The ex-ITN team running BBC News are messing around dangerously with the speech radio ecology. Radio 5 Live, since its inception in 1994, has been "news and sport from the BBC". There's been the odd compromise - election nights have always featured one host from 5 and one from 4, in joint programming. But otherwise the politico-tyros producing Radio 4 current affairs have been confined to their allotted hours.
This time, the Today programme on results morning is being allowed to run on til twelve noon, and the World at One will run from twelve to two. Do you think at two they'll graciously trail 'continuing news coverage on Radio 5Live'. Nah - it'll be 'we're back with PM at 5'.
Yet also during the election, we've had the hybrid "Sounds" election channel, which runs Today, Nicky Campbell, the soundtrack of Politics Live on tv, The World at One, more tv soundtrack, PM, The Six O'Clock Radio bulletin, more tv soundtrack, Newsnight.
And even in the world of podcasts, we had "When It Hits The Fan x The Today Podcast x Newscast". Even a new Labour Culture Secretary might eventually recognise we have rather too many BBC staff ploughing the same furrow.
So the Radio 4 news progs are being allowed to spread across the day & provide continuous coverage, apparently super-serving listeners because that's 5 Live's turf. Trouble is, 5 Live relinquished - or was made to relinquish - that turf many years ago. What was once a genuine rolling news station shrank to islands of serious news at Breakfast and Drive, with acres of cheap, vaguely topical chat in between, never ever interrupted by breaking news. Face it: the BBC has abandoned rolling news on UK radio to LBC.
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