There has been a very-much-trailed announcement this morning that the BBC (known fondly on these shores as Auntie Beeb) will be cutting about 1/3 of its website and two radio stations: Radio6Music and BBC AsianNetwork.
Now these are two radio stations to which I never listen. 6 Music is quite popular with the musicerati, I gather; Jarvis Cocker is one of the presenters of 6 Music and he said during an interview on The World at One that all his friends listen to 6 Music. There is currently an interview with the Director General, Mark Thompson, in which he is trying to defend his choices of services to cut.
Now I listen to Radio 4 (news and talk) every day I’m within earshot of it. I rarely listen to any other British radio station and even more rarely watch TV, BBC or not BBC. I think Radio 4 is great and I’d be happy to support it by a subscription. However, much of the TV output of the BBC is crap, spread over 4 TV stations. Their salaries, for executives as well as presenters, are bloated. Graham Norton, an entertainer who (in my opinion) is past his best work and just recycling the old stuff, is paid around