Audiences will be able to watch radio shows being broadcast, as the BBC launches its latest "radio visualisation" trial, running until 31 July as an enhanced online version of some of the BBC’s most popular shows.
The trial will begin by offering an enhanced, online version of Simon Mayo's BBC Radio 5 Live show, before being rolled out to other shows including The Chris Moyles Show and Switch on BBC Radio 1, Material World on BBC Radio 4 and The Hub on BBC 6 Music.
Online audiences will be able to view "glanceable" content – webcam streams, images, now playing and artist information, news and sports feeds – and interact with the programme through a pop-up console online, and later in the trial, by downloading an application to their mobile phone.
In response to audience feedback from the first phase of the trial in January this year, this phase also includes on-demand content, for those that miss the live broadcast. The first of these will be a 45-minute compilation of the best bits of Simon Mayo's programme from the week, available every Friday.
Mark Friend, Controller of Multiplatform and Interactive, BBC Audio & Music said: "The visualisation console is about enriching the digital listening experience. More people are consuming radio on different platforms and on devices that have screens.
"Just as DAB listeners might glance at their screen to see what track is playing or what DJ is coming up next, the visualisation console experiments with putting all of our glanceable content in a single place in order to create a richer user experience.
"I look forward to what we can learn from this trial and being able to share findings with the wider radio industry."
