Radio

Â鶹Éç Radio Scotland

During 2008 audiences peaked at more than a million listeners a week. In May five innovatory themed online Zones were introduced, offering new ways to access the station’s archive. The Comedy Zone became a popular choice, for listeners across the UK, on the Â鶹Éç iPlayer.

Industry recognition included two Sony Radio Academy Awards, nominations at the Celtic Media Festival and a win at the Mental Health Media Awards.

January 2009 saw the launch of the multiplatform Burns project and the Investigation strand offered new revelations about serial killer Peter Manuel.

There was new comedy and monthly drama from in-house and independent producers including works by David Greig and Iain Finlay Macleod.

Our SoundTown project moved to Alva Academy in Clackmananshire. There, pupils recorded a song for Comic Relief which reached number one in both the Scottish and UK Indie-label charts.

The station was also part of Â鶹Éç Scotland’s landmark Scotland’s History project, with seven different series and downloadable audio walks produced with the Open University.

Arts and live music featured throughout the year, with weekly slices of both available through The Arts Café and through the wide range of music programme offerings, including extensive coverage of events such as Celtic Connections, T in the Park and the Glasgow Jazz Festival.

Network Radio

Throughout 2008/09 our radio drama department was a key supplier to Â鶹Éç Radio 4, Radio 3 and Radio 7. Seventy hours of work included dramatisations of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s classic Sunset Song, Ian Rankin’s Rebus, readings of Ford Madox Ford’s The Good Soldier and Janice Galloway’s This is Not About Me. There was original drama from leading writers such as Donna Franceschild, Denise Mina and Ronald Frame and new writers included Adam Beeson, whose debut drama Christmas Eve won the prestigious Richard Imison Award.

In addition, our features teams produced output for Â鶹Éç Radio 2, 3, 4 and World Service.

The bulk of our network output was produced for Â鶹Éç Radio 4, with various programmes reflecting contemporary Scotland – Burns the Brand, Langoustines on the Clyde and Putting for Profit, on Donald Trump’s plans to create the ‘best golf course in the world’ near Aberdeen.

The year also saw strong political contributions to the Westminster Hour. The science team produced the IT series, Click On, as well as major series such as the three part Islam and Science. The genealogy magazine Tracing your Roots has been commissioned for a fourth series.

Music producers collaborated with Â鶹Éç Radio 1 on output from T in the Park and the SXSW Festival in Texas. There was similar collaboration with Â鶹Éç Radio 3 on a wide range of programming from the Edinburgh International Festival – in addition to regular jazz output for that station – and for Â鶹Éç Radio 2, we produced a one hour special from the Celtic Connections Festival.

Â鶹Éç Radio nan Gàidheal

In a significant year for Gaelic language broadcasting Â鶹Éç Radio nan Gàidheal saw its audience reach rise from 67% to 68.5%. Listeners were offered additional access to programmes via Â鶹Éç ALBA, with Â鶹Éç Radio nan Gàidheal operating as the sustaining service when television programmes are off-air.

Other highlights have included a focus on writing, with series for young people exploring the craft of writing, serialisation of a new Gaelic novel and Mo Roghainn Fhèin (My Choice) audience events where guests chose their favourite pieces of poetry and prose.

A rich aural travelogue taking in countries as diverse as Africa, Russia and the USA added colour and variety across the year.

Topical issues such as the rapid increase in fuel prices and ‘green’ energy in rural Scotland were explored in a week of special programming which included contributions to output as varied as children’s programmes and Smuain na Maidne (Thought for the Day).