[Matrix]

Given how Five Live is a shadow of its former self, I would be tempted to split it into a separate news and sports network.  Put the sports on Five Live's current frequencies, then merge Five Live News with local radio put resources into decent local opt outs.

This is such an exciting idea! Proper voice-of-the-nation vibes… “views from around the country & your local area!” Reaching/talking to audiences LBC & Times Radio could never

In many ways, going back to the origins of FiveLive and ‘ScudFM’ as it was nicknamed during its coverage of the first Gulf War. 

I suspect, though, the idea of an LBC style phone in/discussion format is what we’re already heading to with the Nicky Campbell-News Channel suggestion. 

For me, one of the assumptions being made, that local areas are crying out for investigative journalism, is the one that needs evidencing. I’ve been struck by how many of the phone-in responses (and I appreciate it’s a self selecting pool) come from a group of listeners for whom BBC Sounds is an adjective, not a service. They’re — in the main — an older group and I’m really struggling to see them being the ones to want a ‘true crimes’ style 14 part podcast on Nuneaton and Bedworth’s Refuge Collection scandals, if they exist.