Hands off Radio 2, we over 50s love it
I AM the same age as Steve Wright — 67 — and grew up listening to BBC radio: first Radio 1, then later Radio 2. I had a transistor radio in my teens, when the Top 20 on a Sunday evening was a must.
Throughout my working life, Radio 2 got me up in the mornings and would be on almost constantly at weekends, helping me through housework, gardening and piles of pupils’ marking. g. Now, in retirement, I don’t turn on the e radio until 9.30am because I can’t tolerate Zoe Ball. I listen to Ken Bruce, e, Jeremy Vine and Steve Wright. Nobody under the age of about 50 listens regularly to the radio. In this digital age, they are streaming, downloading and Spotifying. Radio is a 20th-century concept. BBC, your main radio audience consists of people like me in their 50s, 60s and above. You will lose us if you carry on trying to make young people use what they consider an outdated medium. Radio isn’t cool and you cannot make it so. It is like teenagers cringing at their parents having a cuddle, or watching their grandad dancing at a wedding.
More and more, I find myself turning to commercial radio stations. OK, the adverts are annoying, but not as annoying as BBC radio presenters trying to appeal to a younger audience.
WENDY CASCIO, St Leonards-on-Sea, E. Sussex. WHY has Helen Thomas, the head of Radio 2, decided she needs to attract younger listeners? We 50, 60 and 70somethings don’t want wan changes to Radio 2. Its music and topics are geared to us and we don’t need trendy, woke, politically correct BBC folk assaulting our ears. We were very happy with Steve Wright, Ken Bruce, Tony Blackburn and a little bit of Zoe Ball just to make us thankful we didn’t have Radio 1 on. Come on, give us oldies a break.
GINA SCOTTING, Lancing, W. Sussex. SO THE boss of Radio 2 wants to target 35 to 44-year-olds and replaces Steve Wright with a Radio 1 DJ. What percentage of that age group listens to Radio 2 on a weekday afternoon? Surely they have better things to do, such as earning a living. Steve Wright’s replacement, Scott Mills, is a popular DJ on Radio 1 because the people who enjoy what he plays are in the Radio 1 age range.
PAUL GREEN, Leighton Buzzard, Beds. MAY I offer a translation? Steve Wright, on his show last Friday: ‘I’m staying at the BBC and Radio 2 to do some exciting digital projects and new podcasts.’ Translation: ‘You b*****ds. What’s Simon Mayo’s phone number?’