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BBC quietly launches 'live rewind' for radio

By James Cridland for media.info
Posted 22 September 2015, 3.00am edt





The BBC has quietly launched 'live rewind' for radio stations: allowing you to rewind back to the beginning of the current radio programme.

Start listening to any radio station via the BBC website (or via media.info, or the Radioplayer website), and you'll notice a scrubbing control on the Radioplayer console, pictured above, marked "Live". Grab that and pull it back to the part of the programme you've missed.

This is ideal for social media, where radio programmes can be shared even though they've already started; and good for people who arrive late for a piece of BBC Radio 4 speech content or a music concert.

The BBC iPlayer Radio app sets the standard

Live rewind appears available for all BBC Radio stations (I tried BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Bristol); and appears live now within the web console. It doesn't appear to be available on the current app; and I'd expect live rewind to be switched off during some programming for rights reasons.

In other BBC-related online radio developments, the BBC have also added 'share' buttons within the BBC iPlayer Radio app: allowing listeners to share programmes they're enjoying. On music stations, the 'share' button automatically shares the currently playing track, including a direct link to the BBC Music website where anyone can listen to a thirty-second clip.

More information

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James Cridland — James runs media.info, and is a radio futurologist: a consultant, writer and public speaker who concentrates on the effect that new platforms and technology are having on the radio business. He also publishes a free daily newsletter about podcasting, Podnews, and a weekly radio trends newsletter.