Is Radio 2 driving their middle-aged listeners to drink?

YOUR evening glass of wine and love of Radio 2 might be seen by some as a pleasure of middle-age. But have you ever considered the two might be related?

For scientists say that presenters on the BBC station regularly discuss alcohol in a way which could encourage heavy drinking.

DJs frequently mentioned wine, beer and spirits in the context of partying, socialising and having a good time. Many references involved reading out listeners’ alcohol-related tweets and e-mails.

But the negative health effects from drinking were rarely highlighted, the study found.

Researchers from Northumbria University, which carried out the study, warned stations such as Radio 2, which has 15million listeners, could be unwittingly encouraging the buying and drinking of alcohol among the older listeners who make up most of their audience. A recent survey revealed that middle-aged women in the UK are drinking three times the maximum 14 units a week, while men aged 55 to 64 drink more in a week than any other age group.

The team investigated how frequently booze was mentioned on the airwaves, choosing three commercial stations with mostly middle-aged or older audiences, plus non-commercial BBC Radio 2.

The results, published in the Journal of Public Health, showed 151 references to alcohol.

The programmes on Radio 2 – Steve Wright in the Afternoon and Simon Mayo’s Drivetime – made almost one in three of them. The BBC station had a total of 49 booze-related discussions, with some mentions lasting as long as 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, adverts accounted for almost all of those on the commercial stations.

Wine was referenced the most – almost a third of mentions – while one in four was of beer or cider.

Researcher Katie Haighton, associate professor of public health and wellbeing at Northumbria University, said: ‘On Radio 2, the greatest proportion of references to alcohol came from presenters reading out listeners’ social media messages.

‘And drunkenness was mentioned more on Radio 2 than on commercial stations.

‘Alcohol consumption is often portrayed as the norm without negative consequences, and just 5 per cent of references on all stations were about sensible drinking.’

The experts stressed that the findings did not prove that stations such as Radio 2 were causing heavier drinking in the middle-aged.

But they warned repeated positive mentions were ‘normalizing’ chronic boozing.

Simon Mayo said, for example, on April 3, 2015, in response to a listener: ‘Well, here’s the answer to your dinner menu dilemma - pizza and beer, that’s what you have to do because that’s what we said this time a week ago.’

A BBC spokesman said: ‘Radio 2 presenters adhere to the BBC’s editorial guidelines at all times.’