Decks appeal
Booming listening figures, superstar DJs and A-list guests — Radio 2’s new boss has the magic formula.
WHILE I get the tour of Radio 2, Michael Fassbender heads up the stairs. Ace of Base’s All That She Wants is playing in the studio, as Chris Rea records a session on a grand piano that was donated by Elton John. The staff, though, seem most excited by the imminent arrival of t wo ponies (no, not a euphemism) for a segment on Jeremy Vine’s show.
King of this pandemonium is Lewis Carnie. In his first newspaper interview since becoming the station’s head, the 59-year-old tells me there is no ordinary day at Radio 2: “You could start with the Duchess of Cornwall and end with a Spice Girl.”
Carnie, an affable Scot with a husky voice who has worked at Radio 2 for 17 years, has taken over a thriving station. Weekly listeners number 14.9 million. The station just turned 50 and Tony Blackburn recreated his show from its first morning. “Tony told me: ‘I’m looking forward to the 100th anniversary already’. Knowing what he’s like, he’ll probably still be here.”
Although Radio 2 is famous for music and lighthearted chat — “we’re smackthem-over-the-head entertainment” — Carnie says politicians are increasingly aware of its power. “Jeremy Vine’s show really talks to people. The thing about our audience is that you can influence them. They’re the people who will change their mind at election time. Politicians in the last few years have found out: come and talk to our audience because you can persuade them to come over to your side.”
The station’s presenter roster includes five of the nine highest-paid BBC stars (Chris Evans, Graham Norton, Jeremy Vi n e , Steve Wr ight and Claudia Winkleman), according to figures released in July. Carnie shrugs off the furore that followed the pay revelations. “We have the best players in the business, at the peak of their career and market value. That’s what dictates what they take home. If you’re at the top of the game, you should expect to be rewarded.”
Vine held a phone-in about his wage, in which one caller asked if he was “embarrassed”. Do such salaries irk listeners? “People don’t object to Hollywood actors, or musicians, or football players who are paid vast sums — much, much more than our top presenters. People have a market value. If you want to have these people, that’s what it costs.”
Female stars have called on the corporation to “act now” on the gender pay gap but Carnie denies his station has one. “In our case at Radio 2, there is no gender pay gap. No one’s comparing like with like. That misleads the entire situation. On a per show basis, the pay gap]doesn’t exist. And the idea that gender in any way would reflect what anyone is paid here at Radio 2 is ludicrous. We couldn’t care what anybody is — gender, sexuality or ethnic origin — it’s totally irrelevant. What’s important is the t alent , and they ’re paid according to that. We have a lot of female talent — Zoë Ball, Sara Cox, Claudia Winkleman, Elaine Paige, Liza Tarbuck. They’re paid in line or higher than many of the male presenters .”
He continues: “Revealing everybody’s pay is one of the most unhelpful things that has ever happened. It’s a lose-lose situation. Because there’s no gender pay issue here at all, it really hasn’t helped us. I mean, what is the point of it? With the exception of Chri s Evans, who has an extraordinary market value because other peo ple are after him, everyone else is kind of really in line.”
Carnie has opened the door to the Evans question, so is the breakfast presenter really still worth that much money (more than £2.2 million)? “As