Every presenter working at every local BBC radio station has been put at risk of redundancy under new proposals at the BBC.
In a staff meeting on 13th January, all audio teams at 39 stations were told further details of drastic plans announced this week.
All Band E Lead Presenters, Band D Senior Presenters, Band C and B Presenters, Band C Journalists and Content Producers, Band B Journalism Coordinators and more are now at risk of redundancy. These include high-profile breakfast show personalities, long-serving networked night-time hosts and weekend presenters.
A voluntary redundancy scheme has also been launched effective immediately.
This has been kept quiet this since October/November but the lack of information with not a single member of staff consulted on this.[1]
This action has prompted outrage, being described as ‘yet another attack on arts and culture’. Without BBC Introducing it will be so much harder for artists to break in what is already becoming an increasingly more difficult climate.
Jobs at risk ‘do not’ include Executive Producers, Technical Operators, Schedulers, Receptions and Administrators.
BBC Hereford & Worcester presenter Andrew Marston released this statement:
’As you may have seen, there are some major changes being proposed to Local BBC radio, which could have a huge impact on BBC Music Introducing.
A site has been set up, below, for those who want to shout about Introducing and what it means to the local area. If we’ve supported you in any way possible – even just as a listener, please support us by posting a comment below via the link provided. We’re currently on-air Saturdays & Sundays 6-10pm and struggle to get through the amount of music sent in – and that’s just the good stuff! Our artists are the backbone to Introducing and the current proposals are to replace 32 local shows to just 10 or 11 regional programmes on Saturdays 8-10pm. Quite how this will affect the opportunities for local musicians is yet to be decided, so this is your chance to have your say on the future of BBC Music Introducing.’ Andrew Marston, BBC Introducing – Hereford & Worcester
Further information
References
[1] Local BBC Radio sharing proposals may change before implemented – Radio Today