RIG Response to the BBC Trust Review of the BBC's National Radio

RIG response to The BBC Trust Review of the BBC’s national radio stations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales RIG response to the BBC Trust Review of the BBC’s national radio stations in Wales About RIG The Radio Independents Group is the trade association for independent radio and audio producers in the UK. RIG has over 100 member companies, and rough estimates put the overall value of the sector at over £25m1. RIG has around 30 member companies based in Wales, making audio content for the BBC and commercial companies both in English and Welsh. RIG also has 6 members in Scotland. Overall comment on the Trust Review RIG is pleased to see the BBC Trust carrying out this review into Nations Radio. We passionately believe in the ability of a thriving independent production sector to increase the amount of innovation, ideas and talent available to the licence fee payer. This applies as much to Nations radio as it does to the major networks. For example one part of Wales is not the same as another and independent producers, based around that nation, can play a major part in sharing voices and perspectives from all of those areas. For the purposes of this consultation, RIG canvassed its members in both Wales and Scotland – there are currently very few producers making audio independently in Northern Ireland. On this occasion there have been no major comments to make about BBC Nations Radio in Scotland. Therefore the response is concentrated on BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. We have sought to keep as closely to the remit of the questions as possible. We acknowledge the Trust statement that the issue of supply has been addressed separately, nevertheless it is inevitable that where we feel the services themselves are affected by issues relating to those services’ current level of involvement with independent sector, we have given that view. Answers have been given separately to the questions concerning BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru ‐ the Trust will appreciate that on some matter the issues are similar but we have sought to keep repetition to a minimum. 1 RIG submission to BBC Trust Radio Network Supply Review, May 2010, p12 1 RIG response to The BBC Trust Review of the BBC’s national radio stations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales BBC Radio Cymru 1. How well are the BBC’s national radio stations performing on radio, on digital and online? a) To what extent are licence fee payers aware of and using the service? Radio Cymru is currently dependent on the traditional Welsh speaking audience in North and West Wales. There is only one national Welsh language radio station and so it is almost impossible to find a Welsh speaker unaware of it is existence. However, audience figures in the south east are low2. So it would therefore appear that whilst the growing Welsh speaking audience is aware of Radio Cymru, it is choosing not to use the service. It can be argued that the Welsh language media in general has not done enough to reach the potential audience of Welsh speakers in the south east. The previous census in 2001 showed a rapid growth in this potential audience3 and it is expected that this year’s census will show continued growth, suggesting a fundamental cultural and geographical shift in the Radio Cymru’s audience which has so far not been successfully targeted by any of the Welsh media. The reasons for this development are the significant increase in the number of young people entering higher education over the past two decades, the existence of careers for those graduates along the M4 corridor and the growth in popularity of Welsh medium education in the south east. These developments have led to the evolution of an audience with quite different cultural expectations thano Radi Cymru’s traditional audience. b) To what extent is the service producing good quality content? We are in a fast changing media economy where broadcasters no longer have a monopoly of access to the audience and so in future will no longer be as central to that economy. Radio Cymru can learn important lessons from fellow Welsh language broadcaster S4C’s policies over the past five years in this respect. Treating the independent radio production sector as genuine partners in a new media and creative economy means giving audiences access to a greater range expertise and talent, removing any limits to Radio Cymru’s ability to produce good quality content. Currently the reverse appears to be true ‐ genres such as comedy (a genre in which significant expertise and experience exists in the independent sector) have been taken in house, where comparable expertise does not exist. c) Are the services making an effective contribution to the BBC’s public purposes including a contribution to the creative economy in Wales? The BBC is under increasing pressure to ‘open up’ and work more with commercial partners, and has in part responded. The BBC’s partnership proposals have so far been concerned with collaborating with other PSB networks,y but equall the principle should apply to working more with the independent production sector. Increasing commissioning from the independent sector leads to a greater range of ideas and talent, and boosts the wider creative economy. 2 http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/cymru/gwybodaeth/rc_cynulleidfa.pdf 3 http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/census2001/Report_on_the_Welsh_language.pdf p39 2 RIG response to The BBC Trust Review of the BBC’s national radio stations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales In an increasingly fractured media sector, the broadcaster needs to trust creative and entrepreneurial talent to develop the market. A small nation such as Wales cannot afford to lock out creative talent, as it will either go elsewhere or simply leave the industry. The failings in Radio Cymru’s current commissioning process model can be seen in the relative ‘conservatism’ of much of the content produced, and resulting failure to attract new audiences. Attempting to support the status quo is no longer the answer. Successful creative companies in a wider media economy can feed their experience and expertise back to Radio Cymru. There are currently not enough contestable slots for this to work effectively. The radio industry in Wales will undergo substantial changes over the next five years as income from platforms apart from broadcasting continues to grow. This presents Radio Cymru with a golden opportunity to partner with specialist production companies not only to raise programme quality in specialist genres, but also to help grow the media economy in Wales. This process is undermined by the lack of contestable slots for the independent sector. Without experience of business and the wider creative economy in Wales, it is understandably difficult for Radio Cymru to plan strategically and creatively, but this has led to an erosion of goodwill from the independent sector. Radio Cymru could take advantage of organisations such as The Radio Independents Group’s expert knowledge of how the media economy works to prepare for a media industry where broadcasting is no longer its sole focus. As the media economy moves away from a buyers market to a sellers market we need effective strategic thinking to enable creativity. The effect of Radio Cymru’s current commissioning policy has been to limit the growth of the independent radio production sector in Wales. d) Are the services good value for money? Radio Cymru faces the same problem that has confronted its television equivalent, S4C, namely an over dependence on a traditional audience and a service geared to satisfying that audience at the expense of others. There is a growing neglected potential audience in Wales that is eager for Welsh content but don’t receive a service which reflects their lives, interests and culture. This is one area where the independent sector can be invaluable, often being based in these communities and experienced in developing audiences. By underutilising the independent sector Radio Cymru is neglecting an opportunity to achieve better rvalue fo money. e) Are the services sufficiently distinctive from other BBC Services and commercial operators? Radio Cymru’s in house departments produce the vast majority of its programmes. This has led to criticism of programmes sounding too alike4, and a schedule not reflective of a whole culture and not aimed at the whole potential audience. It is fair to note that this criticism hasn’t been limited to Radio Cymru, but rather is part of a perceived “cultural howlround” creating a “bureaucratically approved culture” (as S4C experienced when limiting eth number of its potential creative suppliers) in the whole of the Welsh language media. 4 www.cylchgrawnbarn.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=201:radio‐pop‐a‐radio‐ pawb&catid=73:mawrth&Itemid=299 3 RIG response to The BBC Trust Review of the BBC’s national radio stations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales Independent producers feel that Radio Cymru’s recent commissioning documents5 for the independent sector have lacked ambition. Radio Cymru can take advantage of the challenges offered by the online market to the traditional media. In a media world where broadcasters no longer control access to the audience, web content will influence not only the media economy in Wales, but also Welsh language culture. As audiences increasingly turn to Welsh culture beyond the control of publicly funded commissioning teams, they are discovering different Welsh voices, which are growing in importance because of the imperative on them to sell their content. Welcoming cultural entrepreneurialism can lead to a more mature relationship between Radio Cymru and the independent production sector and increased creativity, originality, and audience for the Welsh media.

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