Taking the Local out of Local BBC Radio

In the biggest shake up of Local BBC Radio to date, more regional and national programme sharing has been announced as part of a plan to redistribute £19m from broadcast to online and digital news production.

• Weekdays 6am-2pm: locally-produced output will continue on each of the 39 stations in England
• Weekdays 2pm-6pm: 18 regional shows
• Weekdays 6pm-10pm & Weekends 6am-10am: 10 regional shows
• Weekends 10am-2pm: 12 regional shows
• Every night 10pm-1am & Sundays 2pm-6pm: all-England network show
• Stations will still provide local sports coverage on Saturdays and will continue to opt out for match commentaries

You can read more about the changes here.

Further details were outlined at a staff meeting on Tuesday including that every Local BBC Radio presenter is at risk of redundancy with a need to reapply for jobs or go through a selection for retention scheme.

Jason Horton, Acting Director of BBC England, was grilled by Pat Sissons and listeners on BBC Radio Solent and it's worth a listen (only the BBC would interview a Local BBC Radio manager on Local BBC Radio justifying cuts to Local BBC Radio!)

My immediate thoughts are with every talented employee or freelancer affected by this brutal plan.

I know it sounds cliché but there have never been more alternative ways to utilise your skills and I’m sure exciting opportunities will arise.

If you're a long-time reader/follower you'll know: I'm a huge supporter of both the BBC and local radio - and when BBC stations do it well, they do it VERY well.

For example, in the event of a major local incident, purveying trusted information is one thing but truly being the hub of your community in that situation is about connection, comfort and reassurance.

In the same way, when times are tough we turn to our neighbours; we venture out to the pub and share experiences with locals.

Local BBC Radio is an astonishingly expensive beast - £117m per annum to be precise - and it's hard to justify when effective commercial services that no longer exist were able to operate on a fraction of the cost.

I wouldn't call for budgets to be slashed to match that, as the BBC should be distinctive and produce content the private sector couldn't afford or lacks the resources to provide, but there's no reason why it couldn't be delivered cheaper and more efficiently - focusing heavily on older audiences in communities the listener and the station would both call home.

Sadly, more networking and further regionalisation was always going to be the first port of call. Why does it always seem to be the programming, and consequently the consumer, that is first to bear the brunt of changes?

Frankly, if a broadcast region is so big and disconnected from real life that it can’t make an impact locally, it might as well be national. Network a big name who appeals to the core demographic and grow audiences that way.

What's so frustrating is the disparity between vast swathes of staff, who get it, and BBC management.

Either continue being authentically local, offer a targeted and polished national product or do both.