BBC Local Radio listener figures slump as listeners switch off following drastic cuts
The number of people listening to BBC Local Radio in England has fallen 10% in the wake of controversial changes which saw services slashed across the country.
According to latest data from Rajar, BBC Local Radio in England reached 4.7m a week in the first quarter of this year, down from 5.3m in the same period last year.
Average listening time per listener also fell — down 11%.
Most of the BBC’s 39 local radio stations now only broadcast local shows between 6am and 2pm, before switching over to regional programmes. At some points of the week, such as late-nights, the BBC has replaced all local programming with England-wide shows.
An email sent by the BBC’s head of local audio commissioning, Chris Burns, to BBC staff, said the audience losses were ‘disappointing’ but added that ‘with an unprecedented number of programme changes in the period, perhaps it shouldn’t be wholly surprising to see some volatility.’
Within the network, there were mixed results. BBC Radio Bristol saw listener figures fall 58% year on year, with a 23% fall in Devon, 28% fall in Gloucestershire, 28% drop in Kent and 25% decline in Merseyside. Even on stations where more local programming has been protected, such as in Manchester and London, listener figures were down 14% and 9%.
However, there were stations which saw listener numbers rise. BBC CWR, which covers Coventry and Warwickshire, saw listener figures rise 13%, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire was up 12% and BBC Humberside, where some of the protests about the axing of local presenters was the most vocal, saw listener figures rise 7%.
In the BBC email, published on X accounts after it was sent, goes on to celebrate the fact local BBC news is being seen by an extra 2million people a week on its websites.
Chris added: “This is compared to the same time last year, providing another brilliant platform for our storytelling.”
Her comments are likely to fuel concerns in the commercial local press that the BBC is using its dominance, and funding guaranteed by government, to distory the local online news market.
The BBC had claimed that its expansion of local online news services, which has involved it diverting the cash saved from dismantling afternoon and evening local radio and creating reporting roles to compete with local publishers, would result in more people reading local news overall.
However, publishers of local newspapers say the opposite is true — with little or no evidence of demand for the BBC to be publishing more local news online.
There was, however, widespread opposition to the cuts at BBC local radio when announced. Speaking last week, Chris said she didn’t consider opponents to be ‘angry’ about the cuts, but ‘passionate’ about local radio.
The data from Rajar this week suggests passion for radio still exists — in contrast to BBC local radio’s decline, radio listenership overall rose 1.18%, or an extra 584,000 people.
Local commercial radio also posted a 3% increase in listenership.
