R2OK!

becky sharp · Joined: 01 Dec 2008 Posts: 6851

.....by becoming too mainstream.

An article from The Telegraph...

The BBC’s most popular radio stations, Radio 1 and Radio 2, have become too middle-of-the-road and are costing their commercial rivals more than £50 million a year in lost advertising, MPs have been told.
The Corporation is failing to fulfil its public service obligations by providing “distinctive” programmes and has instead been chasing large audiences, according to Radiocentre, an industry body representing commercial stations.
By duplicating the kind of mainstream content offered by its smaller competitors, the BBC has damaged advertising-funded radio to the tune of an estimated £54 million a year, it is claimed.

Radiocentre criticised the licence fee-backed broadcaster in a submission to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which is currently carrying out an inquiry into the future of the BBC ahead of the end of its current Royal Charter in December 2016.
It said: “The BBC’s radio services (particularly Radio 1 and Radio 2) should be more distinctive and take the opportunity to provide greater public value, rather than simply seek large audiences.

“The growth in audience share of BBC radio services limits opportunities for diversity and distinctiveness and does not serve listeners well.”
The trade body noted that the average age of Radio 1 listeners had gradually crept up over the past decade and now stood at 32, well beyond the station’s official remit of serving 15- to 29-year-olds.

It said Radio 2 was also focusing disproportionately on younger listeners as the BBC increasingly chose to serve the audiences that are most sought after by advertisers.
Radiocentre added: “If the BBC is to perform more effectively and achieve its true potential it needs to concentrate more on the public value content that cannot be provided by the commercial market.

“The BBC duplicating commercial radio content damages our industry financially, and lessens the choice for the licence fee payer.”
The BBC goes into negotiations for its new Royal Charter facing criticism over pay-offs for executives and the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal.
Grant Shapps, the Conservative Party chairman, suggested in October that it could lose its exclusive right to the £3.6 billion television licence fee if it did not tackle a “culture” of secrecy, waste and unbalanced reporting.
A BBC spokesman said: “Radio 1 and 2 are utterly distinctive public service stations.
"Radio 1 offers a unique blend of new and specialist music alongside news, documentaries and social action campaigns to a young audience whose most common age is 18, while Radio 2 broadcasts an unrivalled breadth of music spanning folk, showtunes, country, orchestral and organ music, as well as comedy, documentaries, news, current affairs and religious output to an audience that includes 3.5 million listeners over the age of 65."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10543826/BBC-Radio-1-and-Radio-2-damaging-rivals-by-becoming-too-mainstream.html

(Wasn't quite sure where to put this)