Yesterday I had a read through the report produced by John Myers about BBC Local Radio, which is quite interesting.
The future of BBC Local Radio has been a topic of debate for some time now; should stations share afternoon shows, should they share Drivetime Shows (remember the recent trial in Kent, Surrey and Sussex), how many jobs will be lost?
As someone who comes from a community radio background, the idea of radio stations producing content about their local areas means quite a lot to me, and I personally believe that BBC Local Radio is an important part of the BBC’s radio network.
John Myers’ report, published yesterday (you can read it all via the BBC website here), was quite an interesting read for me – and actually I think his suggestions are actually quite good.
Myers talks about the out of date equipment used by some BBC stations, the ‘Radio England’ networked evening/late show (which although I prefer a local presenter on a local radio station, at some times of the evening/night it does make sense), and talks about a way to reduce management costs. Some suggestions I think are better than others, but he’s clearly done his research and not jumped on the ‘why do we need BBC Local Radio’ bandwagon.
I have just one thought: and that is that the ABC Local Radio network in Australia seems to work quite well, they all seem to be very good at serving their area. Perhaps we should look more towards what they’re doing?
