On 31 October 2022, BBC staff at local radio stations across England, were delivered the news that there would be a complete overhaul of regional radio coverage and structure. With staff based at all local radio stations at the risk of redundancy.
Approximately 139 posts at regional BBC stations could be lost. This redundancy process begins immediately.
Andy Comfort – BBC presenter on Radio Humberside tweeted: “Almost ALL staff on BBC local radio have been placed at risk of redundancy today. Many may be moved to new roles. ALL presenter roles are closing. Presenters will have to re-apply for new on air jobs. I think it would be fair to say we are stunned and upset here.”
Changes to BBC local radio
But what are the changes that will be enforced on the network?
Local BBC radio shows will only run on weekday mornings and lunchtimes (6am till 2pm). Regional sport in evenings and weekends will survive. Regions across England have been split into six regions under new audio editors; the audio editors will oversee the content and workforce within those radio regions. Those regions will be:
- North West / North East
- Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
- Midlands
- London and East
- South
- South West.
From 2pm till 6pm, 18 regional shows will broadcast across 39 stations:
- Manchester
- Merseyside
- Lancashire and Cumbria
- Newcastle and Tees
- Leeds, Sheffield and York
- Humberside and Lincolnshire
- West Midlands
- Coventry and Warwickshire, Shropshire and Hereford and Worcestershire
- Stoke, Derby and Nottingham
- Leicester and Northampton
- Essex
- Cambridge, 3CR, Suffolk and Norfolk
- London
- Solent, Berkshire and Oxford
- Kent, Sussex and Surrey
- Devon and Cornwall
- Bristol, Gloucester, Wiltshire and Somerset
- Guernsey and Jersey
From 6pm on weekdays and weekend breakfast, ten shows will be broadcast across England. Those locations are:
- Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire
- Newcastle, Tees and Cumbria
- Leeds, Sheffield, York and Humberside
- WM, CWR, Shropshire, H&W and Stoke
- Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and Lincolnshire
- Essex, Cambridge, Suffolk, Norfolk, 3CR and Northants
- Solent, Berkshire and Oxford
- London, Lent, Sussex and Surrey
- Bristol, Gloucester, Wiltshire and Somerset
- Devon and Cornwall
From 10am till 2pm Saturday and Sunday ten individual shows will broadcast these ten areas:
- Manchester
- Merseyside and Lancashire
- Cumbria, Newcastle and Tees
- Leeds, Sheffield, York and Humberside
- WM, CWR, Shropshire, H&W and Stoke
- Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and Lincolnshire
- London
- Essex, Cambridge, Suffolk, Norfolk, Northants and 3CR
- Solent, Berkshire and Oxford
- Kent, Sussex and Surrey
- Devon and Cornwall
- Bristol, Gloucester, Wiltshire and Somerset
From 10pm on weekdays and from 2pm every Sunday all 39 local radio stations will share one nationwide feed. Which most probably will be Radio5Live. Currently all regional BBC radio stations run a feed from Midnight till 6am of Radio5Live.
Cuts to BBC funding mean cuts to services
BBC local radio really acts as a tool to bring a community together. Being able to hear local voices talk about local issues and celebrate local success is quite a unique thing, something local commercial radio doesn’t do or can’t do.
In January 2022, the licence fee was frozen at £159 for two years by the Conservative government. This will result in a £285mn funding gap in the final year of the BBC’s current royal charter in 2027. A charter many feel the Conservative government will not renew.
The BBC has less money to spend, so cuts have to come somewhere. And we are seeing cuts across the board, including drastic cuts to parts of BBC World Service such as the loss of BBC Persia which has been a vital resource in the Middle East for many years.
The main radio stations are developing podcast models rather than live broadcast. Podcasts are now the format radio planners believe will be the new and central audio communication gateway to BBC radio content – and there are tonnes of amazing podcasts on BBC iPlayer which tell a wide variety of stories, all of them informing, educating and entertaining. Which, of course, is what the BBC does best.
Strength of local journalism
Recently, BBC local radio showed how much of an asset it can be when a selection of stations were chosen to interview soon-to-be-ex-prime minister Liz Truss. The media jamboree was more than a PR disaster, for the constant PR disaster that was Liz Truss, but importantly it brought local matters to the fore. The reporters were able to highlight issues that perhaps don’t get the airtime on national BBC radio news channels.
During the Covid pandemic, local BBC radio stations became an essential outlet that supported their communities. Recent listener figures from Rajar showed that BBC local radio stations – combined – had similar listening figures (17.6k for half a year) as BBC Radio 4 (21k) and more than for BBC Radio 1 (15.8k).
Local radio is still popular, but with the scale of the cuts at the BBC things must change. Sadly, restructures and redundancies need to take place. Although some BBC staff will be hugely worried about their future job security, looking at the changes – regionally and nationally – this might actually be a sound way to futureproof the BBC, even if it means reducing the areas of broadcast.
Concern at cuts to BBC local radio
Ex culture ministers and chairs of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee have announced their unhappiness with the cuts the BBC have announced. Former culture secretary and Conservative MP John Whittingdale said:
“I think the BBC are setting the wrong priorities, and rather than cutting back on local radio, it’s the kind of thing they should be increasing.”
Conservative chair of the House of Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee, Julian Knight MP, said he had “very real concerns over potential loss of local distinctiveness through these proposed cuts”.
It would be easy to sympathise with these Conservative MPs, but the cuts are due to their own government’s decisions about the funding of the BBC. If the BBC doesn’t make the cuts, there’s a good chance the BBC will fall into debt. The reason the BBC is in its current position is because of government policy towards one of the UK’s crown jewels.
The world, and the world of broadcasting, is changing, and so too is how we connect to the airwaves. Some might shout at the BBC for the cuts announced, and people can argue about the structure of the changes, but there’s only one institution that is to blame for the cuts at the BBC, and that is the Conservative government.
