R2OK!

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

The BBC Trust today highlighted a "controversial" year for Radio 1, during which Ofcom ruled against two of its presenters for offensive language and inappropriate behaviour.

In the BBC annual report for the 12 months to March 31, the trust pointed to Ofcom's decision last year to uphold listener complaints for swearing and unacceptable content against Radio 1 DJs Chris Moyles and Scott Mills, as well as to the rising costs of talent on radio and television.

"BBC Radio is strong and successful overall, but has not been without controversy in the year with Ofcom ruling against two presenters for offensive language and the emergence of talent costs as a concern to the public and to commercial operators," the BBC Trust's report said.

"We will be looking further at talent costs during the coming year."

Moyles got into trouble last year when he called women who urinate in the shower "dirty whores", said "very silly" on air and used the word "gay" in a pejorative sense. Another guest on his show used the words "piss" and "twat".

The trust also referred to Ofcom criticism of Mills, Radio 1's drivetime DJ, for a "a serious misjudgement" over a wind-up call to a woman - made with the consent of her partner - suggesting that her son had misbehaved at school.

Ofcom's rulings led to Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt creating a role, head of editorial standards, to tighten up standards.

The BBC executive board's report accepted that Moyles and Mills had "overstepped the line".

"The live and edgy nature of some programmes, however, led to a couple of occasions where presenters overstepped the line and Ofcom upheld complaints against both Chris Moyles and Scott Mills," the executive board's review of the year stated.

"As a result, compliance issues were reviewed, with new procedures being introduced, including the threat of financial penalty against offending DJs."

The BBC Trust's report also referred to the "emergence of talent costs as a concern to the public and to commercial operators", an apparent reference to reports that DJs including Moyles and Terry Wogan were attracting six-figure salaries.

The trust announced last month that it is to review talent inflation.

Today's annual report also recognised Radio 1's problems in reaching the crucial 15 to 29 age group, with the station's reach - the number of people tuning in for at least 15 minutes each week - to that section of the population "falling for the second year running".

The trust stated that Radio 1 remained a "key route" to the young, because 53% of its audience did not listen to any other BBC radio service.

The BBC's executive board, in its own report, was broadly supportive of Radio 1. "BBC Radio 1 offers a high-quality service for young audiences combining the best new music, a comprehensive range of live studio sessions, concerts and festivals, and tailored speech output," the board stated.

It also dismissed the complaints about presenters' salaries, insisting that "presenters were often offered far more by rival broadcasters but chose to come and work for the BBC".

"Many of the figures quoted were totally inaccurate. Some commentators suggested we were overpaying our stars and misusing the licence fee to poach talent from competitors," the executive board stated.

"Others in commercial broadcasting accused us of increasing salaries and disrupting the market.

"We responded that the market for talent was driven by the commercial sector. Presenters were often offered far more by rival broadcasters but chose to come and work for the BBC. "

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It took over a year to decide Moyles has overstepped the mark. Shocked

mark occomore · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK

The BBC Trust's health check on national BBC Radio stations came up with the following headline findings:

· Concerns were raised among commercial operators about the "distinctiveness" of Radio 1 and Radio 2.

· "In finalising the purpose remits and reviewing the service licences, we will consider whether these services could do more to clarify the sources of their distinctiveness and contribution to the BBC's public purposes," the trust said.

· Radio 4 came in for particular praise from the trust which hailed its "aim ... to modernise without losing core listeners and, in particular, its aim to refresh some of its output in order to broaden its appeal".

The report said: "The service continues to be highly rated among its listeners, and rated the best service for high-quality programmes. In the final quarter of 2006/2007 the network recorded its highest share of listening for a decade."

· Radio 3 "has seen a decline in reach over the last few years although share remains stable," the trust's report said.

· The trust's report pointed to a slight decline in the audience for Radio Five Live, adding that it faced increasing competition for sports rights, including the loss of the exclusive rights to Premiership football coverage.

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Looks like we will see a new look Radio 1 & 2 with no big overspending on famous voices. Is this why Mark Radcliffe and Stuart M are on standby to cover for Wrighty & Chris? Laughing

gfloyd · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:41 pm Post subject: EXTRACT re RADIO 2

BBC Radio 2 remains the nation’s
favourite radio station with an audience
of 13.2 million listeners.

We offer established favourites such as Terry
Wogan,Steve Wright and Jonathan Ross.We
also seek to continually innovate, for example
providing a bigger stage for the rising talent
of Russell Brand, who transferred from
BBC 6 Music. In April, Radio 2 brought the
extraordinary talents of Chris Evans back to
weekday national radio, a decision that some
in the audience and press saw as controversial.
The move proved justified with Chris winning
over the audience and picking up two Sony
Gold awards for Best Music Radio Personality
and Best Entertainment.

Other highlights this year included the revived
Radio Ballads created by John Tams, Aled Jones
on a Sunday morning, the reshaping of Sunday
evenings with Alan Titchmarsh joining the
station and the premiering of Bob Dylan’s
Theme Time Radio Hour in the UK. Our Live
and Exclusive concerts this year featured
Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay.We launched
the Music Club as an interactive home for
those wishing to learn more about music-
making. Online, its newsletter already has over
4,400 subscribers and its live performances
included sets from Paul Simon and Ray Davies.

We provide accessible news and current
affairs and encourage debate, particularly
through The Jeremy Vine Show, a programme
that is always challenging. On one occasion
this year it carried an item, labelled as a spoof,
describing the Soham murderer Ian Huntley
as dying in prison. Some people mistook the
spoof for reality and we received a number of
complaints about it.We recognised the utter
inappropriateness of the item and apologised
at once on air.The journalistic strength of
the programme made headlines with our
commissioned report for the Respect Your
Elders campaign, where our research showed
widespread abuse of the elderly.

Our comedy show Out To Lunch sought new
UK talent.The new arts show, The Weekender,
big music documentaries such as Peace, Love
and Soul: 35 Years of Soul Train, and those
providing a wider social context – including
Hang A Thousand Trees With Ribbons, the
story of Phillis Wheatley, a former slave who
became the first internationally published
African female writer – contributed to a wide
and rich mix of programming.The 2007 Sony
award-winning Musical Map of London from
Malcolm McLaren was followed up with his
equally stimulating Life and Times in LA.

In the autumn, Radio 2 ran a national
competition in which listeners were asked
to take the theme of an encounter with a
musical legend to create an imaginative new
drama.Workshops were set up around the
country to give would-be writers tips and
insights into writing a drama, and the five
winning entries were broadcast on air
across a week.

Radio 2 had an average 15-minute weekly
reach1 to adults aged 15+2 of 26.5% or

13.2 million people.This is more or less
consistent with 2005/2006 figures (26.5%
or 13.1 million people).
_________________
His name was ernie ........ and he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.....

gfloyd · Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:44 pm Post subject:

Another extract:

“If Jeremy Vine is discussing
something that’s happened in
the last few days he has both
sides of the argument and he
sits in the middle and I have yet
to hear him make a judgement,
he keeps himself very impartial
which I think he should anyway.”

News and current affairs programming on BBC Radio 2. Male, age 20–39,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, contributing to Trust consultation on service licences.
_________________
His name was ernie ........ and he drove the fastest milk cart in the west.....

RockitRon · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 7646

I suppose they have to produce these things but, reading these extracts, it all seems a lot of hot air and waste of time. The BBC Trust points out the bad or controversial events and the Executive board the good ones.