CRISIS PROVES BBC REALLY NEEDS ITS LOCAL RADIO

BBC radio news audiences have grown since the pandemic hit, with millions tuning in for information and comfort. Yet staff fear attempts to attract a younger audience could be at the expense of its older, intensely loyal one. Here, an anonymous employee reveals fears for the future of Auntie’s local stations

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WHO LISTENS to BBC Local Radio? If some of the more woke bosses at the Beeb were to be believed before the coronavirus pandemic no one does.

But nothing could now be farther from the truth.

During this time of collective national crisis the British people are tuning into their local radio stations in their droves for support, truth and, most of all, trusted companionship.

Thousands upon thousands now rely on this medium to get them through the day and especially the night.

With a radio you may be isolated but you are never alone. This simple statement has always been true.

Television is a collective sport – radio is not.

Some BBC executives have long sneered at local radio, as have many staff.

To many at the corporation local radio has, in recent years, been seen as a burden on its over flabby budget.

The poor relation that sucks out much-needed cash for more meetings and inflated salaries.

Desperate times not only bring about desperate measures but also desperate listeners.

There is not one show across the network that hasn’t had someone crying, someone terrified or someone grief-stricken.