The BBC World Service has announced a brand new daily news podcast for Africa, more episodes of The Comb podcast, and launched a new podcast competition open to residents in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.
Africa Daily will be a deep dive into the news stories shaping Africa, one question at a time. Presented by Ugandan journalist, Alan Kasujja, and released each weekday morning, Africa Daily will zoom in on one single story, providing context and depth to the issues shaping the continent. This is a podcast about Africa, for Africa and host Alan Kasujja will be in conversation with those at the heart of the story. Africa Daily is produced by the team behind Newsday – the BBC World Service’s flagship breakfast news radio show.
The new daily podcast follows the launch in 2020 of our weekly podcast for Africa, The Comb. It is back this month after a short break, with more episodes combing the continent for stories about the unseen forces that bind us together and tear us apart.
Alongside the two new podcasts, each weekday, Africa Today will continue to summarise all the top news stories from the BBC Africa radio programme, Focus on Africa.
The BBC World Service is also launching its first international podcast competition. In 2021, the competition will be open to residents in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. The winning entry will be turned into a new podcast, hopefully to be launched later in 2021.
The competition, which launches 5 January and closes on 22 January, is open to aspiring audio hosts and producers who are not broadcast professionals and don’t already have a credit on a commercial podcast. We’re looking for a brilliant idea for a podcast, in English, which will appeal to listeners in Africa and throughout the world, and we’re especially interested in stories that will resonate with women.
Mary Hockaday, Controller, BBC World Service English said: “The podcast market is beginning to take off in Africa, and the BBC World Service is really keen to explore how podcasts can help us bring the BBC’s impartial journalism to new audiences in a style that’s more informal and conversational.
Each day, Africa Daily will put a spotlight on a single news story that’s dominating headlines, and once a week, The Comb will continue to unearth fascinating stories from across the continent. And we’re thrilled to launch a podcast competition to discover new talent and unheard voices, and offer the chance to have your idea turned into a chart-topping podcast. If you’re based in Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa and you’ve got a brilliant idea for a podcast we absolutely want to hear from you!”
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