In October an angry email from a listener, Rick Costello, landed in the inbox of BBC Radio Five Live. The email told how he had been diagnosed with inoperable, terminal cancer and of his fury that the Government was refusing to pay for his winter fuel allowance while he was undergoing treatment.

The breakfast team followed Costello’s progress and helped him secure meetings with Government ministers to push his campaign forward. He died last week.

Costello’s story is cited by the Five Live team as an example of how a focus on user-generated stories and opinion is improving the station’s news content. Here’s an audio clip showing how Five Live took Costello’s email and turned it into an ongoing news story (mp3, 8:30, 3mb).

Tags: BBC, BBC Five Live, User-Generated Content