Local radio disappearing in England

[Rillington]

Commercial radio no longer broadcasts locally-produced content outside of brief local headlines, as part of a mixed two-minute bulletin of local, national and international news, and BBC Local Radio is about to massively scale back tis local output in favour of regional and England-wide programmes.

What are people's views on the withdrawl by commercial radio, and to an extent, the BBC from local broadcasting in England?

I think local radio works where there’s a strong local identity for it to play off. I used to enjoy BBC Radio Merseyside and the independent rival, Radio City, back in the day, but the life and culture of Liverpool greatly enriched what they were able to do. Likewise the (sadly diminishing) local content on Clyde One which is my local radio these days feeds off the strong local character of Glasgow. But other places I’ve lived the local output has made no sense at all. BBC Three Counties Radio, for example (Bedforedshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire). What’s the point of that?

And where I am right now the BBC has never bothered with local radio as far as I’m aware; BBC Radio Scotland is like Radio 2 and Radio 4 ran away to Gretna for a dirty weekend and had a love child. It doesn’t do anything either of the national stations can’t do better, and it has no local character because it’s not a local station. Its only USP would be in its ability to handle Scottish national current affairs more thoroughly than either a local station or a London based one would.

[Mr K]

Originally Posted by Rillington

Commercial radio no longer broadcasts locally-produced content outside of brief local headlines, as part of a mixed two-minute bulletin of local, national and international news, and BBC Local Radio is about to massively scale back tis local output in favour of regional and England-wide programmes.

What are people's views on the withdrawl by commercial radio, and to an extent, the BBC from local broadcasting in England?

Its a shame as it is highly valued by some, particularly the isolated/vulnerable. As a public service broadcaster its exactly the service the BBC should provide. However a consequence of freezing the licence fee for years, and constant attacks from the Govt.
Commercial Local Radio has always been crap, no loss there.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Rillington

Commercial radio no longer broadcasts locally-produced content outside of brief local headlines, as part of a mixed two-minute bulletin of local, national and international news, and BBC Local Radio is about to massively scale back tis local output in favour of regional and England-wide programmes.

What are people's views on the withdrawl by commercial radio, and to an extent, the BBC from local broadcasting in England?

This isn't just a thing in England, it's happening all over the UK and the genesis was the financial meltdown of 2008.

Companies no longer had the money to advertise and that revenue is the lifeblood of any local commercial radio station.

Broadcasting media companies merged, jobs were lost, radio stations rebranded and now here we are.

Local commercial radio is gone forever.

And the Megaphone Man is lost to history

[Russ]

See? It’s not all bad…

[nodrogd]

Originally Posted by Rillington

Commercial radio no longer broadcasts locally-produced content outside of brief local headlines, as part of a mixed two-minute bulletin of local, national and international news, and BBC Local Radio is about to massively scale back tis local output in favour of regional and England-wide programmes.

What are people's views on the withdrawl by commercial radio, and to an extent, the BBC from local broadcasting in England?

As has happened with regional TV, commercial pressures & the influence of the internet on viewing/listening habits were its downfall. Local, or should we now refer to it as community radio IS actually thriving on the internet, with no transmission costs & volunteers manning the microphones. The gateway is now opening with small scale DAB being launched in most areas that these outfits can gain access to the airwaves & bring even more listeners in. I was a listener to Chiltern Radio when it launched, & it became a benchmark for what would follow, as they started to buy up or start other stations & bring them into their "Hot FM" & Supergold brands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b0yap7JRPw

Happy days!!

[Rillington]

Originally Posted by Chris

I think local radio works where there’s a strong local identity for it to play off. I used to enjoy BBC Radio Merseyside and the independent rival, Radio City, back in the day, but the life and culture of Liverpool greatly enriched what they were able to do. Likewise the (sadly diminishing) local content on Clyde One which is my local radio these days feeds off the strong local character of Glasgow. But other places I’ve lived the local output has made no sense at all. BBC Three Counties Radio, for example (Bedforedshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire). What’s the point of that?

And where I am right now the BBC has never bothered with local radio as far as I’m aware; BBC Radio Scotland is like Radio 2 and Radio 4 ran away to Gretna for a dirty weekend and had a love child. It doesn’t do anything either of the national stations can’t do better, and it has no local character because it’s not a local station. Its only USP would be in its ability to handle Scottish national current affairs more thoroughly than either a local station or a London based one would.

The BBC has never provided any local programmes in Scotland apart from Orkney and Shetland although I think there are short opt-out news bulletins for various areas of Scotland.

Same with Wales although at one time, there were opt-out stations for Clwyd and Gwent.

---------- Post added at 17:07 ---------- Previous post was at 17:05 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

I think local radio works where there’s a strong local identity for it to play off. I used to enjoy BBC Radio Merseyside and the independent rival, Radio City, back in the day, but the life and culture of Liverpool greatly enriched what they were able to do. Likewise the (sadly diminishing) local content on Clyde One which is my local radio these days feeds off the strong local character of Glasgow. But other places I’ve lived the local output has made no sense at all. BBC Three Counties Radio, for example (Bedforedshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire). What’s the point of that?

Initially BBC 3CR was Radio Bedfordshire before it expanded to cover the other two counties. Also for a time, there was an o-t-out programme for the Milton Keynes area.

---------- Post added at 17:12 ---------- Previous post was at 17:07 ----------

Originally Posted by Mr K

Its a shame as it is highly valued by some, particularly the isolated/vulnerable. As a public service broadcaster its exactly the service the BBC should provide. However a consequence of freezing the licence fee for years, and constant attacks from the Govt.
Commercial Local Radio has always been crap, no loss there.

I have no doubt that the BBC isn't doing this through choice but in the light of vastly reduced license fee money on real terms, savings have to be made and it can now only be done through closing/merging services.

However the thing with the BBC is that it is relied upon by older listeners who are less internet savvy and not served by commercial radio so by closing/merging services loved by older listeners, especially local radio and the regional enws programmes, to invest in non-linear digital services seems rather a strange decision.

---------- Post added at 17:12 ---------- Previous post was at 17:12 ----------

Originally Posted by nodrogd

As has happened with regional TV, commercial pressures & the influence of the internet on viewing/listening habits were its downfall. Local, or should we now refer to it as community radio IS actually thriving on the internet, with no transmission costs & volunteers manning the microphones. The gateway is now opening with small scale DAB being launched in most areas that these outfits can gain access to the airwaves & bring even more listeners in. I was a listener to Chiltern Radio when it launched, & it became a benchmark for what would follow, as they started to buy up or start other stations & bring them into their "Hot FM" & Supergold brands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b0yap7JRPw

Happy days!!

Community radio is also thriving on FM.

[Rillington]

Since these posts, BBC Local Radio no longer broadcasts local or regional programming of any kind after 10pm and on a Sunday, national programming commences even earlier following the England-wide launch of Doton Adebayo's Sunday evening BBC Radio London show.

I find it strange that BBC Local Radio doesn't just broadcast 5 Live during the evening and overnight like it used to to until the late 1980s when stations handed over the Radio 2 at at 6pm or 7pm and earlier at the weekend, especially over the summer. Why go to the expense of having to pay for an England-wide programme a d reinvest the money saved back into local coverage..