We welcome the protection of the core hours of local broadcasting, namely the breakfast and mid-morning shows along with the drive time programmes, some sport and the Sunday morning faith programming. But what we hear back from the dioceses in their local consultations is a deep concern that these programmes themselves will not be maintained with their current quality (requiring voices from the whole area which the local radio station serves) with significantly fewer staff.
We ask the BBC Trust to recognise local radio as one of the ‘Crown Jewels’ of the BBC. We do not argue that there should be no cuts in budget at all but we believe that the total protection from cuts given to BBC1, Radio 4 and the Proms is disproportionate in relation to what is proposed for BBC local radio.
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Bishop Graham James–Response to BBC Trust Consultation on Delivering Quality First
We welcome the protection of the core hours of local broadcasting, namely the breakfast and mid-morning shows along with the drive time programmes, some sport and the Sunday morning faith programming. But what we hear back from the dioceses in their local consultations is a deep concern that these programmes themselves will not be maintained with their current quality (requiring voices from the whole area which the local radio station serves) with significantly fewer staff.
We ask the BBC Trust to recognise local radio as one of the ‘Crown Jewels’ of the BBC. We do not argue that there should be no cuts in budget at all but we believe that the total protection from cuts given to BBC1, Radio 4 and the Proms is disproportionate in relation to what is proposed for BBC local radio.
Read it all.