The BBC strategy review published this morning has confirmed 6 Music and the Asian Network face closure by the end of 2011.
The recommendations by BBC Director Mark Thompson are disappointing for listeners and staff who may lose their jobs and programmes.
The internet has been buzzing with reaction to [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.5683]this mornings story[/link] with ‘BBC’, ‘#savebbc6music’ and ‘#savebbcasiannetwork’ trending on Twitter. Presenters and industry figures have also been commenting on the proposed changes.
During Lauren Laverne’s show today, her Twitter page said: “Most emotional day at work of my life. Thanks so much for all your kind words. Feeling very George Bailey here…”
Also on Twitter, Absolute Radio’s Geoff Lloyd said: “The BBC's reported £110 million overspend on doing up Broadcasting House could have funded 6Music for nearly 16 years.” Last week, we reported [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.5671]the story[/link] on how Absolute Radio may bid to buy the station.
Commenting about the changes on 5Live, John Myers, the former CEO of GMG Radio and the Author of the Myers Report into Local radio said: “Cutting 6 Music and Asian Network is damage limitation. 6 Music in particular spent £6m a year on content but 99% of the population refused to listen to it. That amount of public money cannot be sustained in this current political and economic environment. Something had to go.”
Ford Ennals, Chief Executive of Digital Radio UK, said: “We are pleased that the BBC has taken the opportunity of the Strategy Review to reaffirm its commitment to digital radio. In particular, we are pleased that it plans to maintain its overall digital investment and restructure its portfolio of services to improve the performance of that investment.
“We also welcome that the BBC has identified that it can and will do more to promote the uptake of digital radio … whilst some listeners will inevitably be disappointed by the closure of individual services, we believe the BBC’s vision as outlined in the Strategic Review will ultimately result in greater levels of overall listening to digital radio.”
The largest of the many ‘Save 6 Music’ Facebook fanpages now boasts over 17,000 members and a viral video has been produced, which has been praised by presenters Bobby Friction and Lauren Laverne.
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