Sunday 29 August 2010

Another example of my work - "Divided Britain" on BBC Radio 4

On Friday I finished editing and mixing a continuing documentary "Divided Britain" with producer Sally Chesworth for BBC News & Current Affairs to be transmitted on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 31st August at 8pm and repeated on Sunday Sept 6th at 5pm or find it here on the iPlayer.

In 2006, Radio 4 was given access to a ground breaking education scheme in East Lancashire which aimed to improve GCSE results and break down divisions in an area where white and Asian families live separate, parallel lives.  Following the disturbances in Burnley in the summer of 2001, schools were identified as having a crucial role in promoting community cohesion. Lancashire County Council was given the go ahead to close 11 schools and reopen them as 8 new community colleges each with the aim of being a hub for the neighbourhood, where Asian and white families would come together and get to know each other. The last of those £25 million buildings are due to open in September.
Marsden Heights Community College in Nelson moved into its new facilities after Easter. Head teacher Mike Tull is excited by the opportunities that the building brings and hopes it will help engage parents in the area. But what are the challenges he faces in breaking down cultural barriers in the former mill towns of Brierfield and Nelson?  Since the scheme began his school has gone from being 60% Asian students to nearly 80% and he says many white parents choose other schools for their children because of prejudice not standards of education. Locals already describe Marsden Heights as "the Asian school". And now a charity is looking to open an Islamic girls school nearby which many say threatens to further segregate young people. Can these new "superschools" make a difference or are racial divisions becoming more entrenched?

Some interesting quotes from the programme, one teacher saying "she grew up in a council house with no phone and no car". In one generation a mobile phone is now considered a necessity, not a luxury. Also the stories of bullying are horrific.  This is well worth a listen.

Saturday 28 August 2010

Details of the 4th programme of The Choice on BBC Radio 4 now available

As promised in my previous post here are the details of the 4th programme of the current series of The Choice on BBC Radio 4...

On The Choice this week Michael Buerk talks to Frank Evans, a butchers boy from Salford who dreamt of becoming a bullfighter after a holiday in Spain. The decision to become a matador meant he had to fight his way into the most dangerous and controversial sports in the world. It brought him ridicule and condemnation along with injuries in the ring and death threats out of it. But it was a choice he kept making despite a fearful wife and family and eventually despite ailing health.

A very interesting story about a guy determined to follow his dream.

Thursday 26 August 2010

Independent radio producers say BBC Trust has not gone far enough

John Plunkett in The Guardian has reported the initial responses from the radio independent producers to the publication of the report into the BBC's treatment and quotas for indies in the radio sector.

Independent radio producers have criticised the BBC Trust's review of BBC radio commissioning, saying it was "short-sighted, complacent and contradictory". While giving a cautious welcome to the tone of the trust's report yesterday and its decision to extend the amount of BBC programming available to independent producers with a 10% window of creative competition, the Radio Independents Group said it was "very disappointed" by the scale of the change. The group had asked for a 25% minimum independent quota and a 25% window of creative competition. The trust said the minimum independent quota should remain at 10%.

The Radio Independents Group's (RIG) statement continues...

We welcome the introduction of a WOCC (Window Of Creative Competition) of 10% across all networks and are confident that, provided the appropriate commissioning structures are in place and monitored effectively, RIG members will compete effectively and win the majority of open tenders.
We are however very disappointed by the scale of change. We had proposed an increase in the quota (currently around 8.4% in real terms) to a statutory 25% and the introduction of a 25% WOCC. This would have been consistent with TV commissioning which works well for the benefit of license fee payers. The trust states that radio audiences register high levels of appreciation and increasing the indie quota risks adversely affecting this. We believe this is short sighted, complacent and contradictory to some of the trust's own recent network reviews. We believe that maintaining the status quo offers a greater risk. Any organisation wishing to equip itself for future challenges would seek to move forward, rather than protect it's current position – the licence fee payer would expect no less.

I am completely with RIG on this. It is OK for TV to have a 25% quota and a further 25% WoCC but The Trust saying

a reduction in the BBC's in-house operations to a guaranteed minimum of 50% of output "would cause great instability"

is crazy. Why will it cause instability for the radio sector and not the TV sector. Surely the issues were very similar when these quotas were introduced into the TV sector, and it is still here!  Also it wouldn't be a guaranteed minimum of 50% of output, the guarantee is only for 25% with the opportunity to pitch for up to another 25% but that is by no means guaranteed.

"We believe that maintaining the status quo offers a greater risk. Any organisation wishing to equip itself for future challenges would seek to move forward, rather than protect it's current position – the licence fee payer would expect no less."

Absolutely if the independent sector isn't given the oportunity to grow it will never get out of the 'cottage industry' status that it is currently. It is very hard to make a viable business out of independent radio programme making. The BBC is the only client in town and David Liddiment, chair of the trust's audiences and performance committee, said

the BBC's radio services were both popular and distinctive [and] make a vital contribution to the public purposes. However, this review has shown that the BBC's approach to commissioning from the sector does not always work as well as it should. Putting more of the programmes up for grabs will help promote competition for the best ideas, wherever they come from. That will be good for licence-fee payers, whose interests the trust is here to serve. And we are particularly keen to see a much more open and fair approach to commissioning from the independent sector."

If you want to increase the diversity and make it open and fair you need a large pool of smaller independent producers. In order to have a sustainable business they need a reasonable number of commissions to get some form of economy of scale. This level of quotas won't do it.

Wednesday 25 August 2010

BBC Trust plan to open up 10% of BBC radio output on top of independent quota mirrors TV 'window of creative competition'

John Plunkett in The Guardian has published details of the review that the BBC Trust has undertaken into the relationship between radio based independent producers and the BBC.

[The Trust] has announced plans that a further 10% of BBC radio programming will be opened up to independent programme-makers on top of the 10% quota that is already guaranteed to the sector.
 But the 10% isn't currently guaranteed, it is a voluntary quota!
The extra 10% – which can be competed for by both in-house and independent producers – will mirror the window of creative competition, or WoCC, which already exists in BBC TV.
As someone who took part in that review it is a step forward but I wouldn't call it a victory. The BBC by restricting the amount of commissions to 10% and a 10% of  WoCC isn't going to make a huge difference. The best would be a doubling of commissions available to the independent sector, the worst case scenario is no change as the BBC decides to commission all the 10% WoCC from in house. The Guardian report continues...
The trust called for a "step change in the way in which the BBC operates" in commissioning programmes from the independent radio sector. It said the relationship had become "strained" and called for the BBC to be "more open and transparent" in its dealings with outside producers. "Urgent improvement" was required, it said. The BBC has exceeded its 10% voluntary indie quota in all but one of the last 10 years. 
I am not sure I agree with that statement.
But the trust said competition for the best ideas "has not been consistently embraced by the BBC in radio". It said it was "concerned" by the BBC's current approach commissioning, with tightly defined supplier lists that "may restrict the range and diversity of those who supply content to the BBC". Independent radio producers had called for a minimum 25% quota and a further 25% WoCC, as operates in BBC TV. But the trust stopped well short of such an increase, saying a reduction in the BBC's in-house operations to a guaranteed minimum of 50% of output "would cause great instability".
But if the independent sector doesn't get a larger quota it can't expand and develop. To put it simply there isn't a viable living to be made.
The trust also criticised BBC management after it "encountered difficulties in conducting this review due to the lack of detailed information being collected". "We are therefore looking to the executive to better develop the way in which it monitors its obligations, particularly with regards to how range and diversity might be assessed in the trust's next review."

David Liddiment, chair of the trust's audiences and performance committee, said the BBC's radio services were "both popular and distinctive [and] make a vital contribution to the public purposes".
"However, this review has shown that the BBC's approach to commissioning from the sector does not always work as well as it should. "Putting more of the programmes up for grabs will help promote competition for the best ideas, wherever they come from. That will be good for licence-fee payers, whose interests the trust is here to serve. And we are particularly keen to see a much more open and fair approach to commissioning from the independent sector."
Well I am not impressed with this outcome. I was really hoping the radio sector would get parity with the TV sector, but I am pleased to see the Trust reporting their dissatisfaction with the way the BBC deals with radio indies. But again I wait to see what effect this will have on the way BBC Radio works with the indie sector.

Television ads more effective than online according to new research by Deloitte

How Do have just posted some analysis of a report by Deloitte on the television sector is based on one-to-one interviews with industry executives and a survey of the UK public designed by Deloitte and conducted by YouGov between 9th and 12th July 2010.

When it came down to remembering adverts, television was again top, with more than half of those surveyed recalling a TV ad as the most memorable campaign of 2010. 10% chose a newspaper campaign, while 1% said a banner ad and the same for an iPhone/iPad advert. 2% went for online video ads.

Television ads more effective than online according to new research
The respondents were also asked about pre-rolls on online video clips, compared to ad breaks. 36% stated that they were more likely to pay attention to the traditional 30 second advert, with just 1% opting for a video pre-roll or online video.

“Online advertising’s poor showing relative to television may surprise given that the former has often been portrayed as television’s nemesis,” said media partner, James Bates.

 “However, despite the positive perception of television advertising, its bed of roses is not free of mildew. Among television advertising’s greatest preoccupations is measurability. While television generates billions of commercial impacts every day, it is hard to measure precisely how many of these are viewed.”

Another problem for television advertising is keeping people sitting there watching it. It appears just 13% always or “almost always” watch the entire ad break, 11% never watched it and 2% claim they never watch any television which has advertisements.

When it comes to using catch-up and on demand services a massive 86% said they always fast-forwarded through the ads.


So an interesting view that people remember ads better when they are on TV even when the mute button is on or they are spooling through them!

The UK's media consumption habits from an OFFCOM report

We are social have posted an interesting summary on media consumption habits...

Ofcom released its seventh annual communications market report last week. Its a goldmine of information about media consumption habits in the UK and is worth reading in full, the internet section in particular. In terms of social media usage, it reveals interesting data such as:
  • Social networking (in blue) is an all day long activity, filling the gaps between traditional media:
Proportion of all media activity throughout the day
  • The data above illustrates the popularity of television in the evening, when over half (52%) of all media activities undertaken involves watching television on a TV set. In the morning, radio is more popular, but declines by the evening when TV is at its peak. Text communications (including social media usage) and voice communications both make up a fair proportion of media activity during the daytime and after the end of television peak time
It is interesting to see how the text based communications in blue stay fairly constant throughout the full 24 hour cycle. There is alot more interesting analysis on the we are social post including...
  • Proportion of media use through device by age group radio usage is holding up except in the 16 to 24 age band.
  • Proportion of computer use by activity - interesting to see the percentage of phone and video calls at around 30%
  • Internet and PC take up - which is levelling off  although the move to mobile internet is growing.
Do take a little time to look at these results. If you have more time then you could look at the original report.

Tuesday 24 August 2010

Bishop Nick Baines weighs in on a Religion Editor for the BBC

Bishop Nick has just posted a very clear explanation as to why the BBC should have a Religion Editor as suggested back in May by Roger Bolton and by The Church of England as I posted about here.

Bishop Nick says...
Now, no doubt this will provoke the secularists again as it appears to represent special pleading by Christians for more ‘religious’ programmes. 
Well they would be wrong as Bishop Nigel said in Church of England's submission to The BBC Trust as reported in The Guardian...

The church said programmes such as Daily Service, Choral Evensong, Sunday, Moral Maze and Something Understood, and one-off documentaries including Twin Sisters and Two Faiths helped present "an authentic portrayal of Christian worship [alongside] in-depth discussions and explorations of religious and ethical themes".  It said Radio 4 broadcast more than the required number of hours of religious programming, and said the three BBC stations, along with Radio 3 and Radio 7, "broadcast an unparalleled range and depth of religious programming which deserves grateful acknowledgement by all those concerned with increasing mutual understanding between people of all faiths and none".
Bishop Nick continues....
This, however, is a big mistake. In the same way that the BBC decided that some elements of the world’s news need to be understood and explained – interpreted – , so the religious perspective needs similar treatment. .....  A Religion Editor would not be there to propagate or evangelise (thank God), but to explain, interpret and educate. Think how different things might have been if the 9/11 media coverage had had such a person who actually understood Islam before the crime was committed.
Such a person might also offer some advocacy for those who feel constantly misrepresented by media coverage of religion or of religious perspectives on world events. I know this will raise temperatures  among those who believe Richard Dawkins is infallible and fundamentally inerrant (and I know his current programmes are broadcast from the Channel 4 stable, not the BBC), but we might be spared some of the nonsense that gets through the editors’ desks when it comes to religion.

It is well worth reading the rest of Bishop Nick's post.  I hope The BBC Trust get to read it.

"The Choice" on Radio 4 is now running - want to listen to my handiwork?

As I blogged back on 16th July that I had finished working on this year's series of The Choice for Radio 4, where Michael Buerk (OCF) in conversation with people who have faced a life-changing choice. They are now going out so I can now tell you more about them.

The first programme went out on 12th August whilst I was away so I am afraid it isn't available on iPlayer anymore Michael talked to Heather Pratten about her decisions to help her terminally ill sons in very different ways. This was an emotional programme to make and to listen to were a mother had to decide how to help her terminally ill sons die.


Programe 2 went out on August 19th so you can listen to it on iPlayer for another 3 days.


On The Choice this week, Micahel Buerk talks to Romy Tiongco. He spent a lifetime fighting poverty - first as a Catholic priest, then as a Christian Aid worker. Where he comes from - the Philippines - poverty is made worse by violence and corruption. He'd taken it on as a young man, before moving to this country with his wife. When he decided to return to the Philippines he did not realise it would draw him back into a dangerous and murky world and present him with the most difficult choice of his life. After his best friend was killed, the people called on him to challenge corruption by standing for political office - a choice that would put his own life on the line.

A excellent story of a 'little guy' standing up to strongholds at great personal cost.

Programme 3 goes out on this Thursday at 9am and again at 9:30pm

On The Choice this week Michael Buerk talk to Elissa Wall who was born into the strange, narrow world of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints - an American sect that had broken away from the Mormon church. It was a group that believed in religious devotion, hard work, female subservience, the virtues and the clothes of the prairie puritans - and polygamy. Elissa was married off at 14 to a 19-year-old cousin - a relationship she hated. After several miscarriages, and a stillbirth, she faced the toughest choice of her young life - to stay with the community and the church, which was all she knew, or to leave. That would mean, not only separation from her mother and sisters, maybe for ever, but taking on the man who had ruled her life, the cult leader Warren Jeffs.

This is a story of power and control as well as abuse that you wouldn't expect to hear about in western culture.

Programme 4 is the final one in the current series but the BBC have not released any information about it. When they do I will post it here.

"What's The Point Of" for Radio 4 is now going out - have a listen to my handiwork

As I blogged back in the beginning of July that I was working on the new series of What's The Point Of..." for Radio 4, how it is going out I can tell you what the programmes in this series is all about. This is what the BBC is saying on their site...

Quentin Letts returns with another series offering a witty and thought-provoking look at some of Britain's cherished insitutions. Over the next four weeks he casts a quizzical eye over Marylebone cricket club, the public library, the Kennel Club - and the RAF.

Programme 1 on the RAF went out last week and so you have only a few hours to listen to it on iPlayer.


All over the country, events are being held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, when the bravery of the Few saved these islands from a Nazi invasion. Even if some historians have had the temerity to suggest it was actually the navy wot done it, it's an opportune moment for the RAF to remind us of their historic contribution, and why we need them in the future. Which is why exactly?
Britain was the first country in the world to have an independent air force. To get rid of it is unthinkable, isn't it? Defence secretary Liam Fox has promised that the Governments strategic defence review will be ruthless and unsentimental - will he listen to the RAF's critics? They claim that a bloated higher command structure in Whitehall argues for fast jets we cant afford for a war we wont be fighting. Oh - and its uniforms are horrible and they can't march properly. Historian Max Hastings, War correspondent Sam Kiley, former defence secretary Geoff Hoon and retired Colonel Tim Collins are among those who join Quentin to ask the question, What is the point of the RAF?

In the current climate of cuts and savings this is a very timely look at what the RAF actually does for us.


Programme 2 is on the MCC - Marylebone Cricket Club and goes out today at 9am and tonight at 9:30pm


The celebrated historian George Trevelyan once wrote that if the French nobility had only played cricket with their servants they wouldn't have had their chateaux burnt. Today, with the revolution taking place within the game itself, Quentin Letts casts a quizzical eye over Marylebone cricket club, the English institution responsible for maintaining its laws and upholding its spirit. It's not easy for MCC to shake off the weight of history. It resisted the demands of sexual equality almost into the present century, and it is still berated for its exclusiveness. The programme hears from Rachael Heyhoe-Flint who captained the first English women's team allowed onto the Lord's pitch, and to another former Captain, Mike Gatting, who berates MCC members for a display of very ungentlemanly manners to fellow cricketer, Ian Botham. The powerhouse of cricket is now in India, the governing body is in Dubai and the focus of the game is shifting from test match to twenty-twenty But this private members club, the owner of the most famous sports ground in the world , still seeks a place at the table. Quentin talks to MCC chief executive Keith Bradshaw about what it's doing there - resisting the economic and global forces of modernity or leading the charge of change?

Cricket fans watch out!!

Programme 3 on Public Libraries goes out next Tuesday August 31st


Question: Where can you go to reduce your fear of crime, have a massage, ring a church bell, get some information about council tax, and engage in some heavy petting without being told off? Quentin Letts is surprised and sometimes disheartened by the answer; a library. Of course, you can borrow a book as well, but campaigners argue that - with some authorities spending less than ten per cent of their library budgets on books -something has gone very wrong with the way the service is being managed. Public Libraries have come a long way since Manchester opened the first in the 1850s. But where is the service going? Gleaming new buildings have opened in Newcastle, Whitechapel and Brighton - but more than 80 other libraries have been closed in the last five years; an age of public spending cuts surely means more. Former poet laureate Sir Andrew Motion, campaigner Tim Coates and Arts minister Edward Vaizey join Quentin Letts as he asks, what's the point of the public library?

If you heard the debate on Today on Radio 4 today you will want to listen to this programme.

The final programme in the series is scheduled to go out on Tuesday 7th September and is on The Kennel Club and I finish working on it on Thursday. Once there is some more info on it I will let you know.

Monday 23 August 2010

BBC should have a religion editor, says Church of England

John Plunkett in The Guardian has reported that Bishop Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester and the Church of England's senior spokesman on communications has come out supporting Roger Bolton's suggestion to appoint a religion editor to act as a "trusted guide" for people with faith as well as those without.

Bishop Nigel McCulloch made the comments in the Church of England's response to the BBC Trust's review on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and digital station Radio 7, which is to be rebranded as Radio 4 Extra.

It [The Church of England] said Radio 4 broadcast more than the required number of hours of religious programming, and said the three BBC stations, along with Radio 3 and Radio 7, "broadcast an unparalleled range and depth of religious programming which deserves grateful acknowledgement by all those concerned with increasing mutual understanding between people of all faiths and none".


The BBC came under attack for "marginalising" its coverage of religious and ethical issues at a Church of England national assembly debate in February this year. But senior members of the church's general synod rejected a motion attacking broadcasters over the lack of religious programmes. It was replaced with a more anodyne statement expressing appreciation of broadcasters' religious output, and voicing more general concern at the reduction in religious broadcasting. The Church of England said today that its submission to the BBC Trust reflected a tone of "critical friendship" towards mainstream broadcasters.
 We shall see what The BBC Trust gas to say in due course....

Television viewing increases despite rise of internet and social media

John Plunkett in The Guardian has written an interesting article about the apparent lack of drop in TV viewing despite the internet etc.


Predictions that the internet would kill the television star appear to be premature. Just as the cinema survived the advent of home video, TV is booming despite the growth of digital media and popularity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Viewers watched an average of three hours and 45 minutes of television a day in 2009, 3% more than in 2004, according to research published today by the media regulator Ofcom. TV continues to take centre stage in people's evenings, boosted by the popularity of shows such as The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and Doctor Who.

He quotes Richard Broughton, a senior analyst at the audiovisual research company Screen Digest.

"Various people have predicted that the internet would kill off television but we have always said that TV would be here for a long time to come. It's much harder for broadcasters and production companies to monetise content online, and there are all sorts of things that broadcast can do that online can't, such as high definition."

John concludes his article...


Ofcom said the growth in audience to video-sharing sites such as YouTube had begun to slow over the past two years. Like television, the popularity of radio continues to surge ahead, with a new high of 90.6% of the population – 46.8 million adults – tuning in at least once a week in the second quarter of 2010. However, the amount of time we spend listening to the radio has fallen, down 5.3% in the five years to 2009.

John has certainly triggered a huge amount of comments on this issue which are well worth a read too

Put broadband rollout in the hands of the BBC

Tony Ballard, Partner with law firm Harbottle & Lewis LLP has been talking about idea of getting the BBC to roll out the the government's planned 2Mb/s universal broadband service and so bypass the various quangos being set up to do this.  He has spoken on the Broadcast magazine's blog but I suspect unless you have a subscription you won't be able to read it.

Public money, or at least the BBC’s underspend on its provision for digital switchover, is to be made available through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), a creature of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, to procure the building of the necessary facilities. Why not put this in the hands of the BBC instead? ..... And since the BBC is going to be obliged to pay for it anyway out of the switchover underspend, why not put it on the BBC instead of a new quango?  The framework is already there – not just in the principle of universality but also in the BBC’s new Charter commitment to help to deliver the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services in promoting its other services..... It would avoid what might be an unfortunate precedent in the Government taking back some part of the licence fee.  It would avoid an unnecessary quango and associated costs.  It would increase the reach of its online services.  And the internet being a truly open platform (since all that it would be financing would be the transport layer of the local access networks), it would enable basic broadband access in the not-spots and fulfil the USC.
 However if you can't get to this, he has said very similar things in Computer Weekly recently too.

I love the comment from the Computer Weekly article from

No, no, no, this will never work. It's joined up thinking for crying out loud and that is just not permissible within BIS, etc. And anyway, the USC doesn't have to be delivered until 2015 as of today (Jeremy Hunt's speech at BDUK event-in-a-small-room), so by the time we get close to that most people who know that they cannot run their businesses or homes on less than 100Mbps will have left the rural areas for a) the cities b) other countries. I spoke at the Digital Media Conference in Oxford a few years ago on a panel about the future use of the digital spectrum post-switchover. I pushed for it to be used for broadband, against the mobile operators, HDTV guys etc, and cited the existence of BBC towers etc to make the job even easier in remote places. What you are saying is an extension of that idea - spectrum + money + BBC and we have **a workable plan.** There's no chance then, is there? ;o)

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Holiday intermission

There will be a 2 week break in posts whilst we take our much needed summer holiday. See you all after that.

Mike.

Sunday 8 August 2010

Why is there a sacred secular divide

Ever since I watched the Imagine Project DVD from LICC (London Institute of Contemporary Christianity) this issue has bugged me. So I thought I would share a bit of it with you.




The clip from a teacher is so telling, the underlying message is that what we do in church is much more important to God than everything else.

Should we not be trying to live our lives where everything we do is important to God and get to the position where there is no sacred secular divide.


In the words of that wonderful old hymn, "..all of Him and none of me."

Thursday 5 August 2010

Radio listening in the last 2 months reaches a 10 year high

The RAJAR audience research figures are now out and the headline story is that radio listening overall is at its highest level for more than a decade largely due to the general election and world cup coverage all landing in the same quarter.  Mark Sweney in The Guardian says...

According to figures released today by radio audience measurement body Rajar, an average of 46.8 million adults tuned in to their favourite radio stations each week during the period. This equates to 90.6% of the UK population over the age of 15.

Radio 1 pulled in a record audience of 11.81 million listeners, up 4.1% year on year and 0.6% quarter on quarter. The station's share was 9.3%.
Radio 2 attracted 13.73 million listeners on average each week, up 2.3% year on year but down 5.8% quarter on quarter. Its share was 15.9%.
There was less positive news at BBC Radio 3, which reported an average audience of 1.86 million, down 8.1% year on year and 8.2% quarter on quarter.
Radio 4 also passed several milestones: it had a record average weekly audience of 10.4 million in the quarter, with its best ever audiences for shows including Today, PM and The Archers.
Radio 5 Live reported its biggest audience since its launch in 1990, with a weekly reach of 6.76 million listeners, up 5.4% year on year and 4.4% quarter on quarter. Its share was 4.8%.
6 Music has shown why it needed to be saved, by doubling increasing its audience for the second quarter running, according to Steve Busfield in The Guardian...

The digital radio station, which was controversially proposed for closure before being saved by the BBC Trust, has seen its average weekly audience double since last year to a record 1.194 million for the three months to the end of June, according to Rajar figures published today.

However commercial radio were also spinning how good the results were for them. Radio Today report the results very differently....

For commercial radio, audiences have grown by nearly 1 million listeners (905 000) across the year, with the number of listeners tuning into a commercial radio service increasing to 32.8 million, the highest commercial reach recorded in the last decade and the fourth consecutive quarter of growth.

Andrew Harrison, Chief Executive, RadioCentre, said: “This is a fantastic set of results for the commercial radio sector showing long-term and sustained growth by every measure. The fact that commercial radio reach has hit a new record high and listening is up by almost 27 million hours in the quarter, is a testament to the investment that the sector is ploughing into ensuring that our content stands out from our competitors.

All BBC Radio listening is down - with weekly reach dropping from 34.88m last quarter to 34.59m this quarter. BBC share remains the same, ahead of commercial radio at 56.5 per cent.

Weekly reach and share for digital listening on DAB has seen a slight increase this quarter, with digital TV, internet and other devices either remaining static or increasing. Year-on-year figures are more encouraging with an 11 per cent increase in weekly reach. This means 20 million people now tuning in to radio via a digitally enabled receiver each week (up from 18 million in Q2, 2009).

Home ownership of DAB radio is up to 35.3 per cent (from 33) but listening via a mobile phone is down for 15-24 year olds and static for 25+.

Whatever way you look at these figures, and I am sure we will see them dissected in minute detail over the coming days and weeks, it has got to be good news for radio industry.