BBC Audience Council Wales audience outreach event with members of youth clubs from across Caerffili County at the Hangar Youth Centre, Aberbargoed

This was one of a series of events arranged by the Council to gather the views of audiences on the BBC’s national radio stations in Wales and its provision of news of Wales. This is in preparation for the BBC Trust’s forthcoming Service Review of the BBC’s output aimed specifically at the devolved nations. The discussions also included the views of participants on the proposals that BBC Three should become an on-line only service in view of the BBC Trust’s consultation on the provisional conclusions of its Public Value Test on the proposal. The event was arranged through the good offices of the Upper Rhymney Valley Communities First team, and with particular thanks to Lisa Davies and Sean Rees. The young people present were between 11 and 16 years old and lived in a number of different places across the County of Caerffili. The discussion took place in two groups with ACW members Rhian Connick and Ryan Davies leading the conversation in the individual groups.

Radio

A high proportion of those present listened to very little radio output, with music being the main determinant regarding the choice of radio station, when they did listen. The key period for listening to the radio was while travelling by car. One participant said “I listen to Radio Wales when I travel in the car with my grandparents, but only then”.

One of the youth leaders who had accompanied the young people to the event also said “when I take young people in the car they will change the station as soon as any talk comes on, and they retune to find music.”

However, of those who did listen to the radio, a number said they enjoyed listening to commercial radio stations such as Capital FM and Heart, as well as Radio 1, with the Live Lounge being particularly enjoyed by one of the participants. Another said that she really enjoyed listening to the radio when preparing for a night out with her friends, or when she was getting ready for bed.

Television

I love BBC Three – it’s the best channel the BBC have got ...Moving it online would be a disaster. Not everyone has the internet at home, or a tablet or phone

Watching TV was a popular pastime for a high proportion of the young people present, but not for all. Programmes mentioned as enjoyable by the participants included Casualty, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Eastenders, Russel Howard’s Good News, Family Guy, American Dad, Snog marry avoid and Crimewatch. Some CBBC programmes were also mentioned with Tracey Beaker, Tracey Beaker Returns, Scooby Doo and Milly Inbetween mentioned by name. A number of participants said that one key aspect of their viewing was to see material “based in Wales” with a perception being that “the Welsh accent just isn’t heard often enough on the BBC”.

 

There was a high level of recognition of BBC Three, with a huge amount of support and appreciation for the channel – “I love BBC Three – it’s the best channel the BBC have got”, and this appreciation encompassed a number of genres including continuing drama (Eastenders), documentaries (“You’ve got good documentaries on BBC Three. I thought Murdered by my boyfriend was really good”) and comedy (Russel Howard’s Good News, Family Guy). Another participant expressed the majority view when she said “BBC Three is the only channel I watch. BBC One is for elderly people like my Nan”.

There was dismay amongst most of those present at the prospect of BBC Three becoming an on-line only channel. One participant, expressing the view of many, said “Moving it online would be a disaster. Not everyone has the internet at home, or a tablet or phone”.

The main means of accessing TV was through Freeview or Sky.

News and Current Affairs

A small number of the participants regularly accessed news output, with some saying that it was because their parents watched, and so they would watch the news with them. Some expressed the view that the news was “frightening”, and so were reluctant to watch, while others said they watched through choice so that they could be more aware of what was happening in different parts of the world.

A number watched BBC Three’s Sixty-Second news and considered it a good way of getting to know the headlines. Some others expressed their satisfaction with Radio 1’s Newsbeat, which was again considered a good way of being updated on news. Some others occasionally watched the BBC News channel, but the complaint from a number of them was that “it goes on and on about the same story”. Another expressed the view that “the news has just too many words”.

One participant said that part of her regular routine was to “access the BBC News app to catch up on things before going to bed every night”.

On-line and on-demand

As well as the BBC News app, participants also accessed other BBC content on-line, with Bitesize being considered a useful destination for information that would help with school homework.  As one participant, speaking for many, said “I love Bitesize for science, maths, RE – anything really I’m doing homework on. I know it’ll be right if it’s at the BBC, and my teachers promote it all the time.”

The iPlayer was also popular, in particular “for catching up on soaps”. However, there was some frustration that on occasions, video would not play properly on the BBC website. As one participant put it “seeing that little circle just kills your interest”.

One of the participants also accessed the BBC’s content via social media, with the BBC’s Facebook page often being the portal through which she would access content. Another participant said that he preferred “short videos to longer programmes and watch stuff I’ve got from iTunes, YouTube or MTV”.

Not all participants had internet access at home.