A few local issues
With budget restraints now hitting hard, what is the future for local radio?
Gary Neil
- David McGillivray
Local radio began changing our listening habits nearly 60 years ago. Now it’s changing itself. In a video promoting a new, Lincolnshire-based community station, Magna Radio, presenter John Marshall protested, “Local has disappeared from the radio dial.” While that’s not strictly true, Marshall makes a valid point. Local radio is going through what some might charitably call a period of adjustment, and others a crisis. Swingeing cuts at the BBC resulted in many job losses. Content is now routinely shared between “local” stations, almost making the description passé.
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In 2023 David Burns was working for BBC Radio Humberside when he became, as he puts it, “part of the last great cull”. He accepts that “the BBC was trying to save money. There’s always uncertainty about the licence fee.” Now happily ensconced at a community station, Hull’s 107FM, he remains an advocate of BBC local radio. “I think it’s important,” he says. “Done right, it makes a huge difference to people’s lives.”
Nevertheless, he regrets the unpopular cuts that have rendered local radio less true to its roots. Since they were instigated, BBC local radio may have lost more than a million listeners. “That’s an audience they’ve abandoned,” says Burns. “They weren’t consulted, which I think is a cardinal sin. It lowers the level of trust in the BBC.”
A BBC spokesperson says: “BBC Local Radio is a vital service for millions, broadcasting around 150,000 hours of original, completely local programming a year, more than any other provider. With 39 local radio stations, we continue to deliver much-loved content that connects with communities across England every single day.”
But Nicky Horne, who started on Radio 1 and had stints at BBC Radio Solent, remains less than convinced: “The way the BBC is doing [local radio] now is ridiculous because it’s not local and it’s not national.” As someone who was on air there in the glory days of London’s first commercial station, Capital Radio, back in 1973, he doesn’t think the solution lies in the private sector. “There’s no longer such a thing as commercial local radio,” he states. “Having been one of the pioneers of commercial local radio, I learnt very quickly how good local radio could benefit the community.”
Stations are springing up to service the needs of local people
Nathan Spackman, boss of the UK Community Radio Network (UKCRN), which represents most of the UK’s 350+ community radio stations, is pragmatic. “I can understand why commercial radio stations have gone the way they have,” he says. “Their job is to make a profit. A local station having a full team of presenters isn’t viable.”
Horne is, however, also an admirer of the community radio revolution. Because of its volunteer ethos, it may be cheaper to run than the old-school models now facing such financial hardship. But it still can’t run on thin air. There is the Community Radio Fund, administered by Ofcom, but Spackman has reservations about it. “It does great things,” he admits, “but the pot hasn’t increased since it was first created, when there were around 20 to 40 stations.”
He will have been pleased to hear that Ofcom recently announced it has awarded grants totalling more than £1 million to 47 community radio stations. Fortunately, there are those who are determined that local radio should stay on the radio
dial while there is still an appetite for it.
Figures suggest that around 80 per cent of the over-55 age group are still listening to live radio and there is much talk of radio thriving. “Magna and others are springing up and have an opportunity to service the needs of the locals who still like a station that reflects life where they live,” says John Marshall.
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The audience for community radio tends to be older, or in Marshall’s tactful words, “These stations have a ‘heritage’ mission, serving people who remember.” But Spackman is aware of this policy’s inherent obsolescence and is taking steps to look at the future. UKCRN has launched a training academy for young people. “The excitement from 11- and 12-year-olds is still there,” he assures me. “Once you get them in the door, they love it.”
Authors
David McGillivray
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