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Feedback: Alan Davey and Radio 3

2015-04-17T08:01:06+00:00

Editor's Note: You can listen to Feedback online or download it here.

Alan Davey has thousands of CDs and LPs. The new Controller of Radio 3 knows that in the digital world he has no need of them but he can’t bear to throw them out. Just to look at them gives him pleasure.

This does not sound like a man who is going to take a yard brush to his new network. Mind you, he would not be popular with the BBC Trust if he did. It said recently that :”we think that the priority for Radio 3 should be to increase choice for radio listeners by maximising its distinctiveness and minimising similarities with other stations”, by which they presumably mean Classic FM.

Mr Davey is a cheery soul who looks on the bright side and is obviously delighted with his appointment but there are causes for concern.

For a start the average age of his listeners is 58, older than the average for Radio 4. Then he has been given no extra money to spend on new initiatives to help him on his way, in fact the 5 per cent per cent cuts per annum continue.

The future is particularly uncertain.

After the Election the BBC’s Charter will be renewed, but on what terms is not clear, and the level of the licence fee is once more up for debate. Few think it will be significantly increased.
It could be cut.

If it is then undoubtedly the Corporation will come under pressure to cut one or more of its orchestras. Imagine if it decided it was the Scottish one that had to go! The bloody internecine fighting that would follow any cut would task the new Controller’s diplomatic skills to the limit.

Although officially under no ratings pressure Alan Davey has to attract new audiences and to steer a careful course which allows him to appeal to younger listeners without offending the older ones many of whom believe they are defending the last bastion of public service broadcasting.

It’s a formidable task for the former civil servant and head of Arts Council England. (Incidentally his successor there comes from Classic FM.)

One thing Mr Davey will not do is combine his new job with that of Director of the Proms, as his predecessor Roger Wright did. He will appoint a Director who will report to him.

It’s a debateable arrangement, and depends upon a good working relationship being established with the boss of the Proms.

I remember a time in the past when the jobs were separate and neither Controller would talk to each other, or to Radio 3’s Head of Music. Communication was only by memo and all three men seem to have avoided being in the same room at the same time. This was extremely difficult for the staff who had to develop diplomatic skills of a high order.

Armed with listeners’ questions I talked to Alan Davey last Wednesday.

By the way, if you are having trouble deciding which way to vote why not ask your candidates about the future of the BBC?

That was a completely disinterested suggestion from me, Roger Bolton.

Roger Bolton is the presenter of Feedback

Feedback: Does the BBC take its radio audiences for granted?

2015-04-10T12:08:58+00:00

Editor's Note: You can listen to Feedback online or download it here.

Does the BBC take its radio audiences for granted, because they are loyal and have nowhere else to go?

I raise the question because it has been raised with me by a number of listeners as a result of continuing problems with iPlayer radio. Three years ago on Feedback we discussed the problem of radio programmes made available on iPlayer after broadcast, sometimes cutting out before the end, leaving listeners frustrated, rather like readers of detective novels who come to the climax of the story only to find that the last, crucial, pages are missing.

Well the problem has recurred and this is how we dealt with it on this week’s programme.

To return to the larger question of whether BBC Radio is the poor sister of BBC TV; some senior radio figures think it is.

They point to the fact that whenever the Director General, or other senior managers, make speeches, there seem to be few mentions of radio, and often those are tagged on at the end. Some also say that radio has been cut to the bone, compared with TV, where failure is often rewarded by additional investment, and where audiences are often a fraction of those who listen. They would also argue that the best of BBC public service broadcasting is found in radio, while some TV programming is nakedly commercial. Local radio feels equally neglected, being more appreciated in the country as a whole than in W1.

Some see this alleged bias as a result of radio being outnumbered on the BBC management boards, others still regret the failure of Channel 4 to develop a public service radio alternative.

This effective BBC monopoly, they say, is a disincentive to change and to innovation, and results in the Corporation taking its listeners for granted.

I could not possible comment, as Francis Urquhart of House of cards would have said.

But of course I will.

I think there is some truth in the above and I certainly think radio budgets have been cut to the bone.

The largest part of those budgets pays for people and fewer producers mean less original research and a less rich listen. It also means that producers travel less and remain stuck near their bases meaning that there are increasing large parts of the country which are rarely visited by network programmes. Those producers are increasingly poorer paid, certainly in the freelance and independent sector, and I have seen far too many talented journalists, particularly women, drift away from broadcasting, unable to support their families, let alone buy a house, particularly in London.

After the election the future of the BBC’s charter and the size of the licence fee will be decided. In my opinion BBC Radio cannot bear any more cuts without cutting services.

If you care about that then get ready to campaign and have your voice heard.

And wouldn’t it be good if the BBC’s Director General made speeches in which public service radio was the centrepiece and not an afterthought, and if the strangely silent BBC Director of Radio got on the campaign trail!

Roger Bolton

Roger Bolton is the presenter of Feedback

BBC Monitoring at Caversham - hard of hearing?

2010-11-05T14:00:00+00:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006slnx

Editor's note: this week's item from Radio 4's accountability programme Feedback is about BBC Monitoring after the renegotiated licence fee settlement - SB

Shortly before his execution Charles 1 was taken to Caversham Park near Reading, where he wrote to his son James to arrange their last meeting. By the time his other son, Charles 2nd had returned from exile to regain the throne, Caversham had fallen into ruin and disrepair.

It´s not quite so dramatic, but major threats face the current day occupants of the historic park. The BBC Monitoring Unit is to undergo unprecedented cuts and a change of funding which could change what they do forever. The Unit has been at Caversham since 1942 occupying a beautiful early Victorian building which dominates the skyline above Reading and the River Thames.

With its listening stations around the world it was the first to hear of the death of Hitler, and of Khruschev"s decision to withdraw missiles from Cuba and so avoid a terrifying nuclear confrontation. Today its main customers are UK Government departments including MI5 and MI6, BBC newsrooms, businesses here and abroad, and research and academic institutions.

Until now its main funding has come, not from the licence fee, but from a direct Government grant. However in the whirlwind weekend when the latest BBC licence fee deal was thrashed out the Government announced that from 2013 the Government would withdraw its financial support and the Monitoring Unit would be funded from the licence fee.

In other words, it will have to compete for funds with all the other BBC activities. Members of the unit are already facing cuts of 26%, and there could well be more in the offing. How could that affect listeners? For Feedback I travelled to Caversham to talk to the Director of BBC Monitoring, Chris Westcott, about the changes and challenges they present. There are 8 clocks on the wall of his outer office, each showing a different time. Written above them the places to which they refer - Washington, Kiev, Cairo, Nairobi, Moscow, Baku,Tashkent, Delhi.

With a cup of tea in my hand, I knocked on the door and went in:

Roger Bolton is presenter of Feedback

Listen again to this week's Feedback, produced by Karen Pirie, get in touch with Feedback, find out how to join the listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
Feedback is now on Twitter. Follow @BBCFeedback.
The BBC Monitoring web site has some free content and some fascinating case studies.
The picture shows BBC Monitoring's headquarters at Caversham. It's by Robin Hamman and it's used under licence.