Don’t wreck radio in the drive for younger listeners, says Today’s Justin Webb

JUSTIN WEBB, the host of Today, has warned the BBC not to destroy flagship radio shows as they target younger listeners.

The corporation has announced cuts to its news output across TV and radio as part of cost-reduction plans, as well as an effort to reach the young.

But Webb urged bosses to be careful making changes, saying he hoped Today did not lose its “distinct entity, character and presence”.

He wrote in Radio Times: “When BBC bosses say the young aren’t listening to BBC radio any more and we have to treat this as an emergency and run around as if our pants were on fire, my first reaction is, ‘Hey, what took you so long?’

“My second is... Hmm. Perhaps the young will get old. It has happened before.

“Perhaps radio will outlive this panic as it has outlived all others and potentially those to come. But it will only outlive the panic if well-meaning bosses resist the temptation to destroy the wireless in order to save it.”

He said there would be a “temptation to reduce the funding of the core programmes and chop up its output into the bitesized chunks those in charge think ‘yoof ’ might consume”.

He said: “Today is at close to record levels, listened to by more than seven million people in the average week.”

Radio programmes were “as successful as they have ever been,” the BBC’s former North

America editor said. Meanwhile, Samira Ahmed and the BBC have reached a settlement after the presenter won her fight for equal pay against the corporation.

An employment tribunal announced last month that the Newswatch host should have been paid the same as Jeremy

Vine earned on Points of View. The BBC argued that the two presenters were not doing similar work.

Now the broadcaster has said: “Samira Ahmed and the BBC are pleased to have reached a settlement following the recent tribunal.”