Local radio cuts protesters aren’t angry, they’re passionate claims BBC boss
Despite protests far and wide, the ditching of dozens of well-known local radio personalities, and warnings the BBC’s plans jeopardise the future of independent local media, the people behind drastic changes at Auntie’s local division remain determined not to change course…
BBC Local Radio listeners who complained about deep cuts to shows on their stations did so because they were passionate rather than angry.
That was the surprising defence tabled by the BBC boss who led the cuts, Chris Burns. The changes included dedicated local output on the 39 BBC local radio stations in England slashed. Large swathes of the schedule are now filled with regional or even national shows.
She went on to claim that the BBC’s decision to beef up online services would have had the support for Frank Gillard, the man who created BBC local radio, because the corporation was ‘giving local storytellers a platform.’
The BBC took an axe to BBC Local Radio — which has been in a state of decline since 2003 said Chris — so it could fund a large expansion of local news output on its websites.
That decision has placed the BBC on collision course with commercial, independent publishers, who say the BBC’s ability to operate ad-free websites and promote its online services across radio and TV for free creates a dangerous threat for an already challenged industry.
Whether or not the extra investment in online journalists — with around 150 being hired using the cash previously spent on providing local output all day and at weekends on local radio — is working is yet to be confirmed, with latest industry data showing the BBC’s news services are reaching fewer people online than a year ago.
Local radio audiences are also down at the BBC since the cuts. Across England, local programming is only guaranteed between 6am and 2pm every day, which is when the BBC says most of listening to local radio takes place. Outside of these hours, local stations are grouped together for regional services, or even England-wide ones, such as the late-night show from 10pm which replaced many much-loved, local talk shows around the country.
Given BBC local radio’s special place in local communities — particularly among older listeners, many of who don’t use online services — it’s perhaps not a surprise there was such a backlash to the Beeb’s plans. MPs of all political parties weighed in with their opposition, and there has been strong criticism from various Parliamentary committees tasked with scrutinising the media.
Recently, Sir Keir Starmer said: “I don’t think you could simply replicate on a website what is available through live digital. I don’t think a website is substitute for radio. I understand the constraints, but there’s a big difference between clicking on a site and actually hearing live, an interview, and covering local issues.”
But Chris, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Feedback programme, responded to a string of clips from listeners bitterly complaining about the cuts by saying: “I think we always anticipated that people were passionate, and I would describe it as being passion rather than anger.
“The passion that people feel for local radio, is very comforting for me because it shows why it’s still incredibly important.
“It’s a little bit like I’ve come into your living room and I’ve rearranged the furniture and I need to make you feel comfortable again.
“Some of that is about signposting, what we’re doing on our radio, but also moving people to where they can see their lives represented, too.
“We still have 39 local radio stations across England and also have a bigger presence now on BBC Sounds [the BBC’s podcast platform] than we previously had. You will also see on Sounds that we are doing much more in the digital space.”
Chris pointed to podcast series such as In Court, that has been following the Constence Martin trial that’s been available on Sounds. It’s also been promoted on Radio Solent, where Chris said the journalism is based and has been downloaded 800,000 times to date. She also flagged Undercover Spy Cops, by Andy Whittaker at BBC Radio Nottingham, a series which looks at how an undercover police officer infiltrated a group of climate activists in Nottingham in 2023, leaving many unanswered questions.
Chris added: “We’ve given local storytellers, a much bigger platform through Sounds. We’ve been investing in digital services in terms of news online and if you look at our news online figures, they’ve increased by 20%.
“Hopefully what people will see is they will they will see their lives represented much more across all BBC platforms than they were previously because that is the heart of what local is and it always has been, it was image of Frank Gillard when he set it up in 1967. It’s about actually giving local storytellers a platform to tell their stories.”
Local radio provided by the BBC reached 4.9m a week in Q4 of last year, according to reporting body RAJAR, a decline of 14% year on year and crucially an 8% drop versus the previous three months — a clear sign of listener frustration with the new, less local schedules on offer at BBC local radio.
Ipsos Iris online audience data for March shows theBBC News England website lost 1.2m readers year on year, a decline of 8.5%.
Some regions are seeing growth, including a 20% increase in visitors to BBC Radio Essex, growth in Suffolk, Nottinghamshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Cornwall, Guernsey, Jersey, Bristol, Humberside and Sheffield.
In London, visitors to BBC News London are reported to be up 31.7% to 5.4m a month.
The data doesn’t include views on the BBC’s News App.
While local commercial news publishers have spent much of the last decade trying to replace print audiences and revenue with ones online, the BBC has limited its efforts to replicate its regional TV and radio output online, much to the frustration of some working within the corporation. During the pandemic, it disbanded the team of journalists who had led its regional online coverage.
The corporation has also been accused by publishers of regularly presenting the local press in an overtly negative light. In February last year, BBC Radio 4’s Today programme apologised to the Manchester Evening News for allowing comments about clickbait and the need for ‘local journalism to be rebuilt’ in Manchester to go unchallenged. Rowan Bridge’s report also only cited the MEN’s print circulation figures, with no mention of the 10million-plus readers it has online.
Publishers united late last year to brand the BBC the ‘neighbour from hell’ in strongly-worded editorials from editors around the UK — a claim strongly rejected by the man behind the overall cuts to BBC local radio and the investment in competing with publishers, Rhodri Talfan Davies.
He called out the fact the BBC spends millions on the Local Democracy Reporter Scheme, which sees 165 reporters placed in commercial newsrooms around the UK to cover councils for publishers and the BBC. Publishers who hold the contracts point out the scheme benefits the BBC as well as publishers of all sizes.
Despite the protests, the passion and the anger, Chris Burns insisted the BBC was still committed to local radio.
She said: “I am absolutely passionate about radio But I have to also acknowledge that there are many other areas where we can access material now.
“We are there when people need us most. We’re there at breakfast with our mids (mid morning), which is the time when most people will consume local radio and indeed radio listening were also there in the afternoons.”
Challenged that post 2pm, programmes aren’t local, Chris replied: “It is local if you take the East Midlands, the East Midlands. So the show there it goes, Leicester, Derby and Nottingham. There are very often synergies within communities.
“I genuinely believe that what BBC local is doing at the moment is the right thing to maintain its relevance for audiences.”
