BBC Music: Pitch Perfect.

BBC Music is inviting pitches from independent programme makers for music-based one-off shows and series that will initially be made available via the iPlayer. Auntie is looking for online shows that are no longer than 20 minutes, presumably realising that people now have such short attention spans that if you don’t grab them immediately and spoonfeed them, they are lost to the endless blue light glare of their iPhones.

BBC Music is reportedly keen to commission new shows that are “unashamedly mainstream” and will attract more female viewers, with the viewer demographic of BBC Music content perhaps unsurprisingly imbalanced towards men.

At least Global are addressing the problem, with their blokey rebrand of XFM as ‘Radio X’ resembling something like ‘Nuts- the radio station’ and presumably the station that the seventh circle of hell tunes into for tips.

As reported by Broadcast via CMU, the commission brief states: “BBC Music TV output tends to draw more of a male audience and this is something we’re keen to redress” adding somewhat controversially that “[women] have mainstream music tastes, are less lean-forward in their music-discovery and tend to be attracted to personality and human stories over an intellectual approach to music”. So, you know, no programmes about Scott Walker chord changes and that- the ladies just aren’t digging it.

Those interested can find out more here.