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BBC to offer Archers podcast in new service
The BBC is to launch a daily podcast of BBC Radio 4's The Archers as part of a new service offering more than a hundred titles to download.
The everyday podcast of country folk – containing the latest episode in full – will be available from Sunday 14 October 2007 at bbc.co.uk/archers and bbc.co.uk/podcasts.
The programme already has a sizeable following online, where it regularly receives a million "listen again" requests per month on the BBC Radio Player.
The addition of a podcast will allow fans to transfer The Archers onto an MP3 player and listen to it on the move.
The download joins more than 120 titles in the BBC's podcasting service, which offers a range of audio content from BBC Radio, including Jonathan Ross, 5 Live Football Daily, Huw Stephens Introducing and the NewsPod.
Silver Street – the BBC Asian Network's daily soap – will also be available as a ten-minute daily podcast from Monday.
A full list of downloads is available at bbc.co.uk/podcasts.
Mark Friend, Controller, Multiplatform & Interactive, BBC Audio & Music, said: "Podcasting gives listeners more control over where and when they listen to our programmes.
"Our podcasting trial has been extremely popular and I'm delighted that we can now begin to offer our audiences a much wider range of great content to download."
Mark Damazer, Controller, Radio 4, says: "The Archers' audience has already demonstrated that it loves the chance to listen to the goings on in Ambridge in its own time.
"Now – The Archers meets Podcasting – a marriage, or civil partnership, between one of Radio 4's longest-lasting hits and new technology. I anticipate nothing but happiness and many more Radio 4 programmes will be podcast too."
Vanessa Whitburn, Editor, The Archers, says: "It's marvellous to be able to offer The Archers to take away and enjoy. It's the first audio drama to be made available by the BBC in this way and everyone in Ambridge is delighted."
The BBC was the first British broadcaster to podcast when it offered Radio 4's In Our Time as a podcast in November 2004.
It was part of a trial launched to help understand podcasting technology, audiences' appetite for downloads and their preferred content.
A formal podcasting trial started in May 2005.
The launch follows the BBC Trust's approval of BBC on-demand services in April, after a Public Value Test.
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