Have You Heard Georges Podcast

• BBC


  Public service broadcaster with a remit to inform, educate and entertain
• BBC funding


  • Funded by a license fee, not advertising
  • Allows them to take more risks and make more niche content
• BBC's Royal Charter requires them to reflect diversity in their programming

  ->HYHGP's in not conventionally schedualed as its released in chapters
• George


  Host with total creative control, brings in younger, more urban audiences familiar with his work as a rapper, singer, poet, presenter
• BenBrick


  Producer and composer, brings in pre-sold fans of their previous work
• Podcast production


  • Low budget, no big studio needed, uses BBC facilities and resources like the BBC Concert Orchestra and archives
• Where is the podcast released?

  Released on BBC Sounds, also available on BBC website, YouTube, Spotify
• BBC has to be careful about content suitability for all audiences due to being a public service broadcaster
• Podcast has been very successful, winning Peabody Award in 2019 and 5 British Podcast Awards in 2019
• Language used in the podcast

  More modern, including London street dialect
• Topics discussed in the podcast

  • Grenfell Tower disaster
  • Gang crime
  • Drugs
  • Discrimination
  • Racism
• The podcast features music from black artists like Stormzy, Solange, Jay-Z
• Lack of interactive content in the podcast

  But they offer online forums (Common Ground) for audience discussion and interaction
• BBC Radio 5 has a mostly over 40, male, high-educated, high-class, wealthy, predominantly white target audience
• This podcast has a younger, more urban, more minority target audience, which is unconventional for BBC Radio 5
• Entertainment offered on the podcast


  • Talking to celebrities
  • Playing music
  • Bedtime stories with clips from Aladdin, Rick and Morty, Space Jam, Knight Rider
• The wide range of references and content suggests the podcast targets an audience age range of around 20-45
• Focuses on particular themes relevant to its young, diverse and educated audience

  ->E.G. Flying the Flag - Celebrities + US history
• The BBC was often accused of being too 'white' and middle class, so in 2021 the BBC lunched a diversity + inclusion plan for recruitment and content

  -> 50:20:12 target

  -->50% women, 20% POC, 12% disabled
• Having a podcast format allows for on demand downloading + streaming, showing a change in digital technology and in the radio industry
• Digital Convergence

  -Launch of BBC Sounds -> on-demand, live broadcasting, availability

  -Website ->Common Ground
• Issues of diversity + inclusion have become significant over the years e.g. Hurricane Katrina, Grenfell, BLM Movement
• George dedicated 2 episodes in a chapter/season to the Grenfell tower incident (one for the lives of people affected and the seconded for the economic disparity, lack of opportunities and impact of drug crime)
• Common Ground


  Website where people can 'talk' to George, discussing an episode of giving suggestions

  -Henry Jenkins - encourages audiences to creatively engage