The BBC Radio Digital Project-a quest for programme production efficiency

Digital production techniques are already revolutionising the way that radio programmes are made. In a large and diverse organisation, such as the BBC, such revolutions tend to begin in the form of sporadic outbreaks of guerrilla activity: an editing system here, a newsgathering system there, perhaps several incompatible editing systems being used in different parts of the same building. A reasonably healthy situation in terms of creativity but not one which is likely to meet the requirements of accountability and value for money which form the cornerstones of Extending Choice and BBC Policy in the 90´s. In order to evaluate the efficiencies that can be expected from the introduction of digital technology and so meet these policy requirements, BBC Radio has embarked on a sophisticated and wide-ranging experiment in which new technology is matched to the creative process of programme-making. This is the Radio Digital Project. It is specifically not a technical investigation process for product evaluation, but an objective assessment of the interface problems between machine and programme-maker