Howdy!

Just found out some good news for radio stations like ours that stream on the web. According to Radio Joint Audience Research Limited, almost 12 milllion people have tuned into radio via the internet and 1.87 million download a podcast weekly. The average podcast user subscribes to 3.16 podcasts a week and spends 53.6 minutes a week listening to them at their leisure. The survey, by IPSOS MORI but commisioned by RAJAR, took place from September to October 2007 using data from 640 respondents.

Looking to the future, this good be really good for stations like Seaside FM. If more people choose to listen to internet radio rather than DAB, then when the FM band is eventually turned off and we all have to switch to digital radio listening on the web could become the norm and DAB would become the equivilent of the BETA MAX VCR system.

GCap Media (who own Capital Radio, GWR & over 40 local radio stations around the UK), have withdrawn their interests in the new platform. The group, which also owns national station Classic FM have also announced that they are to close two DAB only radio stations, The Jazz & Planet Rock. Meanwhile, the BBC confirmed their commitment to develop digital radio in the UK. They said that "It is clear to us that DAB has an exciting future in a fast converging UK media industry," they said in a statement. So who knows what the future holds for radio?!

Talking of our friends at the beeb, I managed to cash in a favour and was lucky enough to have a backstage tour around the BBC Television Centre in London on Tuesday. Me and a few others caught the train down to the big smoke at 9.20am and arrived at Kings Cross at about 12.15pm. Upon entering the building we were geeted by one of the tour guides and were giving access to one of the medium sized studios. The particular studio we were in was typically used for shows such as Never Mind The Buzzcocks and A Question of Sport. Next door was TC1, the studio used for Friday Night with Johnathan Ross, aparantly he insists on having this studio as its bigger!

Whilst in this studio, I was told that it was forbidden to take photographs. "Why?" I protested and i was told that there were "designated areas for photos". I couldnt believe how sensitive they were about an empty studio! It was almost as if it was infact Area 51 we were visiting and not TV centre!

Next stop was the BBC Weather Centre. We entered to see Liam Dutton, Phillip Avery & Dan Corbett huddled around a computer, maybe something exciting was happing!? I had a go at presenting the weather in the main weather studio, trust me, it's much harder than it looks!

On the day that we visited TV Centre, the BBC were filming Bruce Forsyth's 80th Birthday Party, so all the "stars" were there. I remember some little camp guy walk past me with lots of people chasing him with what looked like scripts, It was only flipping Ronnie Corbett!

Infact, the courtyard in the middle of Television Centre was littered with TV Presenters, Newscasters and all those Z-List celeb types from Strictly Come Dancing having a fag, this had obviously become a regular thing since the smoking ban came into force. A few of the dancers from Strictly were taking the mick out one of the guys who has been accused of having an affair with Kate Garraway in one of the Sunday tabloids.

We were then taken into the BBC news room were we had a chance to grill one of the editors, not literally obviously, we never brought a grill with us. He then showed us around the different departments, its possible that you may have seen me in the background of the News 24 set! Around the corner from were News 24 are the studio's of BBC Five Live, on the air at the time behind the glass was Simon Mayo. He made binocular shapes with his hands as if to say "whose that peeping at me!", at this point I pulled out my camera and took a quick pic. Unfortunatly, the flash went off and blinded Mayo! Oops!

Next, I was excited to learn that we were going to be shown around TC7. This is where many of the kids TV shows that I grew up watching were made. The first Saturday Morning show I can remember is The Multi-Coloured Swap Shop which aired until 1982. When that ended, it was followed by Saturday Superstore, then my personal favourite Going Live and then last but not least Live and Kicking. Now a days, this studio is where all of the prime time BBC1 news programmes come from, as well as Newsround, Newsnight & Working Lunch. was shown how they changed the set to fit each programme. The background is a computer generated graphic and the different coloured chairs/desk are all removable. So for example for Newsround, its just a case of loading up the purple & green graphics and pulling out the purple & green chairs, easy!

TC7 was used in later years for The Late Show, Call My Bluff, Bodger and Badger & the original first two series of Vic and Bob's Shooting Stars. I'll probably be raving on about the fact that I've been where these great programmes were once made on the show for the foreseeable future, so I'd expect that if I were you this Sunday!

Just to let you know that there is a not so indepth public tour of TVC. If its something that you'd like to do before the BBC sell TV centre off, then see here.

Until Sunday @ 2, take care.
Mike Brown.