Stumps for thousands of TMS fans as BBC kills off long wave

THE BBC has called time on long wave radio, spelling the end of Test Match Special for a dedicated audience of listeners.

Tens of thousands of cricket fans still tune in to the programme via long wave. But the corporation is to end the service.

Listeners will need internet access or to invest in a digital radio. Millions of vehicles remain equipped with analogue radios, meaning an audience on the move faces being unable to tune in.

The move will also spell the end of the long wave shipping forecast, and seafarers without access to digital radio will no longer be able to hear it. The closure is one of a raft of changes announced by Tim Davie, the directorgeneral, as part of plans to turn the BBC into “a digital-first public service media organisation”.

BBC Four, the arts and history channel, will move online only, as will CBBC, the channel for children aged six and over, and Radio 4 Extra.

Mr Davie said the BBC must “evolve, and fast” in response to the changing media landscape.

“We are moving decisively to a largely on-demand world,” he told staff.

“Too many of our resources are focused on broadcast and not online.”

The decision to end Test Match

Special on long wave was met with dismay. Henry Blofeld, a TMS commentator for 45 years until his retirement in 2017, said: “Anything that restricts the coverage of TMS and the amount of people going to listen to it is extremely sad.”

Sir Geoffrey Boycott, the former England captain who retired from TMS in 2020, said: “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. It’s a dreadful thing. But they have no idea, the people running the Beeb.

“Lots of good people work for the Beeb. But the bosses? My God. They wouldn’t get a job in the real world.”

However, Jonathan Agnew, part of the current Test Match Special team, said: “It is difficult to measure a long

wave audience and I’m sure some people do listen that way.

“But if we’re being realistic, there is no question that the majority of the audience listens via other means.”

Meanwhile, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the shipping forecast was an important service, “providing safety information to mariners as well as being a valued institution”. A spokesman said it will discuss the proposals with the BBC.

The BBC put no firm dates on its strategy, which also included the merger of BBC News and BBC World News. Many of the World Service’s foreign language services will go online only.

There will be cuts to local news services, including the end of dedicated TV bulletins for Oxford and Cambridge.

A total of 1,000 jobs will go across the publicly-funded arm of the corporation.

Mr Davie said the closure of channels and services were “tough choices”, but the BBC must invest more online.

Currently, iplayer is used by less than 50 per cent of BBC viewers in an average week. The BBC’S ambition is to increase this to 75 per cent.

Yet the corporation is sticking by its decision to take BBC Three in the other direction. The youth channel moved back to linear television last year.

Licence fee funding for the BBC’S orchestras will be reduced, Mr Davie said: “While we will continue to play a vital role in classical music in this country, we must be realistic about the resources we use.”

In his speech to staff, Mr Davie said: “This is our moment to build a digitalfirst BBC. Something genuinely new, a Reithian organisation for the digital age, a positive force for the UK and the world.

“To do that we need to evolve faster and embrace the huge shifts in the market around us.”

The plans will save the BBC £500million over the coming years, Mr Davie said, which will be reinvested into digital programming.