essential. Sometimes the journalism will need to be put into service to explain, demystify or provide context for the science that is making headlines in other media that week. However, there is also a place for the celebration of wonder and new discovery in the scientific world. While recognising that the programme needs to reflect the week it is broadcast in, it must also seek out and show the ways in which science can electrify our imagination, confound our expectations and upend how we see the world. Presenter Your ideas for presenter(s) will be a key element in our evaluation. The presenter will be a very good communicator, probably with a solid science background, passionate about translating complex ideas and important discoveries for both the core Radio 4 audience and the potential new, replenisher audience on digital platforms. We will need to know whether you have approached your proposed presenter(s) and whether they have expressed a willingness to take on this major broadcasting commitment, in the event that you are successful. Key requirements We are inviting tenders from a single supplier (or supplier partnership) to produce this major specialist strand. To be successful, you must be able to demonstrate: • Substantial scientific expertise at producer and executive producer level, preferably in a number of disciplines. 5 of 12 BBC Radio Commissioning Brief_v1.3_2021 03 04 • Extensive experience of science journalism and making first class science content, whether audio or video. • Deep knowledge of BBC Editorial Guidelines and a demonstrable ability to manage the editorial risks of this output. • Proven business and technical capacity to deliver this programme, weekly, throughout the year, maintaining the highest technical standards. Proposal to include Your written proposal should include evidence to demonstrate all the requirements