[Joe]

all new Phil, you asked a question about why these cuts are ‘worse’ than commercial radio ones. I can’t find it now, maybe it’s not even in this thread but it’s in the ‘Every radio station that isn’t BBC Radio Devon’ thread. Anyway…

I don’t listen to BBC local radio AT ALL, but I suppose my take on it is that I don’t have a particular problem with commercial radio converging as it has (beyond some sentimental sense of loss) because (a) they’re commercial and exist to make money and (b) (and here’s the big one) they are seeking to make quasi-national networks where they don’t already have them. The BBC, on the other hand, already have about nine national radio stations covering all kinds of genres. You get to a point where, frankly, what’s the point having the local stations if they are also quasi-national. As I say, I don’t listen to them (that might tell another tale) so I don’t know if we have reached that point, perhaps there is enough local content to justify them. But I would suggest that it’s better to close them altogether if they do reach that threshold where they aren’t doing anything different to, say, 5 Live and Radio 2 which are probably the closest national stations content-wise.