Many barristers like to assemble extensive lists of arguments which they hope will win their case. The arguments can be contradictory; accepting one would invalidate another, but the bewigged ones still hope to parade them all, so that one or two can perhaps catch the eye of a judge and/or jury.
The BBC's case for 4 and half extra radio stations is full of such thinking. Remember, this whole proposition has already 'passed' the BBC Board (it will have to be somewhere in Phil Harrold's Dull Minutes for either October/November/December/January); still has to 'pass' a BBC-driven Public Interest Test; and then will be tested by Ofcom.
Are these radio stations ? The inside track is that, if refused by Ofcom as 'broadcast', they'll appear anyway on BBC Sounds, so why not do that first ? I thought we were told that Sounds was the future. Hasn't DAB plateaued ? Isn't the forecast for it to lose ground to 2060 ? Why not tell us some exciting growth figures for Radio 1 Dance, Radio 1 Relax, Radio Cymru 2 and CBeebies Radio as exemplars of Sounds breakthroughs ?
Are these services low-cost or no cost ? Director of Music Lorna Clarke made it clear to R4's Media Show yesterday that all was being done within existing budgets, managed in a way to afford "new commissions fronted by emerging talent and the BBC’s much-loved expert presenters". So clearly there are so far undeclared savings to be made in Ms Clarke's current spend. Presumably the Board was given full transparency on these savings/efficiencies - and still ruled this was a worthwhile venture, clearly better than protecting BBC local radio.
Is this about reaching the unreached, growing/maintaining reach, or offering 'choice' ? All three arguments are made in the press release. Ms Clarke said the Radio 2 'extension' was not about reclaiming over 55s - Radio 2 still had 7m of them in its weekly reach. She made a claim that the package would increase C2DE figures for BBC Radio - a strategy that might be better argued for keeping local radio local.
The big push on 'choice' is weak. It really means we're extending our range of products in order to keep you from going elsewhere; we want the BBC logo to appear more often on DAB+ tuners; we've finally turned Tim Davie - we're not stopping anything, but giving you the old W1 mantra - 'more for less'.
I think your take on these plans is bang on, Bill. Ofcom should nip these utterly unnecessary new stations in the bud. Where, in a radio world with Classic FM in it, is the sense in proposing
ReplyDelete‘A new Radio 3 extension providing a classical music experience that helps listeners unwind, destress and escape the pressures of daily life … peaceful favourites … ethereal choral music … soothing orchestral textures'?
If they're all being funded out of existing budgets then how can they not be affecting existing stations? The money, if it really can be found, would indeed be better spent restoring some of the huge amount of localness ripped away from Local Radio.
Or, it could be put towards plugging a huge hole in the BBC's radio provision: a 24-hour news station. No-one talks about this any more, but somewhere between 2005 & 2015, it 'rolling news' station slid almost imperceptibly into a mainly chat-led format.
For the first ten years of its existence, 5 Live covered practically everynewsworthy story that moved (and some that didn't). My radio dial might as well have been glued in place to 909 or 693, and even woolly old AM couldn't kill the station's buzz.
Ten years ago, I had to unstick it – and it's pretty much re-stuck to LBC. On a budget a fraction of the size of BBC Radio's, Global runs TWO 24-hour news/newstalk stations. When news breaks, LBC will try to cover it. If you tune to 5 Live outside the Breakfast and Drive shows, chances are they'll carry on talking about last night's telly, or Netflix.
Radio is the live news medium par excellence, and news is the most obvious way to provide public value – I would argue, much more worthy than starting up niche music stations that a) would be much better provided on BBC Sounds, b) will in fact re-broadcast chunks of Sounds content in any case and c) are needless tanks on commercial music radio's lawns.