I have to echo every word that Eddie #108 has written.
Programmes like the
Moral Maze and
In Our Time are brief sparkles in a sea of downmarket mediocrity. I was once a regular listener to the World Service but it is unrecognisable when compared to the station of 20 years ago.
The only BBC stations remaining on my presets are Radios 3, 4 and 5 live. The latter is down to one programme –
Wake Up To Money – and that has become so dumbed down that a lot of the time I don't bother and my Radio 4 listening is reduced from hours at a time to the occasional programme.
Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki
I often ponder and conjecture on what would have happened if the BBC had turned the Light Programme into Radio-1 back in 1960 or so, and there'd been a licensing liberalisation to allow/encourage commercial music-stations to come on the scene legally rather than having to do the whole offshore-thing? Personally I think it would have been a great leap forward.
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I think that the arrangement that came about in 1967 was about the best we could have had at the time given the dominance of AM listening and the crowded MW band. It can be argued that the BBC was dragged along kicking and screaming but there was a replacement for the pirate stations (modelled mainly on Radio London, right down to the PAMS jingles) and the likes of my parents had Radio 2 in a form which they were able to enjoy for the next 35 years.
These arguments all too often come down to one supplanting the other in some sort of winner-takes-all culture war. My parents, indeed the rest of my family, were not interested in listening to Radio Caroline, etc., and they heard enough of it when I had control of the household radio to make an informed decision. I wouldn't want to deprive them of the programming they enjoyed. When the Light morphed into Radio 2 they stayed with that.
Today I feel that those who like their pop music and lively presentation are very well-served by the BBC. It operates four national stations that amount to four versions of Radio One and BBC local radio increasingly relies on pop.
To me the BBC is no longer Auntie, it's Grandniece: “and listen here young lady: would you kindly TURN THAT RACKET DOWN... Thank you.”