BBC cuts will kill off our local radio stars
ILEFT the BBC in August, partly because I was dreading the announcement it finally made yesterday presaging the slow strangulation of local radio. Yes, I presented the Early Breakfast Show to more than two million lovely listeners on Britain’s hugely popular Radio 2, and adored every intimate, pre-dawn moment.
This privilege came after almost 20 years at the helm of BBC Radio London’s first midmorning show and latterly its Breakfast Show. I am a Londoner, and it was a daily pleasure to host a bespoke programme specifically crafted for my home town.
We covered the big issues: homelessness, the low emission zone, NHS waiting times. We did our best to keep calm, inform, and bring moments of light relief through Brexit and Covid. More generally, it was our job to be particular. We could devote our attention to an attempt to replace the bricks in Brick Lane, throw our passion behind the preservation of a city farm, confront the leader of bankrupt Croydon Council and debate the pros and cons of the Garden Bridge. Every month – until Sadiq Khan got the post and didn’t dare set foot in my studio – we heard from Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and his successor Boris Johnson, both of whom would come in and take calls from listeners.
NO SUBJECT was too parochial, no concern too personal. Both men grappled with potholes, unswept leaves, and London transport issues. When London triumphed – whether it was our Olympic bid and even more spectacular Olympics, our world-beating restaurants, the Notting Hill Carnival – we celebrated. When London suffered – 7/7, Grenfell Tower and the London Bridge terror attacks – we had the time and sense of intimate involvement to commiserate and cover the story in a detailed way that national stations could not match.
The essence of local radio is to pull focus from the engulfing wider issues to the miniature. Reporting London must be entirely different from reporting Sussex or Manchester. Shows must cater to the precise concerns of their own uniquely placed audience.
It is impossible to be both local and generic. This idea, in one oxymoronic blow, destroys the purpose of local radio.The news that “cuts will leave BBC local stations with a handful of programmes specific to their area” is the death knell. My heart bleeds for the broadcasters, as well as those behind the scenes whose raison d’etre is being destroyed.