[Former Member 2410]

The problem with this idea, as good and sensible as it is, is that its a short term solution to a long term problem. That problem, is the fact that over the years we have become conditioned to think local = bad, national = good. Whether that be television or radio, "local" seems to be a dirty word. We don't need national programmes on local radio. We need to recondition the people to not automatical think that local is bad.

Indeed, I don't necessarily disagree with this view. There's a trend towards consolidation and nationalisation in a lot of media (regionalisation at best), and it's not a particularly great trend. I suspect some (most?) of it is coming from the general trend of turning to social media and streaming giants for entertainment and news. There's a fascinating article on Press Gazette (pressgazette.co.uk ) regarding the loss of advertising. The upcoming loss of third-party cookies will also make some difference.

Colossal decline of UK regional media since 2007 revealed - Press Gazette
New research from Press Gazette has revealed the colossal extent of regional new…
  Source: pressgazette.co.uk

In some cases, independent local media is popping-up (for example, The Mill in my area), and there's some great community radio stations (and some very dire ones too) but this will never have the sheer scale and reach of a BBC or commercial broadcast and / or web option. It's a small drop in the ocean. And I'd wager that most people aren't interested in hearing about / reading about their local area all day long, which adds to the trend of local outlets being difficult to sustain (local TV is a whole different story of course). Whether this is because, as you say 'Local = bad' I'm not sure. I'm a staunch defender of local media but I know I won't listen to Bolton FM or YO1 Radio all day. They're good, but they're no Radio 2 or Heart or - before the cuts - Radio Manchester, and the local news is OK, but not fantastic. Some community stations have no local news at all. I certainly don't want to pay for a newsletter that only comes out once-per-week and has stories from all over Greater Manchester. Yes, I'm interested, but not that interested and anything in my local area, I've likely found out about before it comes out.

In the BBC's case, unless they get extra cash from somewhere, the days of Local BBC Radio as we knew it are gone. If we have national programmes now, I'd rather see Five Live be the 'sustaining' feed than what's currently being output. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against any 'national' or regional host on local radio - I'm not a person who will give bad remarks about anyone, and I try to find the good in people - but I do think that the shows and format don't know what they want to be. At least Five Live could produce something truly national, if that's how they want to go with it. The bonus of keeping Five Live 'UK' on DAB, Five Live 'Local' on the FM / DAB outlets in England and switching-off MW is a side-effect.

The BBC should be providing local public service news, sport, entertainment and information. How they do that is the next question.

[lookoutwales]

Off-topic but sad news to report - Wally Scott, Billy Butler’s sidekick on Radio Merseyside and Radio City, died last night after a long illness.

Of course, Hold Your Plums is their lasting legacy - and it’s probably just a little harder nowadays to explain just how big it was in Liverpool, the North West, North Wales etc on a Sunday morning.

But Wally was first and foremost a producer. He was part of the Radio City launch team in 1974, producing the likes of Bill Shankly and even Alan Bleasdale (for his character, Scully, which went onto become a Channel 4 series)

Both Billy and Wally did return to City for a while among other things and they were still doing theatre shows together till fairly recently.

He’ll be missed. RIP.

www.bbc.co.uk 

Tributes to BBC radio presenter who 'made Merseyside laugh' - BBC News
Former BBC Radio Merseyside producer and presenter Wally Scott has died after a …
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

[lookoutwales]

Is it me or do certain BBC Local stations appear to have a fairly high turnover when it comes to breakfast presenters? (something that was an issue before the recent cuts)

Noticed there's a change of host fairly often - particularly with WM (who have had three different hosts over the past three years)

Now, Radio Merseyside are dropping Phil Munns after just nine months on breakfast and replacing him with Kevin 'Blue's Clues' Duala next month (to be fair, I remember him doing IVC on Challenge way back when)

radiotoday.co.uk 

Kevin Duala to host BBC Radio Merseyside breakfast show – RadioToday
BBC Radio Merseyside has hired Kevin Duala as the host of a new breakfast show, …
  Source: radiotoday.co.uk

[Steve in Pudsey]

Radio Leeds have opted out of Toby Foster this afternoon and will do their own Sunday Breakfast and mid morning to preview and build up to Leeds United's Championship play-off at Wembley.

Nice to see that they can do that if the occasion demands, although I guess sport was ringfenced in the recent cuts

[lookoutwales]

Looks like they're staying local for most of Sunday, too.

To be fair, Radio Oxford did much the same thing last Saturday when Oxford United were promoted to the Championship.

Did local breakfast and mid-morning shows leading into the main coverage, then had an extended post-match phone-in till 10pm.

Somewhat less coverage RE Bolton Wanderers on Radio Manchester, which in the event, was probably just as well.

[Brekkie]

What did Local Radio usually do on election night - take a networked national show or do their own local focused shows through the night?

[lookoutwales]

What did Local Radio usually do on election night - take a networked national show or do their own local focused shows through the night?

Think they tend to do their own local election night shows, IIRC - certainly the case when it comes to general elections and by-elections, anyway.

[Robert Williams]

Radio Leeds have opted out of Toby Foster this afternoon and will do their own Sunday Breakfast and mid morning to preview and build up to Leeds United's Championship play-off at Wembley.

Nice to see that they can do that if the occasion demands, although I guess sport was ringfenced in the recent cuts

Not related to sport, but a couple of Saturdays ago Radio Surrey opted out of the usual shared programming all day from 6am to 10pm, for coverage of Surrey Day.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Think they tend to do their own local election night shows, IIRC - certainly the case when it comes to general elections and by-elections, anyway.

I think it was a mix of local and pan-regional in Yorkshire, depending on how many areas were counting overnight, often fronted by Look North's John Cundy.

[Stooky Bill]

Think they tend to do their own local election night shows, IIRC - certainly the case when it comes to general elections and by-elections, anyway.

Last time round a lot, if not all did. The listings are still online, for example:

www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC Radio York - Schedules, Thursday 12 December 2019
This is the daily broadcast schedule for BBC Radio York
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC Radio Devon - Schedules, Thursday 12 December 2019
This is the daily broadcast schedule for BBC Radio Devon
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC Radio Norfolk - Schedules, Thursday 12 December 2019
This is the daily broadcast schedule for BBC Radio Norfolk
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

I imagine this time round the programmes won't be so local. Even though the national content will be all syndicated from a central source, some counties will only have a handful of constituencies within them. Doesn't seem worth having seperate programmes when the unique content will be quite low