BBC Radio

Myers is 'worried' by proposals to share local radio programming in afternoons and at weekends

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BBC local radio stations should share managing editors in a bid to save costs, chief executive of the Radio Academy John Myers has recommended in a review of the broadcaster's stations.

In his review, published today, Myers suggests that the BBC might consider reducing the savings it had aimed for in its Delivering Quality First proposals last year to avoid risking an impact on the size of its audience and "the quality of the output and the role of the BBC in each respective market".

According to the report, Myers visited nine BBC stations as part of his review, including Cumbria, Essex, Merseyside, Shropshire, Nottingham, Tees, Manchester, Oxford, Sussex and Surrey.

In his review he showed concern about the proposed sharing of programmes in afternoons and at weekends, adding that sharing of content in the afternoon "will simply accelerate the decline in listening and damage further the overall offering".

"The network cannot fall much more in terms of share and average hours without opening up a wider debate," he warns.

Myers says that he is "also worried about the saving objective through sharing more on Saturday and Sundays", adding that "the attraction of engaging relevant content at this time of the week is undervalued".

"It is so often the place where diversity lives and many light listeners tune into their particular local station for this experience. These specialist programmes (some are currently aired on weeknights) are inexpensive and is a possible explanation why monthly audience figures jump so much from its weekly base.

"Carving out such a large saving from this part of the weekend schedule at the expense of localness, and at a time when listeners have more opportunity to listen, is high risk."

One way to save costs could be to "share the role and the vast experience of the managing editor over more than one station", he suggested.

"I fear there is a deep reluctance to move away from having individual managing editors for each station although I have not heard any convincing argument why they could not successfully manage a larger portfolio, if only two stations at a time.

"The risk of losing quality of oversight and their contribution within a community is small and indeed the reverse is true in that the reporting line and the workflow becomes easier for all concerned below this position."

He says that if the BBC were to follow this recommendation it would "at a stroke, deliver up to an additional £2.0m in total cost savings and is perhaps a more prudent way of achieving the savings plan".

There is an alternative, he adds, in "erasing the role of assistant editor", but he says the sharing of managing editors would be his "preferred route".

"It brings with it a far greater cost saving, retains experience and lower level staff can grow more quickly into a new structure."

He concludes in his report that the most savings that can be achieved "without affecting quality" would be around £9m, which he identifies would be "£5.4m less than currently envisaged".

"But this can grow to £11m or £4m short of the target if managing editors are shared," he adds.

Also in the report, in reference to journalism content, Myers said he found "the quality of the audio was generally high with a real ambition to not just deliver clips or comment but to find a story that enriched the output".

In identifying potential future areas to address, Myers did add that it may be worthwhile re-assessing the way online journalists work in the newsroom, after finding that they "seemed to be operating separately from everyone else".

"I understand that the BBC has a focused vision for its online news delivery and this, perhaps correctly, contrasts with the style of commercial radio, who often use the same radio team to deliver their on-line output.

"It did appear as if there was room for further debate on the role of online journalist within a large radio news team. It could be argued this is a doubling up of resource, even with their different objectives."

He later suggests that the BBC "look again at how online journalists work within local radio and investigate the possibility of the present staff undertaking a number of their roles within their current workload".

He also calls on the broadcaster to "ensure reporters can send their audio back from the field using a range of modern communications including smartphones and a range of other cost effective devices" and to "encourage an entrepreneurial spirit to develop".

In January chairman of the BBC Trust Lord Chris Patten called on the broadcaster to "re-think" some of its DQF proposals, including the cuts to local radio and the "merging" of regional current affairs programming.

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