Exchange of letters

An interesting slip by BBC DG Mark Thompson is revealed in a letter to the staff magazine, Ariel. Radio Derby's Marsha Ramroop shares details of Mark's letter of congratulation on the station's succes at the Sony Radio Award, where it won Station of the Year (300k to 1m listeners).

'Regional radio should pride itself on its engagement with the local community', he wrote, 'and it's gratifying to see the judges heap praise on you for doing just that.'

News Editor Marsha writes 'Is this a Freudian slip? Since when have we been part of a Regional Radio network? I've never heard of the term. Is this how his thought process is going?'

Mark responds 'Please don't read anything into my use of the word 'regional' - I don't know where that came from ! For me, BBC Local Radio must remain local.'  So biffing any proposal for Derby, Leicester and Nottingham to share daytime programming in a regional, DQF sort of way. Perhaps.