BFBS Newsletter July 2023

It has been a busy month of learning for me, seeing first hand the work that people are doing to keep us relevant and connected. We have every reason to be ambitious and I am excited to share the success we have enjoyed in bringing amazing content to our core military audience and beyond in this edition.

Since the last newsletter we’re thrilled to have received our Gold ERS (Employment Recognition Scheme) Award and will continue to advocate the benefits of being a Covenant signatory, as we support the armed forces in as many ways as possible – including our own staff who also serve as Reservists.

In this issue, you’ll find news about our 80th anniversary and partnership with OneWeb, our involvement with events such as the Celebrating Forces Families Awards and the Army Expo, plus plenty of links to our brilliant content and our wider impact.

Looking ahead, if you are going to DSEI in September come and see us on stand H5 620 in the Naval Zone.

I wish you all a super summer leave – enjoy!

Ben Chapman CEO

To mark BFBS’s 80th anniversary this year, Mr Speaker, the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle kindly invited us to celebrate with an event at Speaker’s House. It was a chance to share the evolution of BFBS, from a broadcaster of live radio messages in Algiers in 1943, into the global multimedia organisation that is it today.

Set against the theme of eight decades of innovation, we announced our new development partnership with Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite company, OneWeb. Thanks to the latest technology, the new BFBS MiPlayer Edge and OneWeb’s global constellation network will now work together to deliver enhanced media services to the UK Armed Forces, even in the most remote and austere locations.

The BFBS MiPlayer is currently deployed in multiple locations across ten countries for the MOD and on board all in service Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, enabling personnel to enjoy live and on-demand TV and radio content, plus magazines and newspapers, even when there is no internet.

When the UK announced that it would donate 14 Challenger 2 tanks to aid Ukraine, British Army trainers spent weeks teaching Ukrainian personnel how to operate the tanks. Their instruction included how to command, drive and work together as a Challenger 2 tank crew and effectively identify and engage targets.

BFBS Creative stepped in to help DDC make a 26-minute video which shows how the UK is helping to train Ukrainians. It went to the top of the MoD’s ‘most viewed’ videos, and to date has had more than 444k views, as well as a positive response in the comments too – watch it here.

We were honoured to be Media Partner for the Celebrating Forces Families Awards for a second year and help to shine a light on the stories of dedication and commitment within the community.

Our Live Events team produced the awards ceremony and staging on the night, which this year was co-hosted by our very own Forces News reporter, Sian Grzeszczyk, alongside Antony Cotton.

Our Creative team livestreamed the ceremony for those unable to attend, while interviews and videos were gathered by representatives from BFBS Radio and our social media team, ensuring that the families’ extraordinary and inspirational stories were broadcast across all our media platforms.

It was a fantastic collaboration between BFBS and other stakeholders from across the forces community who organised the awards as part of the MoD Partner Employment Working Group (PEWG) CIC.

We recently increased our UK coverage for BFBS Gurkha Radio on small scale DAB in both the Warminster and Basingstoke areas – adding to our DAB services across Salisbury Plain and Aldershot – and we’re planning more digital media in other new locations too. We’ve also launched BFBS Gurkha Radio in Blandford on FM, where previously we’d been on AM.

And for Gurkhas and their families based in the Falklands and Akrotiri, we’ve added new film releases from Nepal to our cinema portfolio, for example, the recent screening of Chakka Panja.

Forces News and BFBS Gurkha Radio continue to cover stories about the Gurkha community, and recently featured the passing of the last living Gurkha recipient of the Victoria Cross, and an extraordinary interview with the Gurkha veteran who became the first double amputee to climb Mount Everest.

Our news team supported the Army Expo at Wellington Barracks last week, with a news programme that set the scene for the event, and provided video content to illustrate the Ukraine section. Deputy Sports Editor, Cath Brazier, moderated a panel of three elite forces athletes at the MoD’s recent Woman in Sport Symposium.

Forces News ran an exclusive after James Wharton became the first to reporter in five years to report from inside the British base in Erbil and embed with troops serving on Op Shader. The feature was viewed 125k times on YouTube and was also part of a Sitrep podcast.

Our report on the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment’s jungle training in Belize has proved very popular with more than 300k views on YouTube and 656k views on TikTok, and we also joined 45 Commando on NATO’s Exercise Spring Storm in May.

And finally...we’re excited to be finalists in two categories of the Aerospace Media Awards for our coverage of Exercise Red Flag which has already had more than 2 million views on YouTube.

Watch and listen to Forces News on BFBS Extra, BFBS Radio and forces.net and look out for features on Forces News YouTube and our other Forces News social media channels, including TikTok.

Leading up to the Coronation we were keen to capture as much behind-the-scenes footage as possible, and highlight some of the more unusual stories, such as our Getting Ready for a Coronation 'Household Cavalry Style' and the Coronation in Numbers.

We also livestreamed the Coronation procession, had an exclusive from inside the Coronation flypast, while our ‘Military’s Coronation in under four minutes’ was viewed more than 386k times on YouTube.

Our support of Op Golden Orb also extended to having full security clearance for our BFBS Operation Ice Cream van so that we could hand out free cones in Wellington Barracks on Coronation day...and it also visited many rehearsal locations in the run up to the big day too!