The chairman of the BBC has dismissed concerns that existing Radio 4 audiences could be put off the station if it is forced to make budget cuts to fund investment in the BBC Sounds app, saying that radio needs to change if it is going to remain relevant.
“Radio 4 is the best regulated radio station in the world because our listeners are on to us every time we move anything by a single minute – we get tonnes of letters,” said David Clementi at the IPPR Oxford Media Convention.
He acknowledged that there is a risk of alienating existing listeners but said the BBC’s radio output will need to keep changing: “I think the argument around Radio 4 is overstated. Radio needs to move forward otherwise we would still be having Listening With Mother or Workers’ Playtime. All radio needs to evolve.”
“We do need to make sure we are appealing to younger audiences. That is partly about content, and it’s partly about making it easily accessible, which I think Sounds is starting to do.”
The launch of BBC Sounds, which mixes streams of the BBC’s existing national radio stations with podcasts and other specially-commissioned audio material is the pet project of BBC director of radio and education, James Purnell.
The BBC hopes it will allow the corporation to gather extra data on what its audiences are listening to while also attracting younger listeners, although it has only released limited usage figures amid complaints from some users about the app’s functionality compared to existing music streaming services such as Spotify and well-established podcast apps.
Radio 4 is currently recruiting a new controller following the departure of Gwynth Williams, with the job advert stating that the successful applicant will have to drive young listeners to BBC Sounds while also finding “new and better ways of working, seeking efficiencies and delivering value for money as part of the contribution to meet the BBC’s financial challenge”.
Clementi also said the next round of licence fee negotiations with the government would need to start from the basis of working out how much money the BBC needs to compete in the modern world, rather than going by the 2015 system which saw a funding deal “imposed on the BBC over a weekend”.
He said the former chancellor and current Evening Standard editor, George Osborne, forced the BBC to take responsibility for paying the cost of free licence fees for over-75s in a bid to cut the budget deficit, leaving the BBC with the difficult decision – due to be made before the summer – on whether to start charging elderly consumers for its services once again.
Earlier on Monday, digital and creative industries minister, Margot James said she hoped the next round of licence fee negotiations “will be conducted in a spirit of support for what the BBC does”, recognising the challenge it faces from the likes of Netflix.
