Referencing Extra #1 - Radio Shows & Podcasts

The first step to successful referencing is to read our Study Basics guide to the Harvard Referencing System. However due to space we were not able to include every single possible source you might reference for an assignment. This is the first in a series of posts covering some of those sources which aren't in the Study Basics guide. If there are any other sources you are unsure how to reference please leave a comment below or email us at studyskills@salford.ac.uk.

Referencing Radio Programmes



Referencing a radio programme can take several forms. It is important to give as much information as possible so the reader can find the exact quote. There are several different styles for referencing a radio show, below is the one we recommend but if your lecturer wants you to reference it differently please use their recommended style.

The author should be the person who says the lines you are referencing, not the person whose radio show it is (if the show is eponymous or has a regular presenter). Use the following format:

Author name (year) ‘Name of Programme’, Radio station. Date of broadcast. Time of broadcast.

For example this could appear as:

Peacock, L. (2009) ‘Today’, BBC Radio 4. 15 May 2009. 6.00hrs.

The speaker was called L. Peacock. This is not the name of the regular presenters of Today, it is the name of the guest who spoke on the subject we are interested in. We have also formatted the time in the 24 hour clock, although if you like you could say “6am” as long as you are consistent throughout the piece.

However this reference isn’t as helpful as it could be. It doesn’t say when in the programme the quotation was said. It also leaves it up to the tutor to find the programme if they want to check. This is a limitation tutors are familiar with, but check with them first if it is ok for you to reference material in this way.

Some radio programmes find their way online in the form of “Listen again” features, or podcasts. If you were to hear the above radio programme on a “Listen again” (played using the website’s internal media player and not available to download and play through another device such as an mp3 player) feature then you will have to state this in your reference:

Author name (year) ‘Name of Programme’, Radio station. Date of broadcast. Time of broadcast (exact time). Website address [date accessed].

Referencing an online version of a radio show requires more information, but it also allows you to be more accurate – you can rewind the programme and note the exact time of the material you are using, but you must still include the original broadcast time. Some shows might be broadcast twice a day so always be specific about which edition you have listened to. Additionally, when including the time of the relevant material make sure to indicate how long the show is (in this case of the example below you are listening at the end of the first half hour of a three hour show). If you listen in this way you must include the website address and the date you accessed it, as you would with any website reference. You must also make sure you indicate that you have used an online listening service. In our example we listened to a Radio 4 programme but we used the BBC iPlayer to listen to it, not a radio. Make sure both these pieces of information are included, instead of BBC Radio 4 as the radio station put BBC iPlayer: Radio 4.

Peacock, L. (2009) ‘Today’, BBC iPlayer: BBC Radio 4. 15 May 2009. 6.00hrs (27.50-29.20/3:00:00). http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ [accessed 17 May 2010].

Some radio programmes are available as a podcast, a file which you can download from the programme’s website or a podcast store, and listen to on an mp3 player or other media player. If you listen to the material in this format you must reference this in a similar manner to the “Listen again” version above, but make it clear you listened to a podcast.

Peacock, L. (2009) ‘Today’, BBC Radio 4, BBC Podcasts. 15 May 2009. 6.00hrs (27.50-29.20/3:00:00). http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ [accessed 17 May 2010].