Hussey Supports Radio 5

Marmaduke Hussey, chairman of the BBC, has given his support to Radio 5, the BBC’s sport, youth and education network, following fears from staff that the station may be axed to provide a wavelength for the 24-hour continuous news network to which the BBC is committed.

In a letter to MPs Hussey says that the DG, John Birt shared his views, and that the station covered sport better than anyone else. Possible options include putting news on Radio 5 and putting sport back on Radio 2; using Radio 4’s FM frequency and reverting to the long wave plan.

Listening figures show that Radio 5 is the only BBC national network to have substantially increased its audience, with 500,000 extra listeners. The weekly adult audience is 4.185m.