How to make a programme for Radio 2 This document contains information on

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  Changes to the commissioning process
  
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  Delivery requirements
  
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  Autoplayer durations - Pre-recorded Programmes
  
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  Autoplayer / New Working Practices Timeline for change
  

The broadcasting world is changing fast and our audiences want to find our programmes wherever they appear. To help them, we need to make sure programmes are delivered on time, to length and with the necessary associated information.

As well as the wider changes, Radio 2 is about to start playing out parts of the schedule automatically, removing live continuity announcements. This means the Radio 2 schedule needs to run exactly to time. To enable this, the scheduling team will be responsible for building the schedule in exact, hour long chunks. The changes required to help them do this are set out below
Another benefit of hitting programme junctions accurately is no more problems with iPlayer clipping the ends of programmes.

New delivery requirements from March 12^th 2012

Pre-recorded programmes

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  Programmes to be delivered 4 weeks prior to transmission
  
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  Programmes to be delivered to new exact durations
  
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  Programme descriptions to be provided 5 weeks prior to transmission
  
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  Built trails to be exactly 45 seconds long
  

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  Programmes to be delivered to exact durations
  
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  Programme descriptions to be provided 5 weeks prior to transmission
  
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  Built trails to be exactly 45 seconds long
  

If you are an Independent Production Company, and want to enter offers to radio 2 commissioning rounds, please sign up to the BBC Audio & Music Independent Production Company database using this Pro-Forma.

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  The Audio and Music Database will be used to alert Indies who have expressed an interest to all commissioning rounds using the BBC Radio Commissioning Website as well as email.
  
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  In House producers will be notified that commissioning rounds are open via email.
  

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  We would encourage you to talk to the network – Lewis Carnie and Robert Gallacher - about your proposals before you formally submit them. And, please contact Julian Grundy with any other questions you may have.
  
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  Proposals are submitted using Proteus Commissioning (Proteus information web page).
  
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  Proposals should include a short synopsis followed by a more detailed explanation of the idea and treatment being proposed. ( More details on the site)
  

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  To be considered for a commission, all Independent companies should ensure that their proposals demonstrate evidence of relevant experience for all staff involved in music-radio production within the briefs being tendered for.
  

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  It is advisable to look at the A&M Business Affairs page of the BBC Radio Commissioning website before submitting a proposal. Full information useful to prospective programme-makers (including information on underlying Rights, contractual and legal aspects of commissioning, Health & Safety requirements and the BBC's complaints procedure) are set out there.
  
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  A summary of the terms agreed with the radio independent production sector is set out in the Terms of Trade. The programme production agreement that the BBC would expect to conclude with an independent producer is made up of the General Terms and the Special Terms.
  
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  A guide to how you should deal with complaints from the public and how to direct your complaints to the BBC is available via the BBC Complaints Procedures for Independent Producers.
  

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  After the closing date there will be a shortlisting period where producers may be asked to discuss their idea further.
  
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  Proposals will either be ‘conditionally commissioned’ or ‘rejected’. This information will be recorded in Proteus.
  
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  All ‘conditionally commissioned’ proposals will state a provisional tx date. Please work towards the provisional tx date unless otherwise advised.
  
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  Budgets for conditionally commissioned programmes, based around the guide price in the Commissioning Briefs or in Proteus, will then be agreed.
  
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  All documentary / series presenters need to be approved by the network prior to you contracting them, even if they have been discussed at a pitching meeting.
  

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  In-house budgets are agreed with Darren Bodek and the Radio 2 Commissioning Team, BBC Finance Partner and should be below or in line with the guide price listed in the Commissioning Brief.
  
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  Budgets for independent companies are negotiated with the Radio Independents Production Team. For each conditional commission, a fixed price offer will be made which, if accepted, will see a contract issued at that price without the need to see a detailed budget.  If the offer is deemed insufficient then a detailed budget will be required and negotiated with A&M Legal and Business Affairs.  It is expected that the majority of offers will be in line with, or below, the guide price listed in the Commissioning Brief unless a clear indication is given at the point that the programme is proposed.  A&M Legal and Business Affairs team support all of the BBC's national radio stations in activities associated with contracting Independent productions.
  

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  In House; your programmes are only formally commissioned when a presenter and budget have been agreed.
  
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  Independent productions; your programmes are only formally commissioned when a presenter and budget have been agreed and a commissioning contract is signed and returned. Until this point, all commissions are still regarded as ‘conditional’ rather than 'formal commissions'. Any work you undertake prior to this is at your own risk.
  
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  Please liaise with Darren Bodek and the Radio 2 Commissioning Team (BBC) or the Radio Independents Production Team (Independents) to ensure these are agreed asap.
  

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  You must consult Fergus Dudley over any Compliance issues you may have regarding language, rights or material BEFORE you make the programme.
  
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  Compliance forms must also accurately reflect your programme content and conversations you have had with us.
  
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  All programmes must comply with the relevant statutory and regulatory provisions. If you have a programme compliance issue and are not sure if it falls in the realms of editorial policy, programme legal advice, business affairs or elsewhere please contact Fergus Dudley (Editor, Compliance, Radio 2).
  
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  In line with the BBC Editorial Standards, compliance measures have been agreed and introduced for commissions across the BBC, including provisions relating to training and those occasions when on-air talent own or manage the company. Full details and guidance can be found on BBC - Commissioning - Compliance.
  
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  All production staff working on commissions (producer & executive producer) must have completed the BBC 'Safeguarding Trust' course. If this is not the case please contact the network to organise the necessary training.
  

Delivery details will be available on all commissioning documentation and via the A&M commissioning website and, if you are an Independent Production Company, they will be included in your programme production agreement

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  From March 12^th 2012, pre-recorded programmes must be delivered to us 4 weeks prior to tx. For independent productions this is a contractual obligation.
  
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  The network will designate some pre-recorded programmes as ‘Topical’ and the delivery date of those programmes will be set at a time different from 4 weeks ahead of TX
  
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  Programmes which are normally live and have on occasions to be pre-recorded will agree their delivery date at the time the Scheduling team is informed of the change to a pre-recorded programmes
  

Delivery 4 weeks out will allow us to better publicise your programmes, and enable us to meet the detailed compliance requirements. This will also assist Station Sound campaign planning. Please contact Chris Reay with the recording date with your presenter to help build a bespoke trail promoting your programme.

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  From March 12^th 2012, all programmes must be delivered to the new exact durations as advised (see attached sheet). These durations are not negotiable.
  

Once delivered the programme duration will be checked by the scheduling team at the earliest opportunity.

If the duration is incorrect, the producer of that programme will be informed by e-mail the duration is not acceptable and asked to deliver a version of the correct length by the following day.
Failure to deliver to the terms and conditions of your programme commission with respect to timetabled dates and durations will be brought to the attention of Network management and could affect our ability to broadcast your programme.
Should you be aware that you may have difficulty with any aspect of delivery you must inform the network immediately.
Delivery requirements – Programme supporting material

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  Programme descriptions must be provided 5 weeks prior to tx.
  

Independent producers must use the template found via Programme Descriptions.

This will provide our press and digital teams with the best possible opportunity to publicise your programmes, in an increasingly crowded market-place. (see Press and Publicity section)
Delivery requirements – Interactive
The Radio 2 Interactive audience across the multiplatform space is growing rapidly and for the first time there is a robust and dynamic mobile experience. Audiences are consuming programmes through the website, via podcast and mobile in unprecedented numbers
Visualisation of our content will also become increasingly important especially as audiences migrate from Radio 1. Unique users the website have grown from a quarter of a million to half a million in the last six months. The new Radio and Music Product will focus around the promotion of audio and video as well as the live experience which will allow us to continue to grow.
The Radio 2 website will soon move into the Radio and Music product which will bring our site into line with the rest of bbc.co.uk, creating a seamless experience across the whole site.
The interactive team will also be smaller and we will be more reliant on programme teams updating pages and content. Additionally we are making a strong push within social media, and we are looking for all programme to engage in this, updating the Radio 2 Facebook pages and running their own twitter accounts.
It is also important that everybody working for Radio 2 is aware of syndication opportunities for their content, where their material can live outside of the BBC online and in third party spaces. We will be looking for all programme makers to engage in this process, ensuring that their content has a life within digital spaces and grows organically online

In summary, all programme teams should be able to

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  Reversion their programme into a podcast and publish it
  
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  Be able to provide relevant metadata around their programming as requested
  
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  Be aware and communicate visualisation possibilities around their content.
  
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  Update their own social spaces as necessary
  
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  An awareness of music blogs and digital services and how they can be exploited
  
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  Ability and knowledge to segment content and make available online both inside and outside of the BBC environment.
  
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  Knowledge of the online audience and their requirements.
  
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  To plan content across the multiplatform space in addition to the linear environ.
  
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  Ability to publish online, update blogs and content listings.
  
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  Take, edit and publish good quality photographs of guests/artists on their programme
  

We do recognise however that none of the above is a requirement under the current Terms of Trade for independent suppliers.

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  Programmes must be delivered as a linear WAV, linear BWAV or FLAC file.
  
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  BBC Radio technical specification for wav files can be found here: http://www.bbcradioresources.com/TechnicalSpecificationBWAV/index.html.
  

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  Pete Scott, Digital Specialist
  
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  Andy Simmonds, Operation Manager, Western House
  

You will need access to the "VCS Ingester" server. For details contact Pete Scott / Andy Simmonds

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  From your digital editor bounce down the programme to a single 16 bit, 44.1kHz, stereo wav file.
  

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  The naming of this wav file is important. It should include the Title, TX date and recording number. It should not include any punctuation or spaces - use underscore to make the name readable. E.G.
  

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  Save the programme BWAV to \\bbcmedrr006\vcs_ingester$\Radio_2\Radio_2_London_auto\R2_London_VCS_Programmes
  

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  Make sure you have emailed the Pres details to Presentation-R2 (on the BBC Global Address list) cc’ing Julian Grundy, Paula Street and Anna McMahon.
  

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  In a few minutes, the wav file you saved will have changed to .ren. This means that the file has successfully transferred to Radio 2's VCS dira system.
  

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  Contact the Radio 2 Presentation team via email (as above) or on 02 50655, 02 53112 or 02 53250 to advise delivery. THIS IS CRUCIAL. They listen to the in and out of the programme to check that they match the In and Out words on the pres details and that the durations match. They also spot check the audio for obvious technical faults. If there are no problems, and the programme has received the required Proteus compliance sign-off, they will schedule it. The Presentation Office is staffed, Monday to Friday 0900 -1800.
  

You will need an FTP account to access the BBC's servers and you will need suitable FTP software. You may also require (free) FLAC encoding software. For details contact Pete Scott

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  From your digital editor bounce down the programme to a single 16 bit, 44.1kHz, stereo wav file.
  

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  The naming of this wav file is important. It should include the Title, TX date and recording number. It should not include any punctuation or spaces - use underscore to make the name readable. E.G.
  

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  If required you may data compress the file to the FLAC format.
  

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  Send the file to your company’s folder on the BBC’s FTP server.
  

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  Make sure you have emailed the Pres details to to Presentation-R2 (on the BBC Global Address list) cc’ing Julian Grundy, Paula Street and Anna McMahon.
  

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  Contact the Radio 2 Presentation team via email (as above) or on 020 76 50655/ 53112/ 53250 to advise of delivery. THIS IS CRUCIAL.
  

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  When you deliver your programme description 5 weeks before transmission make them stand out. Great descriptions of the subject, location of interviews, pertinent quotes from contributors, and explanation of why the presenter is fronting the show all pique the interest of journalists and make the description searchable on the internet.
  

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  Ask your presenter whether they are willing to promote the programme on radio, TV, online or in print.
  

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  Behind the scenes pictures or stories are useful if there is a major talent involved, or if the subject of the documentary is visually interesting i.e. Route 66 picture diary for the Radio Times. You might also be able to get a quote from the presenter about their tie to the programme’s subject matter for publicity material i.e. Dougray Scott performed in To Kill A Mockingbird in his early career.
  

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  The earlier you deliver a pre-recorded programme the better. Preview CDs/MP3s are sent out approximately 3 weeks prior to transmission but if the network receives the programme earlier, we can target media as soon as possible. Monthly magazines i.e. GQ, Elle, Q, Mojo, work at least two months in advance.