'Witty, warm and relatable'
More people listen to Radio 2 than any other station. Boss Helen Thomas offers up her formula for its ongoing success
BBC
- Anna Jones
It’s a typical afternoon on the eighth floor of New Broadcasting House in London, home to Radio 2. Trevor Nelson and Richie Anderson are in animated conversation across a studio desk. Jeremy Vine is perched on the back of a seat, having discarded the shocking pink shell suit he’s just donned to do some on-air anti-fall exercises with Mr Motivator. Round the corner, in another studio, Foo Fighters are giving an interview to Shaun Keaveny, who’s sitting in for Jo Whiley this week.
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A companionable warm-up for the afternoon school run, health tips for the elderly and a conversation with a globally famous, post-grunge rock band are all part of the mix on the most listened-to radio station in the UK. The latest Rajar figures (the official quarterly measurements of radio audiences) show a weekly reach of 12.7 million, with people listening on average for 11 hours over seven days.
That’s huge – a fact not wasted on canny music industry execs and artists. Features like The Piano Room on Vernon Kay’s mid-morning show (the most listened-to programme in the country), where musicians perform a new song, a classic hit and a cover with the BBC Concert Orchestra, can achieve career-altering results. The recent performance from Labi Siffre, for example, attracted millions of hits across Instagram and TikTok, as well as on BBC platforms.
The woman behind this broadcasting behemoth is Helen Thomas. Her petite form belies her powerful presence and inexhaustible energy. In the week of International Women’s Day, we ask how this Hull-born-and-raised girl, with a BA in drama and an MA in medieval studies, came to be the head of the station.
It was a recommendation to listen to the Today programme by a fellow student at Bristol University that set her on the path. “A light-bulb moment,” she says, having grown up listening to Yorkshire-based Viking FM and Radio 1. She grabbed an opportunity to do work experience in the rural affairs team at Radio 5 Live in Birmingham’s Pebble Mill studios, and threw herself into the role. “I was in at 7am and was the last one to leave at 9.30pm.”
After the first week, they asked her to stay, and Thomas’s advice to anyone starting a new career is to get stuck in. “You’ve got to be prepared to work hard. You have to be nice – people have got to like having you around. You can’t be grand: whatever you are asked to do, roll up your sleeves, it’s the best way to learn. Say yes to everything and have that open mind.”
In her case, this led to a job on the Today programme in London. When asked if this felt like arriving at a boys’ club, she tactfully replies: “What I will say is things have changed in the last 20-odd years, for sure. I was there in the glory days of John Humphrys, Jim Naughtie and Sue McGregor. Sue was flying the flag [for women] and more than matching the tenacity of John.”
Helen Thomas joined Radio 2 in 2006. BBC
After a stint at Radio 1’s Newsbeat, Thomas applied for a job as the producer of a BBC World Service pop music programme called Wright around the World. It was 2001 and, with all her radio production experience based in news and currents affairs, the network took a chance on her working with one of the UK’s best-known presenters, Steve Wright. She’d spend Sunday nights at home reading through piles of letters from as far afield as Namibia, Texas and Cologne, preparing the content for his hour-long show. “Working at the World Service is where I recognised the reach and power of the BBC in terms of talking to everyone,” she says. She joined Radio 2 in 2006, and became head of the station in 2020.
It’s impossible to gloss over the savage attacks made on Thomas in certain quarters of the media when Wright’s afternoon show on the station came to an end in September 2022, and the criticism did have an impact. “I probably spent more time with Steve than any other presenter. We had a relationship that went back years. It was hurtful, but I have an amazing team around me and an incredibly supportive boss in Lorna Clarke [director of music at the BBC]. When it’s really tough is when you see the real good in people. I had a tsunami of messages saying, ‘Ignore it’. When things like that are going on, you see the best in people as well.”
She brings the same attitude to last year’s Ofcom decision to block the BBC’s proposal for a Radio 2 spin-off station that cited a “significant negative impact on fair and effective competition” in the commercial sector. “I’ll be honest, it was really disappointing. We had put together a unique offer with lots of 50s, 60s and 70s material. It was about unlocking the archive. It’s all very well to say, ‘Just make it available,’ but it needs to be curated, you need to present it in a way that’s accessible.
“My job is to ensure that Radio 2 provides value for every licence-fee payer. We want to provide a broad range of output for all our listeners. The way people consume audio and the market have totally changed, so we have to respond to that. We look for those moments where we can maximise impact. If you take something like country music, for instance, we’ve got C2C [Country to Country] coming up this month. Bob Harris is absolutely the cornerstone of that and will be doing two live shows from the O2, but we have also commissioned documentary content around it, and have a series on women in country on Saturdays. Kiefer Sutherland is going to be doing a show for us. The beauty, the breadth of what we get to cover at Radio 2 is the joy.”
Speaking of joy, Thomas also shares a key announcement with RT about the next Radio 2 in the Park. For the first time, it will be coming from Scotland, based in Stirling, and moves forward to 7–9 August from its traditional September fixture. These live music events are key to sustaining brand loyalty: “When you get out and about around the country you see the audience. They are as excited about seeing Rylan Clark, Tony Blackburn, Bob Harris and Michelle Visage as they are about the artists.”
It’s understandable why Thomas is so proud of the station, but there was one particular moment last year that really landed with the nation: Sara Cox completing her Great Northern Marathon Challenge for Children in Need, raising a record-breaking total of nearly £12 million. Thomas was at the finishing line – in what she describes as a hurricane – and is quick to point out that this wasn’t just a victory for CiN but for all women over 50. “It really resonated.”
The beauty and breadth of what we get to cover is the joy
She remains committed to her female presenters. “There are loads of women in this industry and I’m really happy that I’ve finally got a berth for Emma Willis on Saturday afternoons. She is somebody who for the last three or four years has been depping [deputising] around the schedule.
“Friday nights the ladies rule the roost at Radio 2: we have Sara, then we have Michelle Visage – 17 years of breakfast radio in the States, there’s a reason she’s so good. And elsewhere, Jo Whiley is incredible – the face of Glastonbury, still a tireless champion for new music as well as holding deep relationships going back decades with icons such as Noel and Liam Gallagher, Paul Weller etc. And our brilliant Zoe Ball, who was the first ever female host of the Radio 2 breakfast show, is coming back to interview Bob Harris for a really special celebration as he turns 80. It will be a lovely interview looking back, a career perspective, some great stories, some of his favourite music. Those two properly love each other. There will be a lot of warmth and a lot of really great music.”
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While giving her presenters free rein to be creative, Thomas has three specific requirements they must all adhere to: “wit, warmth and relatability”. If the Rajar figures are anything to go by, this is a recipe for success. Has this all gone to her head? Far from it. This is one very grounded woman with a clear vision of what she wants for the network’s audience, not for herself. “I just love working with interesting people and that’s what I get to do. I’m very lucky.”
Authors
Anna Jones
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