[NSC] BBC local radio.

[Leekbrookgull]

With DAB radio it's is very easy to channel hop from one station to another,but it appears that The BBC has major changes planned for local radio. In the case of Radio Stoke after 2pm it becomes Stoke, Derby and Nottingham M-Fday and all weekend not very local. There's been plenty of complaints and anger in the Radio Stoke area regards these proposals. It's has been very difficult to get anyone from The BBC to explain the reason for change save "well everything is either digital or online,so we need to change". Obviously listening tastes are subjective and maybe i am being old fashioned,but surely local radio is part of where you live and work?

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

but if the Government of the day has it in for the BBC and there is constant pressure on funding, savings have to be made……..

 

[Leekbrookgull]

To a degree,but do you want Radio Solent lumped in with Radio Sussex or Radio Dorset?

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Fewer and fewer people tune in.
I occasionally tune in to Radio Sussex, but when they say 'our listeners in Sussex and Surr........zzzzzzzzzz I turn the station over. The whole, defining point of local radio is that it's er, local.

 

[nicko31]

With DAB radio it's is very easy to channel hop from one station to another,but it appears that The BBC has major changes planned for local radio. In the case of Radio Stoke after 2pm it becomes Stoke, Derby and Nottingham M-Fday and all weekend not very local. There's been plenty of complaints and anger in the Radio Stoke area regards these proposals. It's has been very difficult to get anyone from The BBC to explain the reason for change save "well everything is either digital or online,so we need to change". Obviously listening tastes are subjective and maybe i am being old fashioned,but surely local radio is part of where you live and work?

I'm sure if they write a letter to their outstanding local MP Jonathan Gullis he'll sort things out

 

[AmexRuislip]

With DAB radio it's is very easy to channel hop from one station to another,but it appears that The BBC has major changes planned for local radio. In the case of Radio Stoke after 2pm it becomes Stoke, Derby and Nottingham M-Fday and all weekend not very local. There's been plenty of complaints and anger in the Radio Stoke area regards these proposals. It's has been very difficult to get anyone from The BBC to explain the reason for change save "well everything is either digital or online,so we need to change". Obviously listening tastes are subjective and maybe i am being old fashioned,but surely local radio is part of where you live and work?

If I were you and being a license payer, I would send Tim Davie an email and air your views.

tim.davie@bbc.co.uk

 

[Official Old Man]

Before the year 2000 I was on BBC Sussex explaining what DAB was and how it worked. After the technical stuff I was asked what would change. I said that where one station now broadcasts 10 stations could broadcast meaning that, for instance, BBC local radio could get more local. BBC Sussex for instance, could split for very local news and traffic. But also towns could have their very own stations at a fraction of the cost currently.
Since then local BBC hasn't changed but national BBC has gone from radios 1-5 to each station now having side stations (Radio 1 is now four stations) Here in Uckfield we got a local station on FM but that has now expanded to cover a larger area within Asdown Forest. And, of course, in the year 2000 who had heard of internet radio?

 

[GT49er]

Independent local radio has all but disappeared too, not just local BBC. As well as BBC Gloucestershire, we used to have Severn Sound in Gloucester. Now I think it's part of Heart FM - in other words swallowed up and de-localised - and nothing to do with Gloucester or Gloucestershire any more.

 

[1066familyman]

I only listen to Radio Sussex when Albion games are on. Warren and Johnny are great, no complaints there, but the station presentation as a whole, especially on technical issues, is amateurish in the extreme. It's almost comical at times.

Maybe I'm being unfair on Radio Sussex as I listen to a lot of BBC National Radio, and Radio 3, 4 and 6 Music is always exceptional. Local radio is very much Smashy and Nicey in comparison.

 

[The Clamp]

Latest victim of Tory’s attack on culture and the arts. They hit big with withdrawing funding from the National Opera unless they move to Manchester. Slashing their budget from £12m to £5m and moving them to a city where the demand is demonstrably lower.

Us plebs do not need culture, arts and enlightenment. We are there to work, pay taxes and serve the rich .

f***ing Tory’s. Plough the lot of them into a ditch.


As an aside, how do North Norfolk digital get on in the shake-up? It boasts the most listened to digitally broadcast mid-morning chat based program in all of Norfolk. North Norfolk. More than holding its own in an increasingly fractured market-place.

 

[surrey jim]

Latest victim of Tory’s attack on culture and the arts. They hit big with withdrawing funding from the National Opera unless they move to Manchester. Slashing their budget from £12m to £5m and moving them to a city where the demand is demonstrably lower.

Us plebs do not need culture, arts and enlightenment. We are there to work, pay taxes and serve the rich .

f***ing Tory’s. Plough the lot of them into a ditch.


As an aside, how do North Norfolk digital get on in the shake-up? It boasts the most listened to digitally broadcast mid-morning chat based program in all of Norfolk. North Norfolk. More than holding its own in an increasingly fractured market-place.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

As an aside, how do North Norfolk digital get on in the shake-up? It boasts the most listened to digitally broadcast mid-morning chat based program in all of Norfolk. North Norfolk. More than holding its own in an increasingly fractured market-place.

OP said "In the case of Radio Stoke after 2pm it becomes Stoke, Derby and Nottingham M-Fday and all weekend" so are you sure Norfolk will lose it's mid-morning show?

For me, it's a simple means to reduce costs by reducing head-count - I'd imagine that as well as the presenter there will be at least a handful of other staff necessary to put the show on air - if you merge 3-4 local offerings into a regional, the head count will be fewer. For as long as I can remember, this has be going on for overnight broadcasting, say midnight to 6am. Isn't this proposal just an extension of this?

 

[GT49er]

I only listen to Radio Sussex when Albion games are on. Warren and Johnny are great, no complaints there, but the station presentation as a whole, especially on technical issues, is amateurish in the extreme. It's almost comical at times.

Maybe I'm being unfair on Radio Sussex as I listen to a lot of BBC National Radio, and Radio 3, 4 and 6 Music is always exceptional. Local radio is very much Smashy and Nicey in comparison.

But that's the point of local radiom surely. Yes, sometimes a starting block for a rising star, but usually just local presenters - local stories, trivial stuff, just like gossip from a neighbour. You want slick, tune in to Radio 2 or 4 or 6 or whatever your tastes are.

 

[beorhthelm]

BBC want to fund more niche areas, more online, has same pot of money from licence fee. so they've got to cut somewhere else. some reason BBC have been allowed to expand evermore into online, where there are plenty of other services, instead of staying in their original area.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Like commercial local TV before it, it will be cut to the bone, in the name of budget savings, until there’s effectively nothing left, and no one listening.

 

[Bodian]

Fewer and fewer people tune in.
I occasionally tune in to Radio Sussex, but when they say 'our listeners in Sussex and Surr........zzzzzzzzzz I turn the station over. The whole, defining point of local radio is that it's er, local.

And back in the day, Radio Sussex was actually only Radio Brighton!

 

[robinsonsgrin]

heard the interview the other week with chap sorting the cuts... sussex, surrey and kent... from 2pm,,,still with local travel etc. thought theyd leave drivetime alone. sport unnaffected. i do listen alongside radio 2...hoping they keep danny pike.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

And back in the day, Radio Sussex was actually only Radio Brighton!

Yep, loved it then.

 

[World of Sport]

I only listen to the early morning show because I drive along the A27 and the traffic reports come in handy.
But there will be no surprise if there is a culling of staff, from 6-10am they have a presenter, producer, newsreader, weather person and someone reading the traffic news

 

[chickens]

Like commercial local TV before it, it will be cut to the bone, in the name of budget savings, until there’s effectively nothing left, and no one listening.

To my mind this is the modern political method for destabilising a public service.

Cut the funding, the service levels are degraded, fewer people use the service, those who can switch to alternatives.

Repeat the cycle a few times then say it’s ok to stop funding it altogether as nobody’s using the service anyway.