Adam Crowther and Jess Rudkin in BBC Radio Bristol’s studios.
When we started Upload back on 29th October 2018, we had a week to launch the show from me starting work back at BBC Radio Bristol. Five days to launch a brand new show. We didn’t know how successful it would be when we launched it. We were asking members of the public to send us what they were making to get it featured on the BBC - poetry, fiction, blogs, vlogs, comedy, music… You name it! But we genuinely had no idea who was going to upload, how many people were going to upload or indeed how good that stuff was going to be! But wow! We were blown away. In the first 15 months we’ve had 2,200 uploads just to the Bristol uploader. We’ve had people get professional commissions from the BBC, we’ve had posh people at BBC Radio Four come to make mini-documentaries about our uploaders, we’ve had a writer get heard on Upload by a professional book publishing house who then offered him an audiobook deal.
“Upload is already live and producing great results in Bristol and will be rolled out across England from January. Let’s do more to showcase the best artists, poets, writers right across this country.”
We are over the moon at how successful Upload has been. The director general of the BBC, Lord Tony Hall, has backed the idea of Upload since he first heard about it. He said right away “This should happen everywhere. Let’s make that happen” to which my boss Jess Rudkin has worked to make happen over the last 12 months.
We went back to chat to Tony Hall just before we launched Upload across the rest of the BBC’s 40 local radio stations about what the show meant to him, but also why he thought it was important for the BBC to do something like this.
“Upload is brilliant because it says to anybody, whoever you are, whatever you do, don’t be afraid, don’t be shy. Get out there. Do what you dream about, give it a go. And that’s a terrific service isn’t it?”
It’s our mission to be the front door to the BBC, be super easy to upload and to showcase a wide variety of stuff that we haven’t done as the BBC before. The great thing now is, no matter if you live in Cornwall or Cumbria, Shropshire or Suffolk, you can get your voice on the BBC - how amazing is that. There are 39 other Upload shows happening across the country showcasing the incredible local talent in their area which is amazing
So if you’re making, creating and doing stuff - get yourself on the BBC in your area. Go to bbc.co.uk/upload and upload your audio, video, images or text documents right now!