MGEITF 2010: The future of BBC radio, according to Mark Thompson

Radio merited relatively few mentions around Edinburgh over the weekend – reasonable enough as it is a TV conference – but the BBC director general Mark Thompson’s radio comments – not reported much – were significant on two fronts.

During the MacTaggart lecture, he stated that the BBC executive will continue to have conversations with the BBC Trust over the future of BBC radio – the corporation still needs to “think hard about our portfolio of radio stations”.

This, of course, comes after the public furore over the mooted closure of BBC 6 Music, later reversed by the Trust. Essentially, was Thompson suggesting he still did not agree with that decision? In a later debate this was still being branded a “false flag operation”, but there was a clear sense that other stations may be threatened with the axe in future months as licence fee restraint hastens more savings.

Behind this was another theme too – there was some clear frustration in Thompson’s comments that the BBC’s aim of driving people to digital has been more successful with its TV services – “while there has been some progress with digital radio, it has been much slower,” he said.

The BBC has led radio’s digital push, but a number of commercial radio companies would share his frustration at the pace of change. No mention was made of lack of government support, but then little mention was made (directly) of government at all in this lecture.

The BBC chief went on to say that the corporation needs to concentrate the licence fee on “services that make a difference, and be careful not to let things creep in to the wider market”. “Such as Radio 2?,” the Radio Centre might holler (again)…

There were a few suggestions elsewhere of “giving away” stations to various commercial players, with one panellist mischievously suggesting that the BBC should be forced to hand over Radio 1 to Channel 4.

However, it was clear that some felt the BBC’s plans to rein in operations – that could and would inevitably be filled by the commercial industry – should include BBC radio services. “It is a TV licence fee, radio shouldn’t come into it.”