Radio when you want it

Thousands of people are choosing to listen to the corporation's output when they want to

It could be that hundreds of thousands of people find the raucous nature of the Chris Moyles show too abrasive for first thing in the morning but just the soundtrack for afternoon tea.

It could be that hundreds of thousands of people find the raucous nature of the Chris Moyles show too abrasive for first thing in the morning but just the soundtrack for afternoon tea.

Or maybe they enjoy Moylesy's unique brand of radio presentation so much that they go back to listen to the same shows twice. Either way, an astonishing 350,790 people went online last month to listen to the programme on demand rather than when it was broadcast.

It is one of the many successes of the BBC Radio Player, which will be re-launched tomorrow to make around 95% of the corporation's radio output available after it is transmitted, at any time of the day.

The new-look Radio Player will offer charts showing the most demanded shows on each BBC station and written recommendations of the most highly-regarded programmes.

Simon Nelson, the BBC's controller of Radio and Music Interactive, says that he hopes future versions of Radio Player will emulate websites such as Amazon and iTunes, taking users on a journey by noting their listening habits and recommending related programmes on other BBC networks.

Nelson says the relaunch is a response to the need to put a wider selection of the BBC audio output online. "The Radio Player in its current incarnation could not cope from a design and user point of view - there was no way of cramming these hundreds of programmes into this design," he says. "The internet has really developed since we launched it in June 2002."

The use of more editorial content will help to break down barriers that Nelson believes currently limit audience potential.

"There are thousands of people who would enjoy the comedy we put out but just wouldn't go to brands like Radio4 and negotiate a schedule that includes The Archers and Woman's Hour," he says. "We can offer comedy programmes to 25-year-olds who are not ready to tune in and listen to them on Radio 4."

Nelson says: "We want to push down this road of introducing people to stuff they wouldn't normally listen to."Similarly, music shows can be linked by genre rather than network, with Q magazine-style links along the lines of "if you liked that, you will like this".

Nelson says: "Radio 3 makes world-beating jazz programmes but many people still regard it as a classical music station." He points out that there are other jazz-related offerings on Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio Scotland, Radio Wales, Radio Ulster and 1-Xtra.

Already millions of people have cottoned on to the idea that they can construct their own mix-and-match schedule with Radio Player. The strength of public demand for keeping up to date with The Archers was the cornerstone on which the BBC developed the Radio Player concept, adding in factual programmes, specialist music shows and now almost all of the corporation's output.

The evergreen radio soap is the most popular on demand show with 438,094 plays last month. But specialist music shows, taken out of their late- night ghettos and given an international audience, are also pulling in some impressive figures.

Thus Radio 1's The Essential Selection had 165,000 hits last month, the same network's popular Lamacq Live had 83,593 and Robbo Ranx's Dancehall Splurt (a reggae show on the digital station 1-Xtra) pulled in 52,493.

It appears that Radio Player offers a particularly useful service to those thirty-somethings who once stayed up late into the night to listen to dance music in clubs or on radio but now find themselves slowed down by the arrival of children and middle age. As well as The Essential Selection, other clubbing favourites such as Dance Anthems and Essential Mix (both Radio 1) have large online followings, presumably with many people listening in during the daytime.

Favourite speech-based shows like Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (a staggering 211,275) and Five Live's Fighting Talk (53,401) also have big online audiences. Britain's most popular radio show, Terry Wogan's on Radio 2, ranks only 11th in the on-demand charts, with 106,696 listeners on top of the 7m who hear the programme when it is broadcast. .

Radio on demand is a phenomenon that is sure to grow as the BBC expands the service from tomorrow. "This is just version two, it will require constant development," says Nelson.

The success of Radio Player will not do the corporation's audience figures any harm when quarterly figures are released by Rajar on Thursday.

But the resources invested in Radio Player are not available to stations in the commercial sector.

Nick Pigott, digital content manager for GWR, said that he was not convinced that radio on demand had the same appeal in the commercial sector where schedules are often built on consistent music programming rather than the more distinctive shows of the BBC. Some commercial networks, such as Virgin and Emap's Kiss, have moved into providing an on-demand service.

But Pigott argues that rights and production costs are generally prohibitive in relation to the relatively low impact that local and regional commercial stations can expect from providing such a facility. "I believe that for commercial industry it's something of questionable benefit at the moment," he says. Nelson stresses that with the large amounts of money spent by the BBC on original programming, it is important to give the audience every chance to listen to it.

"We put a huge resource into building these programmes. Of necessity they often sit in the evening schedule when the majority of people are watching television. But the beauty of Radio Player from a strategic point of view is that by using the linking opportunities of the internet we can create myriad entry points to our best stuff."

Indeed he says the development of radio on demand is vital to the very survival of the medium.

His five-year-old daughter, he says, is already frustrated by his car radio's inability to replay her favourite tunes. "I have to tell her it's not a CD or Sky+. Media need to evolve to give people this kind of control," he says.

THE TOP 30

1 The Archers	Radio 4	438,094
2 Chris Moyles	Radio 1	350,790
3 I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue	Radio 4	211,275
4 The Essential Selection	Radio 1	164,748
5 Dance Anthems	Radio 1	149,834
6 Essential Mix	Radio 1	148,888
7 The Official Chart Show	Radio 1	145,638
8 Jonathan Ross	Radio 2	127,058
9 Today	Radio 4	114,460
10 Judge Jules	Radio 1	109,702
11 Terry Wogan	Radio 2	106,696
12 The Afternoon Play	Radio 4	101,758
13 I'm Sorry...	BBC 7	97,058
14 The Now Show	Radio 4	85,640
15 Gilles Peterson	Radio 1	84,312
16 Lamacq Live	Radio 1	83,593
17 Oneclick	Radio 1	79,109
18 Blue Room	Radio 1	78,959
19 In Our Time	Radio 4	78,626
20 Live & Exclusive	Radio 2	73,124
21 Annie Mac	Radio 1	62,781
22 The M1X Show	1Xtra	61,868
23 Zane Lowe	Radio 1	57,705
24 The Radio 1 Rap Show	Radio 1	57,026
25 Rob Da Bank	Radio 1	54,907
26 Fighting Talk	Five Live	53,401
27 Sounds of the 60s	Radio 2	52,604
28 Robbo Ranx	1Xtra	52,493
29 Children's Hour	BBC 7	51,451
30 Book at Bedtime	Radio 4	50,746