The BBC station's commercial rival claims 5 Live has cut its output of 'serious' news ? could it be right, and do you mind?
It's been a while since Kelvin MacKenzie owned TalkSport, when he would regularly fire broadsides at his licence fee funded rival, BBC Radio 5 Live.
TalkSport's critique of Radio 5 Live today, in its submission to the BBC Trust's service licence review of the station, is rather more nuanced, but may be no less effective for that.
The UTV Media-owned station reckons Radio 5 Live is breaking its commitment to devote at least 75% of its schedule to news.
TalkSport's formal complaint to the BBC Trust about this was rejected last week ? albeit with the caveat that the trust has asked management to come up with a better way of measuring "news" ? and now it has published audience research detailing what Radio 5 Live listeners think of the station.
It must be slightly unsettling to have a rival commission and publish such research without your knowledge, but at least Radio 5 Live now knows a little bit more about its audience (possibly they knew it all already) and the licence fee payer hasn't had to pay a penny. Now that's what I call public service.
The main thrust of the TalkSport research findings were that nearly half (49%) of Radio 5 Live listeners think it should focus on more serious news, and that listeners estimate only 38% of airtime is dedicated to news. In other words, backing up TalkSport's complaint ? surprise, surprise.
Listeners can't be that unhappy with the station; Radio 5 Live recently recorded its biggest-ever audience figures (as has TalkSport). Just imagine how many it would get if people were happy with what they were hearing.
TalkSport is hardly a disinterested rival, of course ? the more Radio 5 Live devotes to news, the more sports-mad listeners will be tempted to retune their radio a little further along the medium wave dial (digital stations are also available).
But there's no doubt that Radio 5 Live has evolved under its current controller, Adrian Van Klaveren, no longer describing itself as a "news and sport" station but a "news, sport and entertainment" station.
Take the axing of the midday news ? one of AVK's first changes ? and five hours of "serious news" (to use TalkSport parlance) a week was gone in a stroke. Does the Gabby Logan show that now airs in its place tick the same boxes?
And if not ? there have been plenty of other changes as well ? does 75% of its output still count as news? It's important that it does, because that's what it was set up to do. If its mission has changed, then management should say so and the trust should give its approval (or otherwise).
TalkSport's audience research zeroed in on Richard Bacon's afternoon programme, which is currently counted by the BBC as "news" although listeners appear not to agree ? only 20% of the UTV station's survey said they regarded it as news.
It didn't ask them if they found it entertaining ? I suspect the figure would be rather higher ? but that's not TalkSport's point.
You may be wondering who took part in the research, conducted by Britain Thinks. It asked 1,000 Radio 5 Live listeners who listen to the station at least one hour a week. Possibly you need to listen to a few more to come up with a considered opinion, and possibly many of them do.
TalkSport's point reflects wider commercial radio concerns about the BBC's stations muscling in on their territory ? not enough public service content on Radio 2 was a recent complaint by commercial radio trade body, the Radio Centre, as was the suggestion that Radio 3 had adopted some of the tactics of Classic FM to reach a wider audience.
Whether Radio 5 Live will change again as a result of the review is hard to say. Even when the BBC Trust asks stations to do things ? like its call two years ago for Radio 1 to shift its average listener age younger (it hasn't) ? that doesn't necessarily lead to the desired result.
Perhaps they should appoint an independent auditor to look at this whole "news" thing, outside of the BBC Trust. Kelvin, it's over to you. And you, in fact ? do you think there is enough news on 5 Live? And what do you make of the changes under AVK?
I rather like Bacon's afternoon show ? when I'm around to hear it ? and Danny Baker's return on Saturday mornings can't come soon enough. Gabby Logan's midday show and Kate Silverton on a Sunday morning I can live without, and don't even get me started on 7 Day Sunday. Ah, for the glory days of Fi Glover's Sunday Service. Would that have counted as "news"? Probably.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2011/apr/20/radio-5-live-talksport
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