΄σΟσ΄«Γ½

Listeners contact Over To You with queries and complaints about any number of topics – but one subject on which we consistently receive emails is the trails that you hear on the World Service.

And you probably won’t be surprised to learn that most of those emails are critical – although I remember recently that the promos for a documentary called 'Would You Kill the Big Guy?' attracted roughly as many favourable comments as critical ones.

Μύ

Anyway, in the last couple of weeks we’ve had a lot of comments that have been prompted by trails for two documentaries – Seeking the Endgame, which is about the effect of modern technology on the world of chess; and The Mysteries of the Brain.Μύ

Some people didn’t think much of the trails themselves, but the main thrust of the criticism was – why do you trail the same thing so often, and so far ahead of its broadcast date?Μύ

Or as listener Eddy Blaxell in Nepal so succinctly put it, the trails are β€œtoo many, too repetitive, too early”.Μύ

So as you can hear on this week’s programme, Rajan tackles Murray Holgate, network manager for the World Service, and the man ultimately responsible for what gets trailed and how often it’s promoted on air.

He explains how he and his team go about planning a promotional campaign, and about the difficulties of juggling the need to let people know what’s coming up and telling them about it so often that they want to switch off.

We also had an email this week from Daniel Cohen, who listened to Seeking the Endgame, and then downloaded the podcast version, which turned out not to be quite the same.Μύ

You can find out why if you listen to this week’s Over To You.

Cathy Packe is the Producer, Over To You

Over To You is your chance to have your say about the ΄σΟσ΄«Γ½ World Service and its programmes. It airs at 00:40, 03:40 and 12:40 every Sunday (GMT).

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• - What's this?