BBC enlists commercial sector help to shake up radio

Amanda Andrews has written a piece in The Telegraph and also reported by Radio Today that former GMG Radio boss, John Myers, has been asked to carry out a wide-ranging efficiency review.

Mr Myers has been tasked with reviewing the operations at core BBC stations including Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music and 1Xtra. The review could lead to a major shake-up of the way BBC Radio operates and is one attempt at ending constant accusations of a "bloated" BBC. In recent years, the commercial sector has heavily criticised the BBC for spending more than is necessary to operate a radio business.

The BBC Trust wants the core radio stations to deliver value for money to the licence fee payer, while operating as efficiently as possible. Mr Myers will spend the first three months of 2011 undertaking the review. As a result of his commitments at the BBC, he will not begin his new role as chief executive of the Radio Academy until April. "I can confirm that as part of our ongoing drive to ensure value for money we have asked independent consultant John Myers to help us in reviewing the efficiency of our radio operations. He will be working with us between January and March 2011," said a BBC spokeswoman A source familiar with the situation said that the BBC wanted to hire someone primarily with commercial sector expertise, but needed to ensure that person was not a "BBC hater". 

It is an interesting development am I not sure what I make of it. He is only reviewing the stations that compete with the commercial sector  but arguably that is all he is qualified to advise on. But when you look at the budgets will it make any real difference.

Radio 1
10.8 million weekly listeners, budget £43m, cost per user per hour 0.6p

Radio 2
13.3 million weekly listeners, budget £50.7m, cost per user per hour 0.5p

Radio 3
2 million weekly listeners, budget £51.1m, cost per user per hour 6.3p

Radio 4
9.7 million weekly listeners, budget £108.6m, cost per user per hour 1.3p

Radio 5 Live
6 million weekly listeners, budget £72.2million, cost per user per hour 2.3p

6 Music
0.7 million weekly listeners, budget £9m, cost per user per hour 3.4p

Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
0.7 million weekly listeners, budget £3.7m, cost per user per hour 2.6p

Radio 7
0.9 million weekly listeners, budget £6.9m, cost per user per hour 2p

Asian Network
0.4 million weekly listeners, budget £12.1m, cost per user per hour 6.9p

Radio 1Xtra
0.6 million weekly listeners, budget £9.6m, cost per user per hour 4.5p

The channels he is going to look at total £12.3m which is only just above the Radio 4 budget and the cost per listener for Radios 1 & 2 is already small so it makes me think this process is just to pacify the commercial sector.