Tony Blair first weekly broadcast 'on the internet' - 2000

Episode 1576,   Feb 10, 2019, 10:29 AM

In Feb 2000, PM Tony Blair began a weekly audio broadcast - a little like the familiar Presidential radio broadcasts in the UK. The eight minute piece was available 'only on the Internet' (accessed either as a streamed file, a downloadable MP3 version or as a transcript). After the tentative introduction - and a what his producer likely suggested was a clever bit of linking - the first edition focused on education.

By the end of the first five months (and 14 editions), the streamed versions of the broadcasts has been requested nearly 37,000 times, an average of 254 requests per day (plus MP3  downloads and hits on the transcript page).