Bustin' out all over

Meanwhile, June has not been a good month for local Lebedev service London Live. BARB report that the highest station figures for the week ending the 22 June went to episodes of Peep Show and London's Burning - returning 12,000 viewers each.

That's Enough

Daniel Cass's company, That's TV, has added three more local licences to his existing pair, That's Solent and That's Oxford. So we get That's Surrey (Guildford), That's Salisbury, and That's Reading.

A flavour of the programming, from Reading: That's Reading Tonight, That's Your Say, That's Music, That's Sport, That's Kids, That's Nature, That's Sunday, That's Exclusive and news provided by graduates from the That's Reading Journalism Degree Course at Reading University, plus 100 That's TV-trained volunteers who've completed the That's Citizen Journalists course.

That's TV bid to run That's Basingstoke is pending.

Morning all

Nine months on from Lord Hall's exhortation that more BBC local radio audiences should wake up to women, there is progress towards his 50% target, demonstrated by a scan of this morning's schedules.

Some stations are choosing co-presentation, which I've decided, arbitrarily, counts. So from my chart of 40 main stations back in August last year, we've moved from 6 shows in the clear, to 15 - or 37.5%. Conversely, to reach the full target by the end of the year, five breakfast shows out of twenty-five still need change, generating substantial male jitters across England - though I have to note that most men shifted out of breakfast have been re-absorbed elsewhere in the schedules. So overall, it's not necessarily a gender balance triumph.

The movers so far - Cornwall, Derby, Humberside, Leicester, Norfolk, Somerset, Suffolk and York. Essex has gone the wrong way with the appointment of James Whale. Devon's billing, which used to show a team, now focuses on a bloke.  Click to go large.

Low rider

Top media hack Neil Midgley got quite a bit of attention for his Forbes piece on the viewing figures for London Live. According to BARB, the three-hour breakfast show is averaging 2,400 viewers, and the evening news 4,000. On eight occasions, Wake Up London has broadcast for a full hour to no measurable audience – a BARB score of zero viewers.

London Live CEO Andrew Mullins has told The Guardian he believes the BARB panel within the capital is too small, creating an inbuilt bias, and under-recording their viewing by half. Their own calculations, looking at online viewing,Twitter trending and more, suggest a weekly reach of 1 million.

Out of interest, the top BARB rating for Russia Today in the week beginning April was "Boom Bust" at 17,000 viewers. BBC Parliament got 64,000 for an edition of Prime Minister's Question Time. NDTV's (New Delhi Television) top show was the Thursday evening bulletin, with 22,000. Euronews, perhaps wisely, doesn't return BARB figures for that week. Al Jazeera English returned 0 (zero) viewers for its top ten shows.

Over easy

The invaluable Radio Today reports that Radio Sheffield breakfast host Toby Foster has done his time after a suspension for apparently offensive Tweets, and will be back on air next Monday.

It's not clear whether or not he was on paid or unpaid leave for the six weeks - indeed it would be good to get a copy of the current BBC sentencing guidelines, clearly adapting all the time to both social media issues and Respect at Work strictures. And we'll watch with interest how long Toby stays in the saddle, given his gender.

Breakfast gender

There's a way to go on Tony Hall's target of 50% female presentation on BBC local radio breakfast shows. As we start the working New Year proper (at least in broadcasting schedules), there are still only two solo female hosts - Emma Britton, Somerset, and Liz Green, Leeds (covered this morning by Georgey Spanswick) - and one to come, Etholle George at Suffolk - out of 41.

Since my August snapshot, there are also two new stations opting for the co-presentation route. In Cornwall, James Churchfield has been joined by Pam Spriggs, and at Humberside there's a new pairing of Lizzie Rose and Carl Wheatley.

Still I reckon at least 10 shows need to make changes by the end of the year to meet the target. Come on, Holdsworth.

Toby jugged ?

In the febrile world of BBC local radio breakfast shows, it looks like another host has bitten the dust - at least temporarily.

Toby Foster, of Radio Sheffield (probably better known as Les from drum and keyboard duo Les Alanos, in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights) tweeted at 8.45pm last night “Got asked to go for a pint by BBC manager. Got pretty much sacked.” ..and, reportedly, added a bad word.

Around 20 minutes later, a second Tweet:“Was told by my editor that ‘one of us will go’. After all these years at the Beeb.”

By 9.30 the tweets had been deleted; all that remained was “Phone ringing like mad. I’ve spent 11 years talking about S Yorks. If it finishes now, I’ll be sad.”

The BBC Radio Sheffield Facebook page says "Toby Foster is currently suspended from his role as presenter of the breakfast show on BBC Radio Sheffield. The BBC does not condone the offensive language used by Toby in his Twitter feed which was directed at a member of BBC staff. Toby has offered a full apology to his colleagues and the public for those comments." 

"Paul Walker will be presenting breakfast 7-10am next week".

Not been the best of weeks. Going to have a couple of weeks away from twitter. Merry Christmas.
— TobyFoster (@TobyFoster) December 13, 2013

Butch

Excellent news for BBC local radio boss David Holdsworth in his mission to deliver 50% representation for women at breakfast microphones. Radio Today reports that James Whale, 62, male, will be taking over the breakfast shift at BBC Essex from February next year. Ray Clark, age unknown, but I'm guessing a tad older than Whale, male, is moving to a daytime slot.

At least it'll mean Whale's out of doing the morning newspapers with Eamonn Holmes on Sky, which is always toe-curling (on both sides).

Mulling things over

Who says there's no production effort on BBC local radio ?

This from Radio Oxford, yesterday.

0834   Breakfast host Phil Gayle  'Hull! Have you ever been to Hull? (Laugh) Hull is a dump. With all due respect to Hullites out there, come on...'(sting)

0838   Breakfast host Phil Gayle  'I've just been doing a quick bit of research on interesting things about Hull. The boiled sweet was invented in Hull. It was the birthplace of Lemsip, Bongella and Gaviscon...and the liquid crystal display was invented at the University of Hull'

Community glue

Spent too much of yesterday musing with a former colleague living in BBC Radio Berkshire's catchment area. It won Gillard Station of The Year in 2012, and thus hosted this year's awards in Windsor, graced by Lord Patten, James Harding, and more.

Howard Hughes (ex-Capital and too many other stations to mention) is now reading the morning bulletins. Anne Diamond (59) does weekday mornings, except Fridays, covered by Tony Blackburn (70); then follows Mike Read (66). The weekend schedule offers Paul Ross (57), Henry Kelly (67), Debbie McGee (55), Dave Cash (71), Roger Day (68), Paul Coia (53) and Bill Rennells (81). We moved on to consider a business plan for a Sunshine Variety Artistes-type retirement home in the area, as Berkshire continues to bring on new radio talent....

The 2013 Gillard winners featured male winners in 4 of the five golds going to a "name"; no golds for anyone from an ethnic minority.

Gusto

A twinkling light has left BBC Worldwide. Keith Rooney, unknown to many, has been Senior Lawyer, Digital Platforms and Distribution, until yesterday - but certainly his farewell email has been well distributed.

"These are exciting times at the BBC and it’s been a truly fantastic ride during the past year working with you all. I shall defo miss the collegiality and the entrepreneurial brio."

He will defo bring brio to his new job, with local tv service London Live, from the Evening Standard, which aims to bring diversity to the capital's screens by re-showing at least 50 hours of BBC output, this week purchased from BBC Worldwide.

Keith has a sideline in programme-making, with company Artists In Motion bringing a 24-part series to Channel 5, called Jungle Babies: Tarsier Tales which also seems to be available via BBC Worldwide. 

High energy

The local tv franchise for Cambridge has gone to Cambridge Presents - in which entrepreneur Peter Dawe tries to re-create Red TV, a community station which operated on cable in the city from 1997 to around 2003.

Heady days, the late 90s - here's a Red TV promo...

One direction

Tried a little Radio 3 this morning. Seemed to be hosted by a spurned love-child of Mark Radcliffe. Adam Tomlinson normally wakes up listeners to Radio York.

Local tip

BBC Local Radio has an annual set of internal awards, called the Gillards. Here's the first names of presenters who've got nominations for 2013 (where names are declared).

Guess it'll change in 2014. A side bet on anyone called Jonathan winning something seems a good call.

• In the relentless search for new local radio talent, it's reported that David Hamilton is presenting the Saturday morning show on BBC Surrey and Sussex this weekend. That's after a two week stint imparting his local wisdom to listeners of BBC Radio Devon.

Objective or not ?

Plain-speaking David Holdsworth, custodian of BBC local radio, has acquired a writing style of some elegance for a piece lurking in the "Women in Leadership" of the Guardian Professional Section.

In it he makes it clear that Lord Hall's ambition to reach a figure of  50% female presentation of local radio breakfast shows by the end of 2014 is just that, and not a target.

It's important to stress that this is an aspiration, not a quota; aside from concerns of unfairness, a quota would undermine the credibility of every great female presenter we appointed. 

This aspiration makes perfect sense to us. BBC Local Radio has around 600 presenters, which is more than all the BBC main radio networks, the services for the devolved nations and the English language World Service combined. 

So a positive change to representation on local radio makes a significant impact on the whole industry. With so many great national broadcasters starting out in our stations, it also means that changes we make now will shape the voices we all hear on national radio in five and ten years' time. 

Being the focus of attention on this issue is no stigma; rather it acknowledges our significance and that we have a role to play in leading a change that should eventually happen everywhere in radio.

All very sensible. But then a revelation. Clearly, when half of our staff are women, it's not right that just a quarter of the hours we transmit feature female presenters. We can and must do better.

I think if I were a pressure group, say, like Sound Women, I'd want more figures from Mr Holdsworth. A baseline of the current gender balance of all 600 local radio presenters, so that we can genuinely say that more women have been recruited, rather than shuffled round the schedules. I may need a bigger grid.

Early bird

Emma Britton is the first new female recruit to a BBC Local Radio breakfast show since the Tony Hall Quota ("It's a target" - Alan Yentob) was set.

Emma, pictured here on a Radio Somerset OB in Frome last week, moves from mid-morning to the slot on September 9; current presenter Matt Faulkner moves to drivetime, and drivetime's Ben McGrail moves to mid-morning. A gavotte, with no new female talent recruited, but, heigh-ho, job done.

Home county

Alice Arnold, former Radio 4 announcer, has come out in favour of the Tony Hall Quota for Gender Balance of BBC Local Radio Breakfast Hosts. Here's an extract from her essay in The Telegraph.

I spent a little time with the management of local radio just before I left the BBC. I loved what I saw. An intelligent, largely young workforce who cared deeply about what they did. A lack of resources (and believe me they are run on a shoestring) means that everyone does everything. Their skills were as impressive as their commitment. 

As it happens the management executives at BBC Berkshire (where I was) were ahead of the game when it came to promoting and encouraging female voices on the network. But now there are no excuses. The directive has come right from the very top. All those in middle management, of which there are many, will have to take action. They will have to seek out women for the top jobs in radio.

It's good to know Berkshire can afford executives in the plural. Today's schedule offers Steve Madden (John Hudson sitting in) Andrew Peach, Anne Diamond (local talent Tony Blackburn sitting in), Mike Read, Phil Kennedy (local talent Paul Coia sitting in), before the local radio network comes together for the England-wide Mark Forrest Show (Gregory Spanswick sitting in). Then the schedule invites you to "go to bed with Paul Miller and put a smile on your face" (shared with BBC Solent, Sussex and Surrey). Way to go, Berks.

Heated debate

The heated debate about the gender balance target for presentation of BBC local radio breakfast shows, set to be achieved by the end of 2014, has started.

This from a blog by David Lloyd, currently Director of Marketing and Planning for Orion, which runs the "Free Radio" cluster in the Midlands..

I don't count the number of audition MP3s and Soundcloud files I get sent each week, but I would hazard a guess that well over 90% of unsolicited auditions come from lads. When more high quality auditions are submitted by women, more will be recruited. And we programmers must not nurture that irrational fear of two successive women on a programme schedule. 

Is it appropriate to engineer a 50% ratio of women on BBC Local Radio breakfast programmes by the end of 2014? I would question that tactic; although I welcome a strategy. 

Is it correct to aim for a better gender balance and benchmark how the situation evolves over time? Absolutely.

This is from John Myers's blog. John currently consults and "professes" on radio.

If Tony Hall had said that women in key presenting roles is an important goal (which it is) and urged management to create the right environment for it to occur, then he would be applauded. Instead, he’s confused everyone. He demands a quota. Wow. I’m guessing then that some very experienced men are going to have to walk the plank to create these vacancies. There can’t be more cash, they’ve just take a shedload from them. The only reason for being fired guys is that you’re unlucky. You were born a man. Boy, if this was me, I would have them tied up in lawyers for months.

And there's this from BBC Controller English Regions, David Holdsworth - the man who has to reach the target.

Finding new and diverse voices is a challenge we relish and is fundamental to the role of local radio. Work is already underway to better reflect the communities we serve. A series of initiatives have been launched to widen the way BBC Local Radio searches for and identifies talented presenters while, at the same time, seeking to address any challenges that women may face in this area.

Carina Tillson, of the pressure group Sound Women, currently working on compeition policy at Ofcom:

We’re thrilled that this issue is being considered at the highest levels of the BBC. Whilst women are well represented in some areas of the industry, they are not well represented on air – our recent research report, Sound Women on Air, found that women comprise just 1 in 8 voices on air at breakfast. 

Having women’s voices on-air is hugely important, both to female radio audiences and to aspiring female presenters.

Breakfast menu

I hope Lucy Adams, BBC HR chief, has set up a caring-sharing-helpline for concerned middle-aged male local radio Breakfast presenters. They'll be spending the weekend checking their contracts, pensions, AVCs and mortgage statements and phoning station managers to demand Monday meetings, as Lord Hall sets a target for 50% female presentation across 40 or so local radio breakfast programmes by the end of 2014.

There is, often, an easy way to do this - many shows have women as newsreaders, travel, weather, and even sport presenters. They could just be added to the billings - but, if they're sensible, equal billing means equal pay, and I wonder if local radio has been given a budget to do this. Other stations could rotate capable women from elsewhere in the schedule to breakfast slots - but that, honestly, doesn't do much to ease the overall diversity problem.

From the way they're billed on iPlayer today, around 30 stations need to think about change (I accept it's a snapshot, doesn't cover some opt-out shows, and a may feature holiday relief presenters or Friday stand-ins). While we're on about diversity, the photos below suggest 2 ethnic minority presenters out of 52.

Evening all

The indefatigable Darcy Sarto (probably not his, or her, real name) has forced a figure out of the BBC. The move to a shared weekday evening programme ('scept when there's live football) across English local radio has saved £1m. That's against a BBC income last year of £5,086m, an underlying surplus of £249m, and a total BBC local radio budget of £146.5m.

Our course, it may be a double bluff by English regions boss David Holdsworth, to see if he can wrench some money off Lord Hall; BBC local radio has a grand tradition of screwing down incoming DGs. There may be more ammunition when the next audience figures come out on May 16; there'll be a clamour for transparency on The Mark Forrest Evening Show. 

Contributors to the forum page suggest David H may be in his last year with the BBC, on a current salary of £156,550, and with 28 years service under his belt. It will be interesting to see if there's an English regions restructuring before the cap on pay-outs comes in September.