Radio Times In Trouble With Talk Radio

Talk Radio has written to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to complain about what it regards as anti-competitive behaviour by the BBC.

Kelvin MacKenzie, chairman and chief executive at Talk Radio, is angry that the Radio Times, published by BBC Worldwide, is refusing to carry Talk Radio’s programme listings.

According to Mr MacKenzie, he has written directly to the editor to request that Talk’s details be included. The editor of the magazine, Sue Robinson, claims that Talk’s audience is not big enough to justify the magazine carrying the station’s listings. Talk claims however that the audience of GLR, the BBC owned station whose programmes are listed in the Radio Times, has an audience three times less than Talk’s in London.

MacKenzie claims in his letter: “This is yet another example of the BBC taking tax payers money and using it through their own magazine to prop up its monopoly. The idea that our audience of 2 million listeners is too small to warrant Talk’s listings being carried sits uneasily with the fact that the publication gives such space to such giants of broadcasting as Radio Norfolk.”

At its last RAJAR audit, Radio Norfolk had an average weekly reach of around 197,000.

MacKenzie continued: “To me this isn’t a laughing matter. The BBC are acting in an uncompetitive way and I expect the OFT to order the Radio Times to carry our listings.”

A spokesperson from The Radio Times commented: “We’ll be happy to discuss our editorial policies with anyone who wishes to know them.”

OFT: 0171 211 8000 Talk Radio: 0171 467 8041 BBC Worldwide: 081 576 2719