Four thought

Yesterday the Daily Telegraph sent Radio 4 listeners into spasms - alleging that new Ofcom rules would remove commitments to religion, arts, science etc. The James Purnell Rebuttal Unit was brought into play, and The Telegraph have helpfully put his response behind a paywall. Maybe James will publish it on medium.com.

(1030 update: he has now)

For new readers, this is not a crisis. The old BBC Trust was a lover of Russian-style five year plans, and from 2007 issued the BBC Executive with 'service licences'. The Trust Unit, in its ineffable wisdom, believed it was so close to "what the audience wanted", that it could demand exactly the number of hours of each type of programming required by the licence-payer.  So the most recent such licence for Radio 4 specifies  "at least 200 hours of original religious programming each year"; "at least 600 hours of original drama and readings"; "at least 180 hours of original comedy each year";"350 hours of original documentaries", etc. "Each week the schedule will include programmes from one or more of the English regions, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland."

This is not Ofcom's style - but it will expect the BBC to report on how much time it has devoted to each genre, and will monitor changes. Of course, the biggest guardian of Radio 4 "quotas" is the audience (and contributors). They quickly and successful fought back against the planned closure of Saturday Review (which was to have been be replaced by a 'best of" Front Row.)

The problem with judging output by counting is obvious. It really doesn't defend the quality. Radio 4 over the past couple of years, under Gwyneth 'Paltrow' Williams, has been slowly bringing us more and more goop. Programmes requiring thought, preparation, insight and talent have been replaced by more and more conversation shows - often, just one person talking to another. They may be minor celebrities, authors, or just members of the public, with "their stories"; their unifying factor is that they are cheap to make - even for the Radio 4 in-house production teams, with their huge management superstructure and heritage work practices.

Listeners should track what happens to the service budget - in 2016/17 the Trust set it at £90.2m for Radio 4; ask Mr Purnell, on a like for like basis, what it is for 2017/18 and beyond.