I want to tell you about a podcast we’re releasing today that we’re very excited about. It’s called Tunnel 29 and tells the extraordinary true story of an escape tunnel that was built underneath the Berlin Wall. It’s a gripping story with striking sound design that makes it feel like you’re there. I won’t spoil it for you, but instead encourage you to binge from tonight on 成人论坛 Sounds - or enjoy at 1.45pm on Radio 4 for two weeks from Monday.
Back in 1989, I went to Berlin the weekend after the Wall fell and wandered around East Berlin with a group of friends. We found a church that had been at the heart of the reform movement - all over its walls, people had pinned up their hopes for the future. I remember how varied they were, individual dreams adding up to a whole range of possibilities for a new East Germany. Of course, someone in an anteroom was strumming Blowing in the Wind.
Tunnel 29 is the latest in Radio 4’s thrilling Intrigue series, which has uncovered extraordinary stories from post-war Europe and contemporary China.
Helena Merriman, presenter and producer of Tunnel 29, at the Berlin Wall
Currently on 成人论坛 Sounds, you can also be amazed by the live investigation into The Missing Cryptoqueen, or go forward in time with Forest 404’s eco thriller which considers where AI and climate change might take us. It combined a whole range of formats and genres - fact and fiction - talks of different lengths from varied speakers, a gorgeous soundscape and music from Bonobo. A little like that church in East Berlin in 1989.
The creative possibilities for audio are expanding rapidly. Not because on-demand is better than linear, but because they complement and support each other. 成人论坛 Sounds helps us create new formats, which can then also play out on the networks - such as Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking. Or we can complement linear shows with programmes made for on demand - as Annie Mac and her team have with The Future Sounds Collective, a playlist of new tracks recommended by the best artists in the world. Or how the Rugby Union Weekly podcast is currently bringing listeners the latest insight and chat from the World Cup in Japan to complement live coverage of the games on Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra.
Alan Davey has spoken about how he wants Radio 3 to be a magic garden, and that ambition is equally true of all of 成人论坛 Radio. There’s never been a more exciting and creative time in audio. We can make a wider range of programmes than ever before and through 成人论坛 Sounds we can help listeners discover more of what they might enjoy.
I’m sometimes asked why we don’t just distribute our programmes and services through apps made by big tech companies. In fact, it’s often big tech companies that ask me that.
Well we do make our content available elsewhere, and we’re happy to do so as long as we get the same information from those platforms as we do on ours - as well as the ability to direct audiences to content they might love.
But it’s rare for other platforms to give us the same level of information that we get from our own apps. Without this, we’d be significantly disadvantaged when deciding which programmes to make and ensuring we’re serving all of our audience. It also prevents us from recommending new and relevant shows to listeners - something people tell us they want from the 成人论坛 and what Sounds was built to do.
成人论坛 Sounds is growing. We now have over two and a half million weekly users, up around 50% since July, with listeners having come across from iPlayer Radio, which we closed last week. We’ll continue to evolve Sounds, listening to audience feedback. And we’ll keep making even more of the creative opportunity 成人论坛 Sounds and the audio boom opens up for us.
Under Jonathan Wall’s leadership, we’ll attract audiences by being the best place to enjoy live radio, offering a feast of on-demand content and helping audiences enjoy their music more than ever.
Welcome to all the new listeners that have joined Sounds in recent weeks. I hope you enjoy the amazing variety of audio you now have at your fingertips.
You may want to start with our latest podcast Tunnel 29…