# Radio 4 cycling show pilot ?



## sheddy (21 Feb 2008)

Do any of the media types on here know the procedure for getting a current affairs or documentary type show onto Radio 4 ? 

I guess there's enough knowledge here to put together a format that might work on Radio (mainly interviews?) but I have no idea how the commissioning process works. Whadya think ?


----------



## Kirstie (21 Feb 2008)

AFAIK you need to write a programme proposal. I made an episode of the money programme a couple of years ago and this is where it all started for me. I just wrote a paragraph about myself and then a paragraph about the central argument of the programme. If you are pitching for a series, I guess you'll need to do that for each show. You'll also need to specify length...and most importantly, cost it. How are you proposing to have the programme funded? 
Key costs would probably be: 
interviewer time/interviewee time
travel and subsistence for interviewees
studio time and staff costs associated with studio time
equipment hire costs and any staff costs associated with opping the equipment (ie sound recordist, boom operator etc)
copyright in case you are going to use archive material, music etc.

It also helps to know someone on the inside of the beeb cos it is a bit of an old boys club. Not sure how you would pitch it but it's probably worth giving them a call. You need to reach the programming desk at radio 4.


----------



## Hilldodger (21 Feb 2008)

sheddy said:


> Do any of the media types on here know the procedure for getting a current affairs or documentary type show onto Radio 4 ?
> 
> I guess there's enough knowledge here to put together a format that might work on Radio (mainly interviews?) but I have no idea how the commissioning process works. Whadya think ?




I'd start with doing a few features on local radio to get a foot in the door and also find out how the BBC works.


----------



## sheddy (23 Feb 2008)

Ok, heres a basic idea for radio 4 - working title 'Velo and the City'

6 x 30min episodes featuring a different UK town, made up of interviews with local - 
residents, commuters, employers BUGs, cycle clubs, cycle shops, students, cycle campaigns, cycle show organisers, council cycle officers, tourists etc, 

discussing what is good (or bad) about their town in terms of cycling 

Whadya think ? I guess the Beeb would want a single host for continuity across the series (say Richard Hammond, just for Arch) but the interviews could be conducted by local BBC staff. 

So nominate your town/city and why it should feature in the series (also a snappier title required)


----------



## Hilldodger (23 Feb 2008)

I'd have read through the BBC Commissioning web site, first.


----------



## sheddy (25 Feb 2008)

Thanks Roger
Mods - could you move this thread to Campaign please ?


----------



## Fnaar (25 Feb 2008)

sheddy said:


> Ok, heres a basic idea for radio 4 - working title 'Velo and the City'
> So nominate your town/city and why it should feature in the series (*also a snappier title required*)


Velo-city


----------



## Arch (25 Feb 2008)

sheddy said:


> Thanks Roger
> Mods - could you move this thread to Campaign please ?



Done, I think.

Good idea on Richard Hammond! And York ought to be in there, of course - we have cycle couriers (not just speedy chaps on fixies, proper loadcarrying guys), a recycling servie that uses trikes, a cycling magazine based here, ideal flat landscape, plenty of scope for cycle journeys to be quicker thanks to cyclepath shortcuts, issues for motorists of parking and congestion in a small city centre - but being a small compact city, everywhere is within a fairly easy ride... And we have the solar system bike path to Selby - a scale model of the solar system, 10 miles long...

Not sure 6 x 30 mins could be spared in the R4 schedule. But there are some 15 min slots in the afternoon and morning - sometimes they run with a theme for a week. I would think a good producer/editor would get plenty into 5 x 15 mins...


----------



## Hilldodger (25 Feb 2008)

York, Cambridge, Oxford etc all too predictable.

Derby and other Cycling Demonstration towns should be the focus.


----------



## Hilldodger (25 Feb 2008)

From the Radio 4 Commissioning web site


Radio 4 has a Register of Independent Production Companies which is reviewed in January and July. We cannot consider ideas from companies not on this register.

We regret that we cannot accept programme proposals submitted directly to Radio 4. 

All registered suppliers receive copies of the guidelines for each commissioning round, held in spring and autumn. These contain guidance on:
• the commissioning process and timetable 
• who is eligible to bid for particular slots 
• editorial, audience and price requirements 
• how to write and submit programme proposals 
• what the BBC expects the proposed price to reflect 
Information about contractual and legal aspects of commissioning can be found on the A&M Business Affairs website along with the complaints procedure for independent producers.


----------



## Arch (25 Feb 2008)

Hilldodger said:


> York, Cambridge, Oxford etc all too predictable.
> 
> Derby and other Cycling Demonstration towns should be the focus.



Surely though, you need contrast - so some 'obvious' towns, some 'Cycling Demo' towns, some 'places where there's one old guy who rides a Raleigh Twenty with his whippet in the basket and that's it' towns....


----------



## Hilldodger (25 Feb 2008)

It's all academic because it's not going to happen. The beeb aren't looking to commission such a series and even if they were a production company whould have to want to make it.


----------



## sheddy (25 Feb 2008)

Sounds like Roger speaks from experience.

Anyway we can have fun trying. If Arch can't persuade Richard Hammond then maybe someone could ask Alice (Red) Roberts to present it. Is anyone friendly with a media presenter who cycles ?


----------



## Amanda P (25 Feb 2008)

Why not, though, make your own pilot show? You can post it on the web as a podcast. We'd enjoy it anyway, and if you can do two or three good shows, you might be able to get a production company to take the idea on, once they've heard what sort of format you have in mind.

Good quality digital recording kit can be got for a couple of hundred quid. Editing can be done on any computer these days.

Let's hear your pilot. You already know where to find the local cyclists with something to say!


----------



## Hilldodger (26 Feb 2008)

Believe me, making any kind of pilot programme with any quality takes people with a huge amount of skill, VERY expensive equipment and a lot of time.

Do it for fun, but don't spend any time thinking it'll lead to a series.


----------



## Arch (26 Feb 2008)

Doesn't goo_mason have a podcast? He'd know how to set about making one...

Who cares if it doesn't make the big time? Like sheddy says, would be fun to do, just like making videos for YouTube - it doesn't have to get you anywhere...

It could be the Cyclechat podcast....


----------



## Hilldodger (26 Feb 2008)

I've had stuff on Bike TV in the states a few times and you could perhaps do something for them.....but ask about formats etc, first. http://www.biketv.org/Home/Home.html


----------



## jonesy (26 Feb 2008)

Arch said:


> Surely though, you need contrast - so some 'obvious' towns, some 'Cycling Demo' towns, some 'places where there's one old guy who rides a Raleigh Twenty with his whippet in the basket and that's it' towns....



I agree. It is very important to understand the cities with a history of cycling- we need to understand the factors that lead to high levels of cycling and how cyclists and cycle journeys vary between places with high and low levels. It is very easy to make assumptions and draw the wrong conclusions about what makes a city cycle friendly... for example on the role of cycling infrastructure. 

Most of the cycle growth in Oxford took place in the late 1970s and early 80s, BEFORE there was any significant amount of investment in cycling infrastructure. Indeed, much of the cycle provision that does exist is pretty awful, so cycling continues in spite of the facilities, not because of them! What appears to have been more significant is an ongoing policy of traffic restraint, with a lack of car parking, limited road access to the city centre and severe congestion making cycling a more convenient mode of transport. The relatively compact nature of the city, and having lots of students certainly helps; however it is quite wrong to suggest that cycling is primarily a student activity.


----------



## sheddy (27 Feb 2008)

Do we have 6 towns yet ? Please nominate your candidates.


----------



## magnatom (28 Feb 2008)

I nominate Glasgow. If ever there were a town that was not well designed for cycling then this is it!

According to the local council though there has been a significant rise in the numbers cycling in Glasgow's roads over the last few years, so despite the difficulties (poor road layouts, not so great cycle provision etc) people are taking to their bikes.

There is also the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow, so surely this is the perfect time to get more people exercising, with cycling being one of them. I think this could be an interesting angle.


Not sure how well my videos would come across on radio.....


----------



## sheddy (28 Feb 2008)

Ok, go Glasgow !


----------

