Ofcom threatens Radio 1 over swearing
The advent of the podcast has meant that people can download the so-called 'best bits' of Radio 1's high profile shows such as Chris Moyles (breakfast) and Scott Mills (late afternoon 'drivetime') for listening at their own convenience. However this extra convenience comes at a high price for those involved with the podcast.
Since these podcasts often exclude any music tracks played, this in turn places additional pressure on both the DJ and their producer to come up with funny and/or controversial features for the podcast. No longer is it just a case of playing track after track along with the odd interview/quiz/phone call/traffic report for good measure.
Given all of this additional pressure, it is no surprise to discover that the boundaries of taste or decency tend to get stretched in this highly competitive environment; the next podcast has to be at least as good/funny/outrageous as the last one if it has to maintain the interest(s) of its target audience.
It's no wonder then that the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show (for example) now has a much higher speech content than was the case before, though one solution may be to include more music in the podcast itself - licensing issues permitting, of course. But there again Radio 1 is supposed to be about promoting new music as well as having a chart-based playlist.
And as for Ofcom telling the BBC what to do and threatening "further regulatory action" if it doesn't comply, well there are other important issues that Ofcom should sort out first, including preventing a certain satellite-based shopping channel from becoming the next Auctionworld (ie. having too many dissatisfied customers and going bust as a result).
