Autumnwatch on at a new time

[vole-woman]

I for one don't have "Sky +", but as I said earlier in the thread, my concern is about the viewers who won't now bother to watch it because it's a) not the family show it was and b) scheduled against very high-rating programmes. At the top of its game, the old format brought in 4.4 million viewers, all watching the live show together.

[loripo]

The other thing that bothers me with the Saturday teatime repeat is that there are sure to be all sorts of sports and other programs that will be taking priority

[wizzo]

Point taken Vole - Woman. One positive from this though....it's nice that everyone on here feels so passionately about our planet and the wildlife that share's it with us. I wish more people and especially young people, would take more notice of the wonders out there. I recently took my nephew and niece to a local lake and believe it or not, they didn't know or couldn't identify a Goose. Sad eh?

[Jadeyduck]

Sounds like cost cutting by the BBC to me, but since there isn't much live content why not record?

BBC Iplayer, sunday morning, cup of tea, snuggled up in bed, bliss!

[Jadeyduck]

wizzo,

i'm 18 so probs getting past the 'little people age' but i'm a young person, and i to think its sad that kids can't tell the difference, my best mate can't tell a starling from a robin despite my many attempts to teach her.

We are out there, we're just squirrelled away in little corners [if you'll excuse the pun]

[tigger]

Well all I can say Jadeyduck is I'm glad there are still some of you out there and welcome to WAB! Maybe you could tell us what you think teenagers would really like in their "ideal" wildlife program?

Cheers. Jane

[vole-woman]

Yes, please do!. Jadey. Cost-cutting might be part of the change in the spread of the programme, but I can't see any rationale behind the shift to post-watershed.

I agree, it's so sad that a lot of children don't know even common animals and plants, but then neither do a lot of adults. My poor kids have had it from day one - wallcharts of native species round the bedrooms, insect pooters for birthday presents, ditch-dipping parties etc. My older son knows four or five different types of scat (though I've told him not to broadcast this to his mates as they'll think he's a bit weird! )

After watching water voles, my number one favourite wildlife occupation is talking to/teaching people about nature, and I'm never happier than when I've a garden full of 8 year olds, all with their nets and old ice cream cartons and 'The Ladybird Book of Pond Life' between them. I used to spend a lot of time monitoring water voles fom a bridge in tne main town car park, and in that spot alone I must have spoken to a couple of hundred people about what voles need. Now I only have to linger on that spot a minute, and someone will call out 'Are they there?' or 'How are they doing?' It's something I'm reallty passionate about, because I know how much joy it can bring. And in these credit-crunch times, what better than a completely free hobby?

[Jadeyduck]

Agreed vole-woman, post watershed move may have been the wrong way to turn, but broadcasters will pretend to know the audience better than the audience know themselves.

As to what teenagers would watch, well that is a question!

I feel personally that there is often to much emphasis on the need for young peoples programmes to be "cool". Maybe thats part of it, but it also needs to be interesting, for example my friends who have no real interest in the natural world, will watch discovery channel, not because the programmes are supposedly cool but because they are interesting.

Get a fun presenter who appeals to the younger generations e.g. Chris Packham, Simon King or Nick Baker (some of my personal favs), some interesting critters, and have a good laugh. Autumnwatch Unsprung is a great example of the kind of larking about which might appeal to younger people [please disagree other young people if you like] Showing that wildlife is easily accessible might do the trick.

But alas channels aimed at teenagers are mainly about music, fashion and big brother, so broadcasters at some point would need to fit a new demographic into their busy schedludes (sorry im studying media production and media words keep popping up in my head ) so until the future these things will probably sit on the backburner...

[ChrisR]

Originally Posted by Jadeyduck

Get a fun presenter who appeals to the younger generations e.g. Chris Packham, Simon King or Nick Baker

I'm over the age of 40 so I probably don't have the greatest handle on what the younger generations call "cool" these days but ... do you think Simon King qualifies? A female friend of mine once went to see him give a slide show and afterwards commented that he was undoubtedly a good cameraman but it was like he had had every ounce of charisma extracted at birth

I'm not a big fan of Cwis Packham but I think he means well and people do like him so perhaps I should watch a few more of his shows. Nick Baker also seems to be OK on shows aimed at "family" audiences but I do wonder who will be the next David Attenborough - a knowledgeable, widely respected naturalist with intelligent and unpatronizing presentation skills ... is there anyone? (and nobody say Alan Titchmarsh!! )

[Jadeyduck]

Ok perhaps not the best choices, but i'm only one person with one view [unless i have eyes in the back of my head]

I'm sure there are plenty of presenters out there suitable for the job, but since this is only theories evewryone will have a different opinion, i was asked for mine and thats what you got

There will never be another David Attenborough, brillant guy one of a kind, everyone else can only hope to match him. xxxx