Regrets, The BBC Has A Few

Regrets? The BBC May Have A Few

But, none bigger, in my view, than the decision to decimate local radio. I should say I have no skin in the game. I could see the direction of travel and was glad to go. However, it’s sad to see the distress and dismay of colleagues affected by a strategic decision that is highly questionable at best. Other commentators, however, are far more scathing. Corporation bosses have gambled on a major shift to digital services to attract a younger audience. One remembers Matthew Banister’s infamous ‘blood on the carpets’ clear out of Radio 1 DJs to restore the station’s original purpose of serving ‘younger’ listeners, which resulted in the loss of 5 million listeners before the explosion of Britpop reversed the station’s fortunes and vindicated Bannister’s bold strategy.

The case of BBC Local Radio is rather different. Its audience has always been older, and community based and it’s hard to see the resulting exodus of listeners being reversed by an influx of younger listeners who barely registered in audience figures at the best of times. While stations such as my current broadcast home, Boom Radio UK, are happily welcoming displaced and disgruntled listeners, there’s no disguising the radio industry’s incredulity and sadness at such a savage defenestration of a service that, despite its many flaws, was still a force to be reckoned with.

All that said, I’m not writing an obituary. There’s still life in BBC local radio with good people who, although bruised by a dreadfully managed cull by many accounts (mine was a happier experience), remain committed to the task. It’s not as if the Beeb hasn’t been here before. There have been waves of cutbacks in local radio with regional opt-outs and staff redundancies, although never on the scale of the latest cull. The difference back then was that such cuts were easily reversible….and were reversed, in time. While staff numbers are significantly reduced, the buildings and studios largely remain, for now at least, and local programmes continue at key times. So the needle is moving, just. However, with global geopolitics deteriorating at an alarming rate, the BBC (and the government) may well come to regret the sharpness of its axe. Is it too late for a reverse ferret?

Rod Whiting