News bulletins from the BBC’s 39 local radio stations in England – as well as national services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – are being offered free to commercial radio stations who can’t currently create their own.
The move follows a previous agreement with the Community Media Association to allow the BBC’s content to be aired on community radio stations.
Initially the offer is for four weeks and is open to stations who’re struggling to deliver a news service to listeners because of pressures caused by the Coronavirus crisis, perhaps if staff are off ill or self-isolating.
Ken MacQuarrie, Director, BBC Nations and Regions, told RadioToday: “We have been approached by a number of stations asking for help and we want to support the local commercial radio sector at this difficult time. It’s now more important than ever that reliable news is widely available, but some local commercial stations may see their newsroom disrupted by the impact of the Coronavirus and in those instances we’re offering to make our local news bulletins available to them.”
Any station wishing to use BBC local news bulletins should contact Chris Burns via email on chris.burns@bbc.co.uk.
Posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2020 at 1:31 pm by Stuart Clarkson