Broadcasting House

Go on a BBC studio tour — you know you want to.
Honestly this tour was great. It’s not every day you get to wonder round one of the world’s most recognisable institutions and buildings. We learnt so much (who knew the One Show studio is so small!). The tour guides are really friendly and engaging and actively encourage you to ask questions to add more value to the ‘standard tour’ information they give out. And you get some truly unique pictures to add to your collection.
Top tip: All tour guests have to go through a mini airport-​style security check where bags etc are put through an X-​Ray machine so best to leave big bags etc in your hotel or elsewhere if you have the option to do this.

This place is bloody brilliant!
Come celebrity-​spotting, get yourself on a BBC tour, book tickets to see a show at the Radio Theatre, have a go at presenting the news in reception’s mini studio, try to find yourself a hot-​desk W1A-​stylee… Oh so much to do!
But then I might be slightly biased — I work here. :P
Still, worth a visit, I’m sure you’ll agree.

I’m just commenting on the staff and the experience of attending a radio show taping here. I’d love to take the tour, but haven’t yet had the opportunity.
Friendly and helpful staff, lovely and relaxing café/​gift shop area to wait in before the taping, and the recording itself was orchestrated incredibly smoothly and professionally. FABULOUS venue.

This is such a nice place to go and see a free recording. It’s recently been renovated and looks fab. It has a lovely café that serves food and drinks including alcoholic ones. It’s a nice place to chill out before the performance starts. You can also see into the BBC offices and the news studios which is interesting.
Inside the recording studio is great, very intimate and slopped so you always get a good view. I think the capacity is only 200 so you really feel special to be part of the audience on a programme that will be broadcast to millions.

Hmmm… I am not sure why I only gave this place 4 stars last year! Maybe it was after being so cold waiting outside before things started? I have been back a few times since then, and now they have the huge, spacious waiting room with a reasonably priced bar– it really should be 5 stars!

For those of you who didn’t know, I started out my working life in radio, I aspired to be a features producer for 6 Music, making obscure shows about Velcro and milk for a tolerant yet music loving audience.
As with many I started out working in commercial radio and my path changed before I got a chance to fulfill my radio dreams. I do however have a great amount of respect for this place. You’ll see paps outside trying to get a sneaky snap of the celebs wondering in and out as well as the common geeky technician that keeps the whole thing running but who no one recognises. Inside it’s awesome, like a rabbit warren of offices and studios leading into each other.
The best thing about the BBC radio is that they have specialist channels like 6 Music and the Asian Network that cater for the masses of music nerds out there who strive to discover something a little different. I mean, isn’t that what radio should be all about if it wants to compete in a world of Spotify and FineTune? The fact the the BBC has decided to cut funding here makes me sick to my stomach. There are so many talented producers and presenters out there who want to make these shows for a public who are demanding them, it seems so unfair that the funding has been taken away.
As part of my degree I looked into the influence and affect of the internet on modern day radio, a case study into the changes of «on air» in the past 10 year. A resounding conclusion to this is that specialist station need to stay around to insure we don’t end up with a generation listening to playists with electronic gnomes finding us new music instead of real people. Video killed the radio star? Looks more like the fat cats at the BBC who did it.