Danny Beard on weekend afternoons

[Jono]

THE Tory shadow broadcasting minister has proposed that the BBC should be forced to sell Radio 1 and has threatened to freeze the licence fee.

Ed Vaizey said the Conservatives, if they win power, would insist that the corporation came clean over the salaries it paid its top stars.

The moves are intended to cut the BBC down to size. The Tories believe that its huge publicly funded budget and reach are damaging commercial broadcasters.

Vaizey, the party’s spokesman on media and arts, said he wanted to see Radio 1’s licence put up for auction.

He said the corporation was even more dominant than its commercial rivals in radio compared with television, pointing to the fact that it held four out of five national FM licences. The only exception is Classic FM.

“There is an unfair disparity,” said Vaizey in an interview with The Sunday Times. The sale of Radio 1 would help to alleviate the imbalance. Industry experts believe the station’s frequency could be worth at least £100m.

Vaizey also believes the station is failing to reach young listeners. “Radio 1 is not fulfilling its obligation to its audience,” he said. “Its median age is those in their thirties when it should aim much more at teenagers and [those in] their twenties. There is then a good argument for the BBC to be rid of Radio 1 and give the commercial sector a chance to use the frequency.”

Tory proposals to force the BBC to publish the salaries of all those earning more than £100,000, including presenters and executives, are already being resisted.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6736143.ece

[E*F*4L]

they have said this before & it won't happen,

the budget for R1 is the lowest out of all the other BBC radio stations, R3 is the same as Classic FM (& not as good either) so sell that off as well as R4.

all that would happen is that it would lose loads of listeners over night, due to the amount of adverts needed to fund the station in it's current format & it simply wouldn't be viable, to save money they would get in crap dj's etc & everyone would be poorer, listeners & bands.

they say that the BBC shouldn't compete with the commercial stations, well how is that supposed to work, R1 has more listeners in the age range, or does Ed really think that teens want to listen to the crap thats on the commercial stations ! R1 is different from the commercial stations as it should be & yet it still gets more listeners well erm R1 is giving them what they want.

if they want to save some money why not stop making programs like Eastnders that's a direct rival to Corrie & the actors on Eastenders are paid over 100k.

i used to vote Tory, but not anymore since Cameron got to the top, we think Brown is useless & spineless! good god Cameron has even less spine, even the letter he sent me in reply to my letter about his comments about Ross/Brand incident he couldn't make up his mind & i would think that he would have better things to do instead of trying to destroy what is know around the world as one of the very best media company's providing some of the very best TV & radio shows all thanks to the unique way the BBC is funded.

& Mr Vaizey, i will let you on a little secret, the reason that people don't listen to the other two national local radio stations is because they are run by bean counters who want to provide a service at the lowest cost, by just spinning disc's with inept second rate people spinning them.

PS,

Mr Vaizey, here is a bit of advice on one of life's little lessons, "you pay for what you get" (low price = shit product).

[DarkAngelMJH]

What?! What a retard, people will listen to whatever the hell they want to, just because R1 isn't aimed at a certain age range doesn't mean they won't listen to it! We are not all sheep you Tory idiots.

So me being 26 should now start to listen to commercial/Radio 2 more then? Yeah I don't think so.

I don't think that people should have their salaries published either, unless of course they are the money robbing government with their ridiculous expenses.

[JonathanEx]

Although Vaizey is shadow minister responsible for broadcasting, a Tory spokesman said last night that the sale of Radio 1 was not party policy.

[Tom.]

i might be wrong but listening figures only cover over 16s missing 4 years of "target audience"

[Electrobix]

If R1 was sold off, I would stop listening to radio. It's the only station that has any commitment to new music (in this area)- I refuse to listen to commercial radio because I don't want a constant stream of adverts, tacky DJs (I'll not count Fearne) and most of all dreadful dreary Pixie Lott/James Morisson/rubbish old music.

[Guest inxces4308]

Vaizey, the party’s spokesman on media and arts, said he wanted to see Radio 1’s licence put up for auction.

I'd love to see that as Radio licences cannot be auctioned. They have to be given back to ofcom or sold, but are not auctioned.

This is also a public licenses and therefore is unlikely to be allowed to be sold regardless of who is governing the country.

Also, Tories will never get in.

[Jono]

I'd like to see it happen for the hilarious point that BBC Radio 1 wouldn't exist so you'd have to rename Radio 2 to Radio 1 and Radio 3 to Radio 2, and so on...

[me_54m]

I'd like to see it happen for the hilarious point that BBC Radio 1 wouldn't exist so you'd have to rename Radio 2 to Radio 1 and Radio 3 to Radio 2, and so on...

Lol.

Maybe the problem is that there is too big of a gap between R1 and R2 and thats why R1 might be slightly over age, as such the commercial sector should set up there. - But no one is willing to fund it, so it wont happen.

[Jugalug]

I'd love to see that as Radio licences cannot be auctioned. They have to be given back to ofcom or sold, but are not auctioned.

This is also a public licenses and therefore is unlikely to be allowed to be sold regardless of who is governing the country.

Also, Tories will never get in.

Sold by auction. To the best bidder. Much like ITV regional licences work.

[Robbie Keane]

I'd love to see that as Radio licences cannot be auctioned. They have to be given back to ofcom or sold, but are not auctioned.

This is also a public licenses and therefore is unlikely to be allowed to be sold regardless of who is governing the country.

Also, Tories will never get in.

Tories will get in (against my better wishes, but alas), but they'll never go through with anything related to Radio One being auctioned off. They'd never clear it in the House of Commons and the public outcry would be enough to secure it. Plus, I'm sure there are laws with OFCOM to forbid stuff like that, as mentioned previously.

[fathomer90]

I think R1 has much more public service benefit in breaking new music then Radio 2 does. The only problem is for the Tories R2 Listeners are the Tories heartland. So I wonder why they are proposing to keep R2? A Pure entertainment station?

http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/

Tom Watson MP has written a good blog in response to Tories.

[MissCorsham]

I've read lots about this over the last 24hours and the general consensus is that it would never work, which is reassuring, hopefully they'll leave Radio 1 well alone.

The age issue is raised yet again, because BBC aren't allowed to directly compete with commercial stations by offering an island in between Radio 1 & 2 it is expected of the people between to want to listen to commercial radio instead, but it really doesnt work like that and people would much rather listen to something aimed a little younger then them until they are ready to cross over to the Radio 2 side.

Heres what I get a little lost with, what is Radio 3? who do they aim at? I was flicking through 1 - 4 the other day and 2 & 3 had were playing, what I would class as, the same music.

[Jono]

I've read lots about this over the last 24hours and the general consensus is that it would never work, which is reassuring, hopefully they'll leave Radio 1 well alone.

It seems more the case that they're back pedalling. They've been wanting to do this since Thatcher was in power but they've not had the chance since. I think every year or two they say something about Radio 1 but whenever they get criticised for it they turn the story around.

[MissCorsham]

Yeah one blog I read said that they try it every year, it reminds me of my parents saying "turn off that crap" because they dont like the music.

[me_54m]

Newsbeat just said the Tory's are denying this is a policy - although the story doesn't appear to be on the website.

[E*F*4L]

things would change is i was PM !

[MissCorsham]

things would change is i was PM !

Yeah, you'd probably scrap Radio 1 in exchange for Radio Edith :-p

[E*F*4L]

Yeah, you'd probably scrap Radio 1 in exchange for Radio Edith :-p

:hahaha: no not quite,

i would make Edith the new boss of Radio-1 though "it's all about the music" & promote Andy Parfitt to boss of all BBC Radio.

[Rik]

Yes because rearranging Radio 1 has always at the top of the PM's agenda. They sort thinks like the Afghanistan war in their spare time.

[MissCorsham]

:hahaha: no not quite,

i would make Edith the new boss of Radio-1 though "it's all about the music" & promote Andy Parfitt to boss of all BBC Radio.

Ah Mazing!

Yes because rearranging Radio 1 has always at the top of the PM's agenda. They sort thinks like the Afghanistan war in their spare time.

Of course!!

[E*F*4L]

Yes because rearranging Radio 1 has always at the top of the PM's agenda. They sort thinks like the Afghanistan war in their spare time.

i wonder if we have anyone out there like Adrian Cronauer ?

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_mED99cdk&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_mED99cdk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[blob]

what a load of bollocks. they talk about other peoples saleries, the ones who actually do something for our money and entertain us, and then they rob us blind, cover it up and lie about it. god i hate politicians.... selfish, arrogant, self important, self rightous wankers! leave our enjoyment alone and stick to fidiling your expensises and what ever else you can get your hands on!

oh and i have always wanted to know if there was any1 out there like cronauer!!!!!

[DarkAngelMJH]

Fiddling our expenses? Don't forget it's all within the rules

[welovemoyles]

BASTARDS:evil: