Exciting restructure !

The beleaguered BBC still seems to be able to pile people into activities that many would regard as ancillary to the core job of making programmes. Look at the numbers in this new job advert...  

Come and join us, as our ‘Head of Social, BBC Masterbrand’! This new role will lead a team of ten social media professionals, reporting in to the ‘Senior Head of Social, TV’, and working alongside our ‘Head of Social, iPlayer & Three’ and ‘Head of Social, Children’s’ as well as our social production, edit, publishing and strategy teams, and closely with our digital commissioning teams. 

We have recently completed an exciting restructure that brings together 60 social media and digital production experts across BBC iPlayer, BBC Three, BBC Children’s and the BBC Masterbrand, and this critical role will be responsible for helping prioritise our slate of titles and leading campaigns to drive significant iPlayer impact with younger audiences. 

Provocative

Oh dear. The BBC in Washington DC is looking for more journalists to work as "segment producers for several hours of daily live rolling news coverage." 

Second most important requirement "Ability to recognize stories with high potential for provocative, compelling television". 

Adversarial

"I don’t believe this is the end of local radio"

"Some people act as if local radio is seen as the only true source of local news and info. It ain’t"

Thus the BBC's inspirational Rhodri Talfan Davies in conversation with commercial radio guru David Lloyd, himself once briefly part of BBC England's extensive top deck as Head of Regional and Local Programming for BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. You can read David's account of the hour-long session on his blog.

Clearing the decks

The BBC has chosen a Bank Holiday to announce changes to the Radio 4 furniture ahead of turning off longwave transmissions in 2024. 

Sailors will have to manage with fewer shipping forecasts - down from four every day, to two weekdays and three at weekends. Cricket fans will have find Test Match special on Radio 5 Sports extra, via DAB, digital tvs or BBC Sounds. Long term, Radio 4Xtra adds politics and religion to its rotation of the archive - that's where you'll find the Daily Service and the long version of Yesterday In Parliament.

When Radio LW goes, it inevitably comes off Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media. Radio 4 will lose daytime listeners in Ireland, Holland, France and Denmark - and nighttime listeners as far away as Majorca. 

From the top ?

Credit where it should be mentioned.... 

Yet again there is a BBC News 'live blog' of the trials of This Morning

The BBC News CEO is Deborah Turness

The BBC Director of Journalism is Jonathan Munro

The BBC News Director of Digital and Channels is Naja Nielsen

The BBC Digital News Editor is Stuart Millar

The editor of the live blog is Dulcie Lee; contributors are Leisha Chi-Santorelli, from BBC News Culture and Helen Bushby, entertainment reporter. Reporter Sanchia Berg and producer Insaf Abbas are stationed outside Television Centre. 

Presumably all of them think this is 'news'. 

I normally don’t comment on BBC coverage, but while they indulge at length on Philip Schofield (including bizarrely for international audiences) important accountability stories like this are tucked away on local pages: https://t.co/QUbutmW0ZD

— Richard Sambrook (@sambrook) May 27, 2023

Churn time

This looks like a template for recruiting the 'local' online journalists, who will be joining the BBC at the expense of a range of experienced local radio presenters. 

This, for the "East of England", will be based in either Chelmsford, Cambridge, Ipswich or Northampton. For 'local', read 'regional' throughout. Qualifications ? "Significant recent experience as a journalist, with a good knowledge of production techniques". 

Main Responsibilities

Producing local news content for the BBC website, based at a BBC office, and social media accounts for the East of England and beyond
Responsible for originating and producing stories for the BBC website which can also be used on other outlets, as well as turning around content from wires and press releases.
Working with colleagues to ensure all our journalism works across digital, TV and audio platforms.
Come up with investigation and feature ideas that help us represent the many different sides of life in the East of England.

Out and about

Another three months of travel and expenses incurred by BBC senior managers  has been released - and, as befits an organisation wearing a very itchy hairshirt there's been very few brave enough to leave the UK. 

Distribution supremo Kieran Clifton once again put his toe in the water with a trip to Austin, Texas, as did News' digital director Naja Nielsen. 

The BBC's love of the Prix Italia saw DG Tim Davie, departed Controller Radio 3 Alan Davey, and Head of Audio Graham Ellis in nice hotels in Bari. Sophie Garnham, Head of Commercial, Rights and Business Affairs spent over £1,900 on accommodation at the Golden Tulip Cannes - Hotel De Paris. Her boss, Mike Griffiths laid out £820 at the Hotel Homs in Rome. David Jordan, Director of Editorial Policy and Standards, squeezed in visits to New York and Dubrovnik.  Kate Phillips, Director of Unscripted, made it to Los Angeles.

With Elan

It looks like we're being prepped for the announcement of Welsh grande fromage Professor Dame Elan Closs Stephens, CBE FRSA FLSW DBE, as the interim chair of the BBC. 

Born in the Welsh-speaking slate quarrying town of Talysarn in 1948, Elan Closs Roberts left Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle for the heady atmosphere of Somerville College, Oxford, where she campaigned to get women admitted to the Dafydd, the Welsh university society, and became its first female president. Her first job was with the Welsh Arts Council, and the career through Welsh culture and academia was on its way, with jobs too many to mention (including leading a review of the Welsh Arts Council).  In 1972 she married Roy Stephens. He was the first secretary of the Tongue Music Society, laying down the rules for bardic singing competitions, and author of a Welsh rhyming dictionary. 

Elan has been in various governance roles at the BBC since 2010.  Non-execs elsewhere have been criticised for staying too long, but that probably doesn't apply to the Welsh. She has one tick in the register of interests; I'm guessing that's her connection as mother-in-law of business journalist Katie Prescott, who last year left the Today programme for The Times.  Daughter Angharad is Associate Professor of Human  Geography at Swansea University. 

Supervisor

The BBC's misguided dash for online growth in the United States continues apace, with new layers of management only rivalled by those heaped on top of BBC local radio. 

Now they need a Supervising Editor, BBC News Digital, Washington DC.

As the supervising editor, you will: 

Deliver the daily agenda for news out of the US and Canada, constantly monitoring a wide range of sources to keep us ahead of the competition, and using search and social insights to anticipate audience needs

Run the output of a team of more than 30 journalists, at different levels of seniority and working across text and video

White male order

And while we're on, any diversity issues with the BBC England committee, Sir Robbie ?

 

Shaper

You have until 17th June to toss your cv and a covering letter into the ring to replace Kevin Bakhurst as Group Director, Broadcasting & Media, Ofcom. Headhunters Egon Zehnder will also be out and about co-ercing the shy and retiring. 

"This role provides a unique opportunity to shape and influence the modern broadcasting and media industry for the UK over the next 5-10 years, in particular supporting the growth, development and diversity of public service media. The role includes oversight of Ofcom’s regulation of the BBC; its work to ensure media plurality; broadcasting and radio licensing and policy; and compliance with the broadcasting code. "

Other big decisions to make: is GB News a news channel or something else ?  How many MPs interviewing MPs of the same party constitutes a balanced conversation ?  Is there a difference between local radio and regional radio ?  Does the number of complaints generated really help identify the trickiest issues in broadcasting ? 

Senior moments

Some interesting, understated points from news guru Stewart Purvis in Roger Bolton's latest Beebwatch podcast. 

On GB News: "It seems to me an interesting situation where a channel which is heavily loss-making is being funded by somebody who has very clear views which it appears happen to coincide with the views which are expressed on that channel."

On the merged BBC News Channel, nearly all verified: “I find it extraordinary that what likes to think of itself as the biggest broadcast news operation in the world - which is pretty much what the BBC says it is - cannot manage to produce a UK news channel of its own without merging it with something else."

Top five

I'm grateful to the daily newsletter Podnews for a point to a new podcast ranking service coming to the UK. 

Edison Podcast Metrics has been surveying podcast listeners in the States since 2019. In the UK, they propose a minimum of 2,000 weekly podcast listeners in the UK age 15 or older will be included in each quarterly survey, made available through subscription. 

As a teaser, they've released the names of five podcasts, in no particular order, that made the top 5 in a partial measurement of UK responses collected in April - and there's no BBC product. They are The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett (also seen on Dragon's Den), The Joe Rogan Experience, Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster, The Rest is Politics (with Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell) and Shagged Married Annoyed (with Rosie and Chris Ramsey).

Love

GB News are delighted that they've been placed as No 1 in News in the 2023 rankings produced by Brand Love, which is part of Savanta, who create a rolling survey which claims to poll 45,000 over a year. Asked about 110 media 'brands'. GB News comes 53rd in the overall list, which is topped by Netflix, YouTube, Whatsapp, Google and Spotify.

Some statistical wizardry comes into play: "Brand Love is calculated as the percentage of people stating that they "love" a brand, based on a score of one to six. The league table of Top 100 Media Brands is then created by ranking the organisations by their Brand Love score, having met suitable brand awareness criteria. "

And the BBC, ITV and Sky are ranked only as "Broadcasters". So "News" is headed by GB News (and they came third last year, behind The Guardian and the Metro). 

I'm sure this sort of polling insight will encourage an appropriate list of companies to use Savanta. 

Orders

In case you haven't see it, DJ Nicky Horne says this is the script used by BBC Local Radio managers to guide their interviews in selection for redundancy. Not 'verified', but believable... 

Confidence dropping

 “I have confidence in the executive team and our vision for the BBC”. According to The Telegraph, just 24% of staff surveyed in the BBC's Content division agreed with that statement this year. 

From previous years: in 2016, 43% of all staff surveyed agreed with the statement "I have confidence in decisions made by the BBC Executive Team and my Divisional Leadership Team." However a  "Pulse" survey of network News staff taken in November 2016 showed just 24% of those responding agreeing with the same statement. From 2010: 54% of staff think the BBC is ‘going in the right direction’. 

Broadcast matters again

Odd that Piers Morgan has got excited about stale old linear broadcast ratings again.... 

UPDATE: Highest UK ratings for @PiersUncensored in 3 months on @TalkTV last night. And another 100k viewers watched the live show on our @YouTube
channel. Tune in again tonight at 8pm! pic.twitter.com/EcEGI3K4nX

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 24, 2023

Mr Morgan, 58, a weekday tv host off and one since 2011, seems finally to have pulled ahead of Jacob Rees Mogg at GB News, a weekday tv host for coming up to three months. 

On Monday, Mr Morgan averaged 56,000 viewers across the 8pm hour, with the Moggster on 44,000. Last night, Jacob, a Conservative MP, had one of those Groucho Marx mirror shows, 'interviewing' John Redwood, a Conservative MP.  This may have driven even more viewers to the rapidly-greying Morgan.  

Yanked

Yet another pivot towards an American BBC. 

The combination of two domains, bbc.co.uk and bbc.com, leads the world rankings in news websites, according to similarweb.com, with 1.1bn visits in April. In second place comes msn.com, on 655m, and third is cnn.com on 626m. 

Now the BBC wants a managing editor to run bbc.com from the States. 

The managing editor of BBC.com is responsible for contributing to and implementing the strategy to grow North American and other ex-UK audiences across BBC.com.  This leader will oversee the curation team responsible for programming BBC.com journalism and factual content for North American and ex-UK audiences as well as a team of editors and video journalists tasked with creating and curating content that grows reach, retention, reputation and revenue in core categories.  The managing editor will work closely with all digital content teams at the BBC to identify programming that meets the needs of North American and ex-UK audiences.   Experience in both daily news programming and lifestyle/entertainment news categories such as travel, culture and wellness required.   

This role is based in the U.S., either New York or Washington D.C.  

Laura writes

I'm puzzled as to why BBC's technologist Laura Ellis says 'she can't comment via my blog' in the matter of online investment v local/regional radio, so in fairness to her and readers, I'll republish her Tweets. These came in response to my post 'Off The Rails'.

Unfortunately I can’t comment via your blog on the BBC England story on which you feature my tweet so I’ll do it here. First, I could hardly be said to have an ‘aversion’ to multi skilling having run two of the BBCs most multi skilled newsrooms as a TV and Radio editor

— laura_ellis (@laura_ellis) May 23, 2023

Thirdly, I prefer to see myself as ‘additionally trained’ rather than re trained. I’m still quite a good journalist 😄😄 I just get technology too.

— laura_ellis (@laura_ellis) May 23, 2023

Low-hanging

The media release talks about 'creative opportunities'; outsiders will call it 'cherry-picking'. 

In May 2022 BBC DG Tim Davie announced a review of speech radio production areas. We don't know who conducted the review, but today's news from the BBC is that they propose keeping a good proportion of the current 'in-house' audio production 'in house' - at least until 2024. Various individual programmes, spookily already quite successful podcasts, move to BBC Studios, so that Desert Island Discs, In Our Time (Melvyn needs a good agent) and The Life Scientific become commercial brands. So too, will drama (excluding The Archers) and documentaries, which will worry more than a few listeners and producers.  Don't forget BBC Studios already has its hands on The Infinite Monkey Cage, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Just A Minute and The News Quiz.

So-called live, topical programmes stay 'in-house', including Woman’s Hour, Start the Week and Loose Ends, as well as arts, science, rural affairs, religion, books, and the production for BBC World Service.  

The jeopardy, to use a Tim Davie favourite, is that from 1st April, 100% of "all new speech programming" will be put out to tender; the review expects that "BBC’s in-house production team and BBC Studios will generally operate side-by-side as audio suppliers and not in competition with each other."

This has to get regulatory approval. 

Churn

The history of morning magazine shows on ITV goes back to 1988, when This Morning was launched by Granada from studios overlooking Liverpool's Albert Dock.  Audiences have averaged 2m ever since. The costs aren't enormous, and the advertisers like the opportunities.  

Philip Schofield had been a regular presenter since 2002; the current editor Martin Frizell has been in charge since 2016. Neither, up until now, have been riddled with self-doubt.  On Linkedin, Martin described himself as "Editor of Britain's most talked about morning show" for his time at GMTV 2000 to 2010; on Instagram he's a "Bad influencer - usually found at Britain’s No 1 Morning Show, This Morning".  There was considerable presenter churn when Martin ran Loose Women for a year in 2014.  Martin was with Philip and Holly Willoughby when they filed passed the Queen's Coffin without experiencing a queue. 

This Morning is full of regular 'slots' with regular presenters/guests/experts. They range from cooks,  make-up and fashion experts, gardeners, interior designers, wellness and scams commentators, etc. The programme provides generous income for the commitment, which often leads to other employment opportunities.  But over 20 years, a presenter can have considerable influence over who's 'good' and 'bad' at these slots - as can an editor.  As at Loose Women, those discarded can maintain high level of resentment for long periods. 

BBC England hardball

The BBC's non-executives, guardians of the public interest, are still up to the hilt in the hollowing out of BBC local radio. 

Minutes of the BBC England committee from January this year, chaired by Sir Robbie Gibb, with Sir Nicholas Serota alongside, show no cause for concern.... 

2 Director’s report - Local
2.1 The Chair congratulated Jason Horton on his appointment as Director of Local Production in England.
2.2 The Committee discussed the Local Value for All plans in England.
2.3 Engagement with staff has increased throughout the delivery of the Local Value for All plan.
2.4 Some adjustments to the proposals have been made following feedback from staff and trade unions.
2.5 Next steps in the plan include continued engagement with members of staff, unions and key stakeholders. 

This was on 10th January; on the 18th January, the BBC made public marginal reductions in the scale of shared local radio programming.  The 'continued engagement' worked so well with the NUJ that on the 19th they called a consultative ballot, followed by a formal ballot announced on 30th January.   

The fearless England committee planned to visit Radio York on 30th March - that followed a one-day strike on 15th March, and was followed, on 31st March by the announcement of a further one-day strike. We'll have to wait some time for another set of minutes to see how the visit went, or if it happened at all.  

Meanwhile former BBC local radio manager Liam McCarthy has had a briefing from an unidentified member of the BBC England top team and reports: "It looks like the England management team are going to double down on the changes. I was told that they believe the support of staff for the campaign against the local radio cuts led by the NUJ is waning. So confident are they that I was told all previous concessions made to the NUJ by the BBC have now been taken ‘off the table’. The BBC have apparently written formally to the NUJ to inform them of this change."

Deep dives

I offer these words from Press Association reporter Naomi Clarke without comment, though, of course, frothing up inside... 

BBC News is to launch three new programmes which will explore the daily stories in reactive, analytical and deep-dive formats. Chief presenters for the broadcaster Yalda Hakim, Lucy Hockings and Matthew Amroliwala will front the new shows which will air from Monday while fellow journalist Maryam Moshiri will move across them all.

It comes as the corporation continues to make changes to its news output following the creation of a single BBC News channel operation with two feeds for UK and global audiences.

The reactive and fast-paced BBC News Now with Hockings will be broadcast from midday to 3pm. It will cover several stories throughout the programme, using the presenter's versatile style in an immersive format to move from story to story.

Meanwhile, analysis will be at the heart of Verified Live with Matthew Amroliwala, which will air from 3pm to 6pm. The programme will delve into the key stories behind the headlines and work closely with the broadcaster's new verification team who will use techniques to investigate, source and verify information, video and images.

The Daily Global with Yalda Hakim will take the evening slot from 6pm to 8pm as it goes in-depth into the dominant stories of the day.

These new programmes will join The Context with Christian Fraser, which relaunched last month with a new format in the 8pm to 10pm slot. It sees a conversational style among its panellists alongside discussion and debate.

Exemplar

Another gig for Dr Samir Shah at the BBC, appointed alongside Madeleine Sumption to lead a 'thematic review' of the coverage of 'major migration topics'. 

Dr Shah CBE, 71 (Latymer Upper School, Geography and Maths at the University of Hull, D Phil, St Catherine’s College, Oxford) was first brought into the BBC by John Birt to run tv current affairs in 1987. He left in 1998, having acquired enough funds to buy indie Juniper TV. As CEO, he was invited to be a BBC Non-Exec by Mark Thompson in 2007 (cf Dr Mike Lynch).  Juniper currently makes the weekly 'Politics London' and 'Politics South East' for the BBC, which I'm sure will come out as exemplars of migration coverage. 

His brother, Mohit Bakaya, is Controller of Radio 4. His sister, Monisha Shah, a former executive at BBC Worldwide, is now a serial non-exec, and a member of the Ofcom Content Board.  In 2008 Dr Shah said that the BBC's scale and culture created a "monolithic posture that makes it appear anti competitive". 

Off the rails

Tasty fodder for conspiracy theorists this morning - yesterday's edition of Radio 4's Feedback is no longer available on BBC Sounds.  It featured Jason Horton, Director of Production, BBC Local (characterised by some as Toby's Tramway Controller to Rhodri Talfan Davies' Sir Topham Hatt) defending his proposals to move BBC Local Radio regional from 2pm weekdays and most of the weekend. 

The programme is due for a repeat at 8pm on Sunday - will it get that far ?

Sunday 0830 update: it's on Sounds now. In answer to former Local Radio manager Liam McCarthy's suggestion that local online content could be massively enhanced by allowing current staff rights to input, Jason Horton noted that the re-investment was also in investigative journalism (by implication, something that current local radio journalists COULD NOT POSSIBLY DO). 

The management's aversion to multi-skilling and re-training is culturally embedded. This from the BBC's Head of Technology Forecasting, R&D, herself retrained from a BBC regional editor. 

Hard to believe that some 20 years on, people are still arguing that in a multi media org, an adequate online service can be provided simply by taking crumbs off the TV and Radio table and putting those stories online. Having lived this for many years it doesn't work (1/3)

— laura_ellis (@laura_ellis) May 10, 2023

Bardic

Rats. I asked Google Bard to write a speech in the style of BBC DG Tim Davie, and it's come back without 'jeopardy'.....

Sure, here is a speech by BBC DG Tim Davie:

Good morning.

I'm delighted to be here today to talk about the future of the BBC.

As you know, the BBC is a unique institution. We are a public service broadcaster, funded by the license fee. This means that we have a responsibility to provide high-quality, impartial and informative content to all of our audiences, regardless of their background or where they live.

In the digital age, the BBC is more important than ever. We are a trusted source of news and information, and we offer a wide range of programs and services that entertain, educate and inform.

But the digital age is also a challenging time for the BBC. We are facing increasing competition from global streaming services, and our audiences are changing their viewing habits.

That's why I'm here today to talk about our plans for the future.

First, we are going to focus on quality. We will continue to invest in high-quality programming that is relevant to our audiences. We will also invest in new technologies and platforms, so that we can reach our audiences wherever they are.

Second, we are going to be more open and transparent. We will listen to our audiences and respond to their feedback. We will also be more accountable to our stakeholders, including the government and the regulator.

Third, we are going to be more efficient. We will make sure that we are using our resources effectively, so that we can continue to deliver high-quality content to our audiences.

I believe that these plans will ensure that the BBC remains a vital part of the UK's cultural and creative landscape for many years to come.

Thank you.

In addition to the above, I would like to add that the BBC is committed to diversity and inclusion. We want to represent the full diversity of the UK in our programming and workforce. We are also committed to tackling bias and misinformation. We believe that a strong BBC is essential for a healthy democracy

Wordsmith

The BBC has published Director General Tim Davie's speech from yesterday's Enders Media & Telecoms conference.

My detailed textual analysis, including sighting of 'jeopardy', six variants of 'critical' and twelve of 'create', suggest it was dictated by Tim himself  - or there's already a DG chatbot.

News from the top

Listeners to Radio Ulster got a rebroadcast of Radio 5 Live for most of this morning, apart from a news summary at 9am read (and presumably written) by new Director of Northern Ireland, Adam Smyth. NUJ members are on strike seeking a reversal of cuts at Radio Foyle.

Dr Lynch

A continuing cautionary tale of non-executives: Dr Mike Lynch, described as Britain's first internet billionaire by The Guardian at the turn of the century, is currently In temporary accommodation in San Francisco, and only allowed out to meet his lawyers.

He was handcuffed throughout his flight to the West Coast accompanied by US marshals and needs to sort out a $100m bail bond, supported by $50m in cash or shares. District Judge Charles Breyer has suggested there will still be some form of house arrest even with the bond.

Dr Lynch has been extradited to face 17 charges of fraud in the sale of his company, Autonomy, to Hewlett-Packard - at the heart alleging forecasts of future profits were criminally exaggerated. Judge Breyer jailed Autonony's CFO on similar charges for five years back in 2018.

Dr Lynch joined an 'enhanced' BBC Executive Board as a non-exec alongside Director General Mark Thompson in 2007, just as the BBC Governors evanesced and the BBC Trust emerged. He sold Autonomy in 2011. The Trust minutes from November 2012 note the 'withdrawal of a proposal' to reappoint the Doctor for another year.

Share of ears

Another way of ranking radio stations is to look at their share of all the hours spent listening to radio in their target area.   In RAJAR terms, each station has a TSA (Total Survey Area), marked out to cover the agreed piece of the UK a station serves (not necessarily where it can be heard these days, with carriage on IP etc).  So, for example, Radio 4, serving the whole of the UK, has an 11.2 % share of weekly listening hours.  Radio 2 does even better, at 15.2% 

There is a BBC service that beats them both: Radio Ulster (including programming from Londonderry about to be severely reduced) at a remarkable 18.1%. No wonder they're on strike to try to turn round poor management decisions. 

While we're on, there are a number of BBC local radio stations with impressive scores against local, regional and national challengers. Radio Cornwall with 16.2% , Radio Guernsey with 13.1%, Radio Derby 10.2%, Radio Cumbria 9.9%, Hereford & Worcester 9.5% and Radio Jersey 9.2%.  

Radio trends

When BBC Director of Content Charlotte Moore took custody of "Radio" in 2020, the weekly reach of BBC Network Radio was put at 30.8m; in today's latest figures, it's 29.5m. That's not a terrifying drop, considering the other opportunities clamouring for the UK's ear time. Today's press release also claims a record weekly reach for BBC Sounds, at 4.6m. However, we note that  64% of Sounds users come for 'live' radio programmes - so we need Auntie to come clean and do some de-duplication. 

Of course, Charlotte is not responsible for BBC Local Radio. When she got to board level in 2020, the weekly reach for the 40-odd stations totalled 5.78m, and today it's 5.28m - again, not yet falling off a cliff. 

Memorable

Relative importance: Tim Davie, BBC Director General, says: “I remember attending the Cardiff Singer finals in 2011 and count it as one of my most memorable BBC evenings. It will be wonderful to come back this year to present the award to the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2023 – l’m really looking forward to it.”  That's a first visit for 12 years - Singers been in the news recently, Tim ?

Re-positioning

A change of tone in the press release for BBC Sounds this quarter, which seem to positively celebrate the achievements of long-running BBC Radio 4 shows for the first time, rather than the previous overweening acclamation for groovy podcasts aimed at the under-35s. 

Charlotte Moore, Director of Content, provides us with this quote "With Radio 4 we’re adapting to meet the changing listening needs of our audiences and have risen to the challenge with on-demand listening for the station up by 15.1% year on year with its programming dominating the most listened to charts."

A pat on the back for Mo, and the old stagers, The Archers, In Our Time and Desert Island Discs. However, perhaps because of podcast promiscuity, linear Radio 4 is down 11.4% year-on-year in reach - from 10.6m to 9.4m. The Today programme is down from 6.5m to 5.7m.  

Kate

The new Controller of Radio 3, Sam Jackson, is having his first go at a presenter transition, and is taking it gently.  Composer of the Week is to be shared between the Venerable Donald Macleod, approaching 65, and Kate Molleson (age unverifiable - see, we can all do transparency). 

Donald, from Kirkintilloch, parlayed a degree in psychology and arts from St Andrews into a job as a BBC studio manager back in 1977, became a Radio 3 presenter in 1982, and has been presenting Composer of the Week, five days a week, year round since 1999. Composer of the Week, boldly rebranded from This Week's Composer in 1988, is, if you accept the basic continuity, the second longest running radio show after Desert Island Discs, and will hit its 80th Anniversary in August. 

In the modern "Across the UK" BBC, Composer of the Week is produced from Bristol by BBC Audio, who occasionally send a producer to that London. In the pandemic, it came from Donald's north London home. Kate, who has a little Montreal Canadian in her accent, is based in Glasgow, so that all makes sense. Kate is familiar to Radio 3 audiences, but she also writes books and music criticism; one hopes HMRC don't now challenge her freelance status. 

Size matters

So the BBC Forensic Journalism Hub yesterday became 'BBC Verify'. Eyebrows across other parts of the BBC and in other news organisations will have travelled north when it was revealed that 60 staff working on various types of 'verification' across News had been winkled out of corners and onto a display shelf in the Giant Department Store of News Content; Newsgathering had probably used OSINT to track them down and bring them under control. 

As if to demonstrate her transition from reality to a bonkers BBC world, CEO Deborah Turness told staff: "We’ll start small and grow". 

Presumably today's effort will be a measured piece on the Catastrophic Car Chase of Manhattan (did they get off the island ?), so traumatic that the taxi driver involved was the coolest man on tv last night. Or perhaps there was more than one taxi driver. Verify, please, BBC. 

Cross in the UK

No news, so far, on a date for Emma Hardy MP to meet BBC DG Tim Davie about local radio cuts. The MP for  Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle is a savvy social media operative, and had been pushing for the meeting for six months.  So Tim needs to be at his most persuasive to fend her off - or perhaps he's taking a moment to decide if there's something he can offer.

Meanwhile BBC1's most popular tv show, the 6.30pm regional bulletin, is once again threatened by strike action - this time the NUJ have called a two-day stoppage on 7th and 8th June. They're also contemplating a motion of 'no confidence' in local radio management, surely gilding the lily. 

* Money doesn't seem to be a problem for the tv side of the house. A team of tv designers, directors and construction workers are moving across the BBC Regions, installing giant, sideways-up, tv screens for the presenters to stand next to, like Huw and Sophie in the BBC National Garage of News. Except, as an old tv news hand told me, going mini-me in the regions is never a good idea. "Giant" is relative, and big doesn't seem big when you turn a big screen through 90 degrees in a small room  - think the end of a bus shelter, rather than an Egyptian-scale obelisk.

Mission

 Is it 'value for all', 'across the UK', 'digital first' or what ?

Success at the BBC is apparently an actress and a comedian becoming interior designers in Italy. A second series of Alan and Amanda's understated Italian Job has been commissioned, with the duo this time transforming a turret in Tuscany. Or instructing photogenic workmen, while the hosts squawk around local beauty spots, shops and bars. With catch-up, the first series averaged 3.9m viewers across eight episodes. 

The show is made by Voltage TV, now part of BBC Studios, under CEO and long-time Beeboid Sanjay Singhal. 

Message in the music

It seems there's nothing on the BBC that can't now be improved by the addition of a news presenter. Thus Huw Edwards and Katya Adler get to present two Proms each this season, with Clive "Guaglio" Myrie your host for the first night.  

Eventually, the Daily Express will note that Mr Edwards is introducing "the world famous hymn to unity", Beethoven's 9th Symphony.  Beethoven's theme has been adopted by the European Union as its Anthem since 1985 (prior to that, it was from 1972, the ceremonial theme for the Council of Europe). 

Jbo adrvets

The BBC's Jobs website has had a groovy makeover, but the investment seems not to have stretched to the use of a human or computer-based spellchecker. Or maybe they call it Brtibox in Australia... 

Interim process

It's hard to fathom how the BBC got itself into such a tangle over dispensing with Richard Sharp. As a man of unblemished integrity, foot-faulted by the system, not his own poor judgement, why not stay on as BBC Chairman until a replacement is ready to run alongside and get a top notch handover ?

His choice is to leave in July. And we're told, by Tim Davie, that there will be some sort of process to select an interim chairman. This can only be the work of the DCMS; the logical route was to ask Sir Nicholas Serota, the Senior Independent Director, to step up. Has he blotted his copybook in some way ? Or are there other non-execs chomping at the bit ?  Self-effacing Muriel Gray, perhaps ? Golfer and businessman Sir Damon Buffini ?  Sadly little mention for the quietly competent Shirley Garrood.... 

Meanwhile followers of the continuing search for a new chairman will have enjoyed recently-blonde Baroness Stowell of Beeston on BBC radio being coy about possible candidacy.  Perhaps the interviewer didn't know she went up against Richard Sharp and was marked 'also suitable'.  Sadly her radio appearance was to bandwagon for Zelensky to get a slot on Eurovision; fine for a Conservative peer, but an ill-advised line for a potential non-executive chairman to take.

Write off

When you blend the BBC's current style of recruitment advertising with New York marketing speak, you get an exceptionally high level of twaddle.....

BBC is seeking a Senior Director of Partner Solutions to build and lead a new creative strategy center of excellence for the organization in the US and Canada at a pivotal time for the commercial business.  This role is equal parts thought-leadership, strategy and creation, and will be responsible for driving meaningful revenue growth through architecting and taking to market a differentiated brand and solution positioning.  

 

The Senior Director of Partner Solutions will be a critical leader within our commercial team, guiding a team of marketers and collaborating with critical cross-functional stakeholders to translate editorial and audience data and insights into business-moving and objective-exceeding campaigns for our top-tier client set.  Additionally, this role will be responsible for championing the BBC brand and capabilities in-market in partnership with our sales team.

 

You will exceed in this position if you are passionate about non-fiction storytelling, are an experienced builder and leader of high-performing teams, an ardent brand advocate, a curious marketer who values data-informed strategy creation, have an entrepreneurial spirit and embrace unconventional thinking

Bigwigs

 How many of them thought Mae Muller would come next to last ?

DCMS Secretary of State and Ministers alongside their Ukrainian counterparts and the Ukrainian Ambassador are joined by #Eurovision stakeholders including BBC Director general Tim Davie and Culture Director Claire McColgan in a buzzing Liverpool, all set for tonight's epic final! pic.twitter.com/hNBipW3rfJ

— Department for Culture, Media and Sport (@DCMS) May 13, 2023

Enough, Steve

 Do BBC producers know that quite a lot of people can play the piano competently ? 

Digital and local

Some more from the online portfolio of BBC East Midlands:

1st April: Man proposes to girlfriend on House of Commons tour

8th April: Fish and chip shop that opened in 1961 shuts doors

20th April: Derby Dalmatian's tumour turns out to be kebab skewer

29th April: Citrus-like structure of hedgehog spines revealed in Nottingham

4th May: Queen's Coronation pilot, 93, longs to fly again

Fliss follows the money

Whilst BBC local radio suffers in the afternoons, BBC Wales has a shiny new Money Editor (is money a devolved matter ?), and the job has gone to Felicity Evans, BBC Wales Political Editor since 2018. 

So now they need a new Political Editor. 

Digital and local

Is the Big Rhodri Change already underway in BBC England ? "Liam Gallagher buys battered sausage in chippy", is a 270-word online offering today from Jennifer Harby, a senior broadcast journalist with the BBC England online team and Matt Barlow, reporter, producer and acting news editor BBC Radio Derby. 

Being nicer

The BBC licence-fee collectors are going to be more patient with women who haven't paid up. A new report says 75% of those convicted for licence fee evasion are women; but there's no hint it's because they're a target in any way. 

The report quietly notes:  In 2021, just under half (47%) of all prosecutions for female defendants were for summary motoring offences, and there are several offences where more women are prosecuted than men, including truancy and benefit fraud. As the Government recently highlighted women in contact with the criminal justice system are among the most vulnerable in society. There are also longstanding concerns about the disproportionate impact on women of other money-related matters such as nonpayment of Council Tax and more broadly there remain concerns about the disproportionate impacts of financial hardship and debt on women. 

Nonetheless the BBC is adopting a ten point plan, "with more support for those facing financial hardship and better processes when TVL engages with unlicensed households, including: changes to communications, how visits are allocated, how payments can be made to reduce the likelihood of prosecution and how people can be enabled to flag up issues that are relevant to final decisions around their case."

Sadly the news will probably only encourage those husbands who bother, to put the licence in their wife's name....

Un-diarised

Two brave non-executives at the BBC grilled their non-executive chairman Richard Sharp over his behaviour whilst in post, and found no conflict of interest and no concerns about his integrity. The names of the two, picked from Sir Nick Serota, Dame Elan Closs Stephens and Shirley Garrood, are peculiarly not disclosed in the minutes of the BBC's Nominations Committee which record bits of the interview.  "No concerns" is entertaining - they found three meetings with senior political figures which had not been noted in BBC records, and relationships with two candidates for jobs declared but not recorded. 

Here's some of the key minutes: 

Discussing the interview session, the Committee noted that it had heard from the Chairman about the nature of his relationship with the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, as well as other senior political figures. The Chairman had described the nature of his relationship with the former Prime Minister and characterised it as a largely professional one, with only limited social engagement. He accepted that he had taken it as read that the relationship was on the record and widely known, but that it could have been more formally declared. He also stated that he did not regularly meet socially with the individual or his wife.

The Committee had reviewed a list of recorded meetings with senior political figures, including the former Prime Minister; three of these had not been noted in BBC records. The Committee also noted that some of the meetings had been social events – a meeting at Chequers in May 2021 and further meetings on 10 September 2021 and 8 May 2022. The Chairman confirmed that no personal financial matters in respect of the former PM were discussed at any of the meetings discussed with the Committee. The three social meetings had all been arranged at short notice. The Chairman gave assurance that all the meetings would have been notified to the Director-General and/or officially recorded by the BBC. BBC business had been discussed at two of these meetings, on 2 May 2021 and 10 September 2021. The Committee were satisfied that meetings where BBC business was discussed had been for the purposes of promoting the BBC interests, including the licence fee deal that was being negotiated at the time. The Chairman said that on reflection he would diarise meetings more carefully.

It was noted that the Chairman had a close relationship with the current Prime Minister, having been his first employer, but he considered the relationship to be professional and had only recently met with his family socially for the first time. 

The Committee had asked the Chairman if there were any other relationships or issues to declare. He stated that he had attended the Proms with the now current Prime Minister, who had paid for his own tickets, and he had also taken the DCMS Permanent Secretary for dinner, paying for this himself. Both of these events were to be expected in the role and known to the BBC, so did not raise any issues. The

Committee also noted that the Chairman donated his salary to charity. The Chairman noted he had declared a prior relationship with candidates during two recent recruitment processes, though these had not been formally recorded. It was agreed there was a need to be highly scrupulous about these issues and to place them on record where possible, as well as to minute them appropriately and proactively.

 

The three directors make three recommendations: 

There should be greater attention paid to the disclosure of relevant personal and professional interests at the start of meetings of the Board and its Committees, with an expectation that there would be a high level of disclosure by Board

The Board’s Code of Practice and Guidance should be assessed to make sure they were clear enough that personal and political as well as professional or pecuniary relationships should be considered for disclosure, including on appointment to roles; and

There should be a clearer process by which meetings between Board members and senior political figures – including social events – were diarised and notified to the BBC and to officials and subsequently minuted

Subjective

 When will there be a new edition of the BBC's flagship arts programme, imagine ?  So far in 2023, we've had just Alan Yentob's doco about his film director chum Stephen Frears. Upcoming on BBC4, we get editions from 2007, on Gilbert and George and 2018, about Tracey Emin. 

Al was spotted backstage at the London Palladium at the end of last month, when New Jersey author, actor and public speaker Fran Lebovitz, 72, was giving forth in two shows/interviews. How quickly can he turn this one round ? 

Lend a ear

Who listens to Hull ?  A previous BBC Director General, Tony Hall, did. When it won City of Culture for 2017, Tone promised to make the BBC "unashamedly Hull-centric" for the year - and insisted that BBC weather forecasters literally put Hull on their maps... and, in some forecasts it's still there this week. 

Hull got Radio 1's Big Weekend, a visit from the Today Programme, and a Prom. Kofi Smiles, recruited to be the voice of the Year of Culture, is still in Radio Humberside's schedules. Across local radio in 2017, Tony Hall reversed a planned £10m cut, and cancelled the All England Show simulcast weekday evenings across 40 stations. 

Today 10 MPs covering Humberside's listening area have written to BBC DG Tim Davie, a man committed to spending even more than Tony Hall 'across the UK'. It's a detailed six page letter, noting that David Burns, Andy Comfort, Phil White, Fiona Mills and Sally Fairfax are leaving the station. [Six to go seems a disproportionate implementation of a 10% cut]. The MPs note plans to have one journalist writing and reading 'local bulletins' for two stations, one pre-recorded. 

Meanwhile, in their latest management structure, BBC England is recruiting at least six deputy managing editors.  All a bit cloth-eared, eh ?

Behind the curtain

More ad-speak from BBC News CEO Deborah Turness at a conference on the future of investigative journalism this afternoon:  she's talking about 'radical transparency' and the creation of 'BBC Verified', which she calls 'a brand within our brand' to be launched within weeks. "We've brought together the teams who do video verification, geo-location, chrono-location, data sources - all those open source tools, and we're going to pull back the curtain..."

Linear

Two losers in the latest monthly reach figures from BARB.  BBC News was down to 9.7m, in its emerging merged form across April, compared with 10.7m in March. And TalkTV was down to 1.4m, compared with 2.05m in March - a 68% drop. 

Sky News was down to 7.7m, compared with 8.3m in March, and GB News flickered up to 2.8m from 2.78m. 

 

Big John

Today John Whittingdale, 63, walks back into the DCMS as maternity-cover-minister. 

He first took the Culture brief as Shadow Secretary in 2002/3, and again 2004/5. He was Secretary of State Proper from 2015 to 2016.  He probably thought his was never going back; in 2016 he gave a long interview to the Institute of Government.... 

"I suppose in terms of my legacy, the thing which has my name written on it is the BBC Charter which was an incredibly painful process in that there was massive lobbying and ‘Save the BBC’ campaigns, you know, fighting a threat which simply didn’t exist. But despite my numerous attempts to tell people that I had no intention of dismantling the BBC, there was this perception and we had this sort of propaganda war going on. Then I had my own personal relationship with Tony Hall [the Director General of the BBC] and we would meet: we had the exchanges in the newspaper columns or briefings in the press, we then had the formal negotiation where the BBC team would meet my officials, and then about once a month Tony and I would go out to dinner together, just the two of us, and that was very helpful. We actually reached an outcome which, you know, didn’t deliver everything I wanted but it delivered a lot of what I wanted and which he also was able to say he thought was a good outcome. I think that the Charter does represent really quite important changes to the way in which the BBC operates and, you know, it is my charter. So I’m happy to be remembered for that." 

He returned to DCMS as a minister in February 2020, leaving in 2021. 

Will he get another go after the next General Election ?  His constituency, Maldon, covers two councils. In Chelmsford, the Tories held on to their 21 seats, but the Libdems, in control since 2019, took two seats off independents. In Maldon, Conservative since 2007, the council has gone to no overall control, with the Tories losing 7 seats, six of them picked up by Libdems and one by Labour. 

He wouldn't let it lie

"Friends" of departing BBC Chairman Richard Sharp have been talking to the Telegraph - again. 

Their target - Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, from whom Mr Sharp sought absolution during his accession to the top media job. The friends say Case reassured Sharp that he  was “on the side of the angels” just months before he was forced to quit, over connections with a loan facility to Boris Johnson when Prime Minister. A barrister-led inquiry decided Sharp should have declared that connection to the interview panel. 

Mr Case told that same inquiry into the matter he could not recall details of a key conversation with Mr Sharp. But the friends of Mr Sharp insist Mr Case told the BBC chairman he had “done nothing wrong”, and, further, if Mr Case had backed up this account, Mr Sharp would have been patrolling the wide open spaces of Broadcasting House beyond Glastonbury. 

Futurology

Artificial intelligence doesn't just make word salads. It's been fiddling with photos from some time. Here's two belters producer by BBC trainer Marc Settle using an iOS app called Photoleap.  Which do you think best imagines the future of Broadcasting House ? 

Nads v Rishi

Former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has used her column in the Mail to tell tale of a clash with Rishi Sunak as Chancellor, over the licence fee. [BTW Nadine has yet to declare her fee from the Mail, in addition to her stipend from TalkTV]

"I am delighted that Lucy Frazer, the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has announced a review of the BBC licence fee.

When I held that position, I called for the review in preparation for having a new funding model in place for when the Royal Charter comes up for renewal in 2028. My reasoning was that the licence fee could not continue to rise at the current rate, with a bloated BBC putting even more pressure on the purses of hard-working families.

Sadly, our review was blocked by the then Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. 

So I'm delighted to see that Lucy has shown a bit of muscle and managed to get the review past the No. 10 gatekeepers. The excuse I was given at the time was that tax policy could be reviewed only by the Treasury. It was clearly nonsense. Well done, Lucy. I had begun to despair!"

Totally re-imagined

The BBC's investment in getting 'big in America' continues apace. New York-based Chief Commercial Officer Tara Maitra has promised "a brand-new, re-engineered BBC.com and BBC app coming first to North America this fall."

"As the single most trusted news brand in the U.S., our goal is to deliver a digital experience that matches the calibre of our world-class content. The new site and app will offer a totally reimagined, streamlined and contemporary digital experience that will also allow us to be more nimble, more flexible and maximize both reach and impact for our advertising partners. 

"While most people know the BBC as the public service broadcaster, outside of the UK BBC Studios serves as stewards of the brand by, among other things, operating BBC.com and commercializing our trusted news and editorial content and platforms so that we can continue to help fund the BBC’s renowned journalism worldwide."

 

Executive producer

Remember the showbiz headlines ? "Full list of stars who snubbed performing for King Charles III". The tabloids told us that Harry Styles, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Sir Elton John, The Spice Girls, Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue had either said no or were unavailable. 

It's entirely possible that the King turned executive producer. There were clearly some quid pro quos in getting Lionel Richie and Katy Perry out of their judging chairs for American Idol. Indeed, Katy Perry felt it was important to tell last night's audience that she'd had B&B at Windsor Castle. It seems some of that time was taken filming an insert for American Idol.  

Alanis Morissette and Ed Sheeran filled in for Richie and Perry. 

Royalists

The average audience for the King’s Coronation service at Westminster Abbey (11:00 – 12:59) was 18.8m across 11 channels and services. Reach was 22.4m, a share of 89%. Viewing peaked at 20.4m at 12:02 as the King was crowned.

In Australia, the service scored 462k on ABC, 357k on Channel 10, 739 on Seven, and 558k on Channel 9. A repeat of the 2022 Royal Variety Show appealed to 397k on ABC. 

In France, an average of just under 9m watched the Coronation Service, with an audience share of 70.6% between 11:52 a.m. and 1:44 p.m. on TF1, France 2, M 6 and the news channels (BFMTV, CNews, LCI, Franceinfo).

My coronation

The clear coronation winner was Penny Mordaunt, Keeper of the Giant Meat Thermometer of State, dressed as a cross between Senior Stewardess for defunct airline BMI Baby and an interplanetary leader from Space 1999.  Princess Anne came as something from HMS Pinafore. Prince Andrew was on wheels, under a set of robes developed from the Tales of Rubovia. Prince Harry came as the geezer at the wedding. The boy Louis is developing a terrific frown. 

Huw Edwards has morphed into John Motson; he's done his research, and he's going to use it. Cenotaph is from the Greek for 'empty tomb'.  The tv director eventually learned that long-head on shots of Chas and Cam through the glass front window of the Royal Carriage were useless. 

On Today, rude boy Amol Rajan approached the word 'homage' (for the first time ?) with the tones of an Islington film critic, as 'o-marge', creating a word picture of affectionate tribute acts and impressionists flocking to the Abbey. The rest stuck with 'ho-midge'. 

Going global

The latest better-than-what-we-had-before presenter hired by BBC News for its burgeoning US operation is Caitriona Perry, from RTE.

Caitriona, 46, (BA and MA Dublin City University) is from Knocklyon, south of Dublin, and has two small children and a private husband. She's worked for RTE for 16 years, many of those based in Washington. Until last week, she was co-presenting the six o'clock tv bulletin on RTE, which averages around 600k viewers over an hour weeknights.

This may or may not have been part of her audition tape. 

Entanglement

The Sharp resignation from the BBC is getting messier. As if it was some proof of his self-proclaimed effectiveness and loveability, he got agreement that he can stay til June, rather than clear his desk straight away.  Presumably July is reserved for clubbing in Ibiza. But July would never have been deliverable as a date to get a new chairman on board. And July is when the Chairman presents his annual report, the most important document in the BBC calendar. 

Now BBC DG Tim Davie has told staff that, at the end of June, "the UK Government [no other countries involved - Ed] will appoint one of the existing Board non-executive directors as the Acting Chair of the Board; we expect this process to take a few weeks."

This is odd. 

There is already a Senior Independent Director in Sir Nicholas Serota - the obvious move. Has he got a holiday planned ? As discussed in this blog, Richard Sharp was forced to agree that the title for his chum Sir Damon Buffini as Deputy Chair was merely honorary. Perhaps some other non-execs misguidedly fancy having a go; perhaps the Government really wants to have the choice. 

Whoever gets it will have to bash out a chairman's report pretty quickly to make the printers. 

Tim Davie also reveals that the process to recruit a new permanent chair won't even start til the end of June, meaning they can't possibly be confirmed in post by the traditional appearance before the Culture Select Committee until the beginning of September. 

How's your ticker ?

Viewers to the BBC News election special overnight got a News-y Bonus - the return of the headline ticker, as part of the election graphic package.

The headline ticker on the merged BBC News stuttered and started and stopped pretty much on Day One. I speculated that there might have been editorial problems in maintaining headlines suitable for both the UK and the global audience. New semi-professional external analysis suggests it's just broken. Remember, this matters to news junkies who leave screens on with the sound turned down to keep up with 'the very latest'. 

Meanwhile viewers around the world can check how well the BBC News drive for cash from advertising is going. If the ad slots don't sell, there are no special 'fillers' for the global audience. They now get the same overnight cut downs of BBC regional films, without intros, billed as "Across The UK". And, then, of course, there's times when you just get a surprised newsreader....

Quite the surreal minute on the BBC News Channel just now. pic.twitter.com/LOmjnb5jbc

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 4, 2023

Next for Katy

Katy Searle, c51, (Hinchley Wood School and Esher Sixth Form College) is leaving BBC News later this year. Since last May she's been interim Senior Controller, Programmes & Commissioning, BBC News, which won her a seat on the News Board.  This followed the surprise departure of Jamie Angus for the Middle East. 

The interim bit, in theory, should have come to an end with the appointment of John McAndrew from GB News as Director of News Programmes, which is the new name for Katy's temporary job. One presumes she doesn't want to go back to her base job, as Executive Editor Politics. 

The governance of cuts

Belatedly, we now have minutes from sessions of the BBC Board's England sub-committee for England, led by Sir Robbie Gibb. 

In the record of the March 2022 meeting, there's only one mention of local radio: "After an extended absence because fieldwork was not possible during the pandemic, RAJAR figures for radio have returned using a new methodology – listening to local radio in England stable at 6.7m."

The meeting also considered 'The Annual Plan": "The Committee approved the draft Annual Plan extract for England, subject to including a reference to the impartiality plan and some further concrete examples of change."   That document's section on BBC Local Radio began: "We will build on the success of BBC Local Radio". 

It's hard to believe the Committee didn't have more details of the cuts to local radio to consider, but remember, this is the BBC, and the word 'cuts' is never used.  So in May 2022, presumably with the backing of Sir Robbie Gibb, Director General Tim Davie said "In local radio, we’re going to focus our work where we get most impact – reducing the volume of some of our broadcast programming at times when fewer listeners tune in. We’ll do this carefully – working with our local editors – and we’ll safeguard our commitment to live sport and local news bulletins across the day."

In the meeting of September 2022, the England Committee "heard about the challenge to drive online audience habits as the BBC pivots to digital content as part of the England plans."

A month later, at the end of October, the BBC reported: BBC local radio stations will have a significant number of programmes cut under new plans, the corporation has announced. All 39 networks in England will keep their current schedule from 6am to 2pm, but after that shows will be shared."

More than one breakfast show

A most unfortunate Tweet overnight, about the Radio Academy Awards now called the Arias, previously known as the Sonys. It came from the BBC News Press Team, later explained, but not very graciously. 

And *of course* congratulations to 5 Live! We don’t officially ‘PR’ them from this account so the tweet below isn’t a snub or an omission, but of course we’re proud of all the BBC family! https://t.co/9esF3F2sVh

— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) May 2, 2023

So the obvious questions - how many separate PR Twitter accounts does the BBC run ?  Why did the BBC Press Office, presumably patrolling the waterfront, not pick up on a significant 'radio' win ?  Why is the win not mentioned by the BBC Radio 5 Live account (last tweeting 11 hours ago) ?  How many people does the BBC pay to do all this in such an uncoordinated way ?

Concessions ?

ACAS seems to have provoked movement on the management side of BBC Local Radio. Rhodri Talfan Davies and Jason Horton have outlined a plan which, according the NUJ, removes the risk of redundancy from 300 journalists; offers new guarantees on redeploying those who will lose their roles; plus another nudge to reduce the scale of 'regional output', with three additional weekend breakfast shows that will only be shared by two stations. The BBC has also agreed to conduct stress risk assessments in each region ahead of roll-out.

So the 24 hour strike on Friday is 'paused' - your local radio station should be the place to go for detailed analysis of the English local elections results - at least while NUJ members consider the offer. 

Priorities

There seems to be a 24-hour Eurovision channel lurking on the BBCiPlayer, boasting 23 hours 59 minutes of content on a loop. 

Who knows ? Perhaps they'll soon be able to knock out a 24-hour channel of news reflecting UK licence-payers' democratic interests, presented from the UK ?