Stories by numbers

Gwyneth Williams' first firestorm as Radio 4 Controller is still raging.  She blogs today that critics of her move to cut the numbers of short stories she commissions, and which would see only two short stories a week regularly scheduled on Radio 4, misunderstand the reduction, and, I think mistakenly, trades figures.

She says there will be 104 short stories commissioned for the station from April next year, and she'll also broadcast the five that make the final shortlist for the BBC National Short Story award.  Then, she argues, listeners with DAB will find 25 new short stories a year on Radio 4 Extra.  So, says Gwyneth, whose meetings today are with authors, not listeners, the overall cut in new commissions is from 144 to 134.

It looks so close to a u-turn that it seems hardly worth making the cut.  The problem, however, is also one of scheduling. Radio 4 listeners have fond memories of a daily daytime oasis in their lives when they could drift off "into a world of pure imagination" (copyright Bricusse/Newley 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory").  In fact, the current schedule runs them Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 3.30pm.   From April, weekday listeners will get one story - at 3.45 on Fridays, and weekend listeners will get one, at 7.45 on Sundays.  Lord knows where the 25 on Radio 4 Extra will turn up.

So Gwyneth may be appeasing the authors with numbers, but I'm not sure she's yet got the listeners back in line.