UK

Blog: BBC investigation concludes ‘systemic failure’ at BBC local radio

David Lloyd writes about the role of BBC local radio saying there’s been a systemic failure at the corporation.

“As unrest hit UK streets last August, citizens were worried. Certain cities hit flashpoint.

That’s when local media comes into its own – informing, questioning and reassuring. No medium is better at the latter than radio where the human voice places context around turmoil and put its arm around the listener.

It’s a role BBC local radio has played excellently for many years.

In April 2023, Ofcom acceded to the BBC’s disingenuous request for a revised BBC Operating Licence to permit more local radio networking. Since then, the BBC has regionalised much local output and shunted out many seasoned broadcasters. Experienced people who knew their patches, knew their audiences, knew their journalism and could command their cities in difficult times.

The BBC however, assured Ofcom, that in times of significant local stories, the stations would still respond and provide an appropriate local service.

On several occasions in the last year, the BBC has failed. It certainly failed at BBC Devon on the night of the violent summer clashes.

That is the Finding (18th December 2024) of a BBC investigation by its Executive Complaints Unit, following a complaint from me.

In that December Finding, Complaints Director Jonathan Greenwood states:

“I have to infer from my investigations that there were elements of systemic failure on the night of 5 August because the staff on duty did not respond adequately to this significant breaking news either due to a lack of training or clear enough instruction.”

The case indicates that the BBC was not honest when it sought regulatory permission from Ofcom to implement its local radio changes. At that time (16th March ‘23), Ofcom wrote: “The BBC has told us (Ofcom) that it expects that major local incidents or breaking local news stories are likely to be of interest within a shared area and so would feature very prominently within shared programmes. As such, the BBC does not expect it would need to routinely scale up its operations to deliver dedicated programming to deal with such events, but it could do so where exceptional circumstances require this”.

The BBC’s December Finding, however, concluded: “Reviewing the output of BBC Radio Devon from 6pm that evening, this “prominent” featuring of breaking news within shared programmes clearly did not happen.  “…there was little sense of what was happening and little evidence of the BBC having a presence on the scene. “…Radio Devon listeners would have had no sense through the evening that the station had a reporter at or near where the trouble was taking place.”

“BBC Radio Devon’s management recognise that the story should have been covered better and there is an acknowledgement that the resources and response required on this occasion were underestimated.”

This a damning yet refreshingly sensible analysis by the BBC Executive Complaints Unit about local radio’s shortcomings in this case – and, I would suggest, several similar cases about which I have registered concerns.

I stress this post is not a criticism of the hard-working, long-suffering staff on the ground at that or any BBC local station. You do your best work and some fine work, even around this very event, but I know what it’s like to be caught up in BBC management madness. I know many of those who work in BBC local radio are as frustrated as am I.

It might be argued that the era of local radio playing a role at times like this is gone.  I’d suggest you don’t understand how some listeners – particularly older ones – still regard radio. Furthermore, that’s not the point here.  If the BBC feels that there is no longer a case for local radio, it should say so, not mislead audiences and the regulator.

BBC local radio in England has lost almost a third of its listeners in three years (Rajar: BBC Radio- England Q3 21-Q3 24). 

In general terms, in failing to understand the rudiments of radio programming and failing to deliver a listener-focused high-quality service, it has driven away audiences. Never before have so few listeners tuned in quite so disloyally.

In the last three years alone BBC local radio has lost over a third of the DE listeners it enjoyed.

The data and the detail clearly indicate that it is providing less public service, less distinctive output – at a greater cost per listening hour. Accordingly, in local radio, the BBC is simply not pursuing its Mission or meeting its Public Purposes.

There are people at the BBC who agree. It is simply not delivering local radio value in the way that sensible people owning that budget and that responsibility could. This is not about cuts, it’s about poor programming nous and utter inefficiency.

Worryingly, however, I am told that this highly critical and very illustrative BBC verdict will not be published by the BBC.  Hence this blog post.

The privileged and byzantine BBC Complaints Process, which demands persistent almost obsessive effort from complainants before anything is taken seriously would have allowed this failure to go unnoticed.

If a community or commercial station errs in the most minor way on a single occasion, its error is publicised routinely by the regulator. But when the Nation’s public service broadcaster concedes it has presided over a systemic failure within a network on which many vulnerable listeners depend – costing £120m of public money – it need not tell a soul.

I believe in the BBC. I really wish it to continue and be appropriately funded to do the job. I fear its worst enemy is within.”

This post was originally published on DavidLloydRadio.com and reposted with permission.

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UK

Long-lost chat with John Lennon to be broadcast by the BBC

A long-lost chat with John Lennon is to be broadcast by the BBC for the first time in more than fifty years.
The revealing interview, being aired on Radio 4 Extra today (Friday December 27), was carried out by disc-jockey Kenny Everett in 1971 when he was out of work, having been fired by Radio 1 the previous year.
Lennon had just produced his first solo album after the break-up of the Beatles and was immersed in a damaging legal dispute with Paul McCartney over the management of the Fab Four’s assets.
It took place at John’s mansion at Sunningdale near Ascot in Berkshire in March 1971. Lennon strummed on his guitar and played the piano in his home studio.
Kenny asked whether the boys would get back together. John admitted he’d got closer to George and Ringo at that time because of the ongoing court case, and there was a “ninety per cent chance” that the three of them would record together again, but not as the Beatles.
As for Paul, John said that in time he would like to have tea with him, though he didn’t think they’d ever write songs again together.
Few people have heard the interview because Cuddly Ken no longer had a national platform for his work. It was carried the following month by the French-based station Radio Monte Carlo where he briefly worked. But it only went out at 0100 one Sunday.
Its only previous UK airing was on BBC Radio Bristol when Kenny had a month-long stint that summer as weekend holiday relief. The Lennon interview seemed a good way for the “bad boy” of the corporation to re-establish his credentials after his sacking. A remixed version went out on July 3, 1971 in his last show in a four-part series.
It will now be heard nationally for the first time as part of a special week of programmes on Radio 4 Extra to mark what would have been Kenny’s 80th birthday, having been born on Christmas Day 1944. It will be broadcast at 1000, repeated at 1600 and again at midnight, and on BBC Sounds.
The programmes have been digitally restored by journalist and broadcaster Paul Rowley, author of two documentaries about Everett, both of which have been re-broadcast this week on the station.
The former BBC Political Correspondent says: “The interview is a fascinating piece of rock music history when both John and Kenny were at a crossroads in their lives. Kenny’s questions are rather naïve. John’s answers are blunt but amusing, especially when he lowers his voice when talks about “the court case”. It’s a very revealing listen. It was among a number of his Radio Bristol tapes given to me having been safely kept in a cupboard for almost forty years. Thankfully, they were in perfect condition.”
The pair had been friends since 1966 when Kenny covered the Beatles final tour for the pirate ship Radio London when they visited America. Their Liverpool connection helped cement their relationship. Kenny was the first DJ in the world to play “Strawberry Fields Forever” in 1967, regularly sat in on their recording sessions at Abbey Road, and even produced their fan club records.
Kenny Everett died from AIDS on April 4, 1995, aged 50. John Lennon was shot dead in New York on December 8, 1980, aged 40.
Here are extracts from that interview :
KENNY : Are you still friendly with the rest of them ?
JOHN : Well, yea. I play billiards with Ringo and discuss records with George. Of course, we’re seeing more of each other now with the (deliberately lowers his voice) “court case” going on. So in a way that (again lowers his voice) “court case” brought Ringo, George and I closely together again because we had to spend hours on different things, you know. So, we’re pretty damn friendly now.
KENNY : Good. Because I’m pretty sure there are a million people out there that would love to see you all jangling away together again.
JOHN : Well, it’s like 90 per cent that George, Ringo and I would record together again, maybe not as Beatles under that title. Like if I wanted a guitarist to play with me, I would ask him (George), same as I’d ask Ringo to play the drums.
KENNY : When Paul does a single, do you rush out and buy it, and then think “Right I’ll get him” ?
JOHN : I don’t need to rush out and buy it. It’s on Apple (the Beatles’ record label).
KENNY : Do you listen to it and think “the rat” I’ll get him with my next single ?
JOHN : I’d just listen to it, you know.
KENNY : Haven’t you ever heard something that he’s done that you thought “Wow. I must do something like that ”
JOHN : I don’t know about ‘I must do something like that’ but I’ve enjoyed things that Paul’s done.
KENNY : Do you think you’ll ever have tea with him, again ?
JOHN : Sure.
KENNY : So when the fuss has died down, you’d rush at each other ?
JOHN : I don’t know about that, dear, I don’t know about that. But there’s no doubt we’ll see each other, you know.
KENNY : So will the world reverberate to another Lennon and McCartney composition ?
JOHN : I doubt it because we weren’t writing all that much together for the last couple of years anyway.
JOHN LENNON INTERVIEW CHRONOLOGY
Recorded : March 27, 1971 – Sunningdale, Berkshire
First broadcast : Radio Montel Carlo International – April 25, 1971
First UK broadcast : Radio Bristol – July 3, 1971
First UK national airing : BBC Radio 4 Extra – December 27, 2024

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UK

NSPCC challenge for ChildLine uses Erewash Sound to kick off fundraising walk

Erewash Sound was chosen as the starting point for a charity fundraiser this week as the station supported the event.
Churches in and around the Derbyshire town of Ilkeston have collaborated in support of a national children’s charity campaign and asked their local community radio station to be involved.
Presenters then started promoting the event both on-air and online in advance.
When the day of the walk came around, Erewash Sound presenter Lewis Allsopp took his radio show outside the Media Centre doors to speak with some of the group on-air, whilst Ian Perry hosted others in the warmth of the lobby and offered tours of the studios.
Money is being raised for the NSPCC through donations received in person and through a dedicated online fundraising page but with a target of £200 already reached and with the amount continuing to climb after the team effort and the publicity on the radio station.
Ann later wrote to Erewash Sound Press and Publicity spokesperson Ian Perry to thank him and the radio station for all of the support. Ian said: “We were absolutely delighted, pleased and proud to support this event and even prouder that Ann and her team chose Erewash Sound as the starting point.
“As a genuinely local radio station, run almost entirely by volunteers and on a non-profit making basis, we understand the benefits for non-profit making community groups and charities of being able to access comprehensive free publicity and boost awareness of and support for local events and fundraising initiatives so we’re so very happy to offer it.”
“If the publicity we gave to the Ilkeston Churches went even just a small way to help them to not only get to the fundraising target for such a worthy cause, but to well and truly smash through it, we couldn’t be happier and more proud. It is one of the many key things that we do to support the Erewash Community and we’re always happy to do it – it is what genuinely local radio is all about!”
Erewash Sound has also recently had its licence extended for another five years from Ofcom. Speaking on behalf of the board of Directors of Erewash Sound CIC, Paul Briggs said: “It is very positive news that Ofcom judges the station to be well managed and have great output worthy of another five years.
“This is something that we should all be proud of. Something so good for the community cannot afford to be lost.”

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UK

Bauer’s Mission Christmas charity campaign raises over £15 million

The Bauer Cash for Kids Mission Christmas appeal has raised over £15 million this year for disadvantaged children across the UK.

Breakfast hosts on some of Bauer’s stations including Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, Hits Radio, KISS and Magic Radio all shared the good news on air this week, thanking all those that had helped Cash for Kids reach this total.
Greatest Hits Radio’s Ken Bruce said: ‘I was lucky enough to be able to spend a day at a Mission Christmas HQ this year and saw first-hand the incredible effort that goes in to making sure the most vulnerable in our society don’t miss out on the magic of Christmas.
“So to all those who donated, raised money, volunteered or distributed gifts to families and children – thank you. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
As ever a number of famous faces helped highlight the cause with broadcasters including Magic Radio’s Harriet Scott and Harry Judd, Ken Bruce, Absolute Radio’s Sarah Champion and Ben Burrell and Hits Radio’s Gemma Atkinson and Mike Toolan taking part in an all day outside broadcast from Mission Christmas HQ in Manchester.
Ant & Dec donated proceeds from a specially designed t-shirt from Newcastle based artist Mul; Terry Wogan’s daughter in law, author Kate Wogan chose to support the charity via her latest book, Uh Oh Milo! The Excited Elf. Elsewhere Cash for Kids ambassador Ferne McCann joined the brilliant Rock Choir at Hampton Court Palace Ice Rink for the launch of their Christmas single in support of Mission Christmas; a cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘What Christmas Means to Me’ which also featured two very familiar faces from Magic Radio – Tom Price and Kat Shoob.
Major donations also came from The George Michael Fund thanks to some of his record royalties from the sales of ‘Last Christmas’, which this year is celebrating its 40th anniversary. This donation has been turned into £500,000 of gifts thanks to the brilliant support of Rachel Lowe Games and Puzzles.
Skipton Building Society not only directly donated £50,000 but also allowed their premises to be used as drop off points for presents. B&M Home Stores and Wickes were also among the national retailers allowing their stores to be used as gift collection points. 
The team at Cash for Kids worked throughout December ensuring that gifts reached the homes of the children who need them most. The charity works with many local grass-root organisations as well as social workers, head teachers and the emergency services who nominate families in crisis to be supported by the appeal.
See more at cashforkids.org.uk.

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UK

talkSPORT wins radio rights to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025

talkSPORT has won radio rights to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025, bringing listeners over 100 hours of programming across the network next summer.

From 2nd to 27th July 2025, talkSPORT will broadcast all the action from the qualifying home nations (England and Wales), plus the opening match, both Semi-Finals and the Final, all live from Switzerland.
As well as the action on the pitch, the Women’s Euros content across the talkSPORT network will feature discussions, phone-ins and a daily podcast capturing the drama and colour over the course of the tournament.
Head of talkSPORT Liam Fisher said: “We can’t wait to bring the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 to talkSPORT listeners in July, with great commentaries, on location broadcasts and all the key moments of the event.
“See you in Switzerland for kick off.”
UEFA Marketing Director, Guy-Laurent Epstein, said: “We are delighted to work with talkSPORT again following their coverage of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament.
“It promises to be a fantastic tournament and I’m looking forward to hearing what they have in store.”

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Gritter named after BBC Radio Cumbria’s breakfast host Mike Zeller

Cumberland Council has named one of its gritters after BBC Radio Cumbria’s breakfast show presenter Mike Zeller.
The Mike Zeller Ice Dispeller “does exactly what it says on the side of the gritter,” joked Mike when the name was unveiled on air.
The name was chosen as part of a competition the council ran to get people to name five of its 20-strong fleet, with the name to remain in place for four years.
Mike said when he was contacted by the council he was “utterly flattered and taken aback”.
“It was lovely, I am genuinely touched by it and, I have to say, my family are as well,” he told the BBC.
He said it was due to the relationship his show had built “when it comes to getting the all-important winter safety messages out”.
The other winning names, unveiled on air, were Gritter Spitter, Control Salt Delete, Luke Grittler and La’al Salty.
Cumberland Council and Karl Melville, the council’s assistant director of transport, and Denise Rollo, Labour councillor, helped choose the winners.
Karl said: “These amazing people we have on as our staff go out there day in, day out, regardless of the forecast and treat out network to make it safe for everybody else,” he said.
Denise added: “It’s been absolutely amazing the amount of names we had coming in – there’s been some really good names, so it was fairly tough choosing winners.”

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