CHANGES made to BBC Radio Berkshire’s schedules at the start of the coronavirus pandemic will become permanent as the broadcaster looks to save £125 million.
In all, 450 jobs across BBC England are at risk – 15% of the workforce. A consultation is now in place and it is not known what will happen to BBC Radio Berkshire’s staff numbers.
The BBC runs 39 local radio stations in England. Since March, it has divided the broadcasting day into four-hour chunks – a breakfast show, a morning show, an afternoon show and an evening one.
Specialist programmes, which in Berkshire include Irish Eye, have been dropped and under the proposals it means that it is unlikely to come back.
Each programme will only have one presenter.
And other changes will see regional programmes made from 11 centres such as Southampton, replaced with ones made from six centres. The closest to Berkshire would be London.
Other changes include changing the 6.30pm regional bulletins from multiple newscasters to just one, and making more programmes from Bradford, Sunderland, Wolverhampton, Blackpool and Peterborough.
In all, BBC England has to save £25million by March 2022, part of the £125million the BBC needs to save as a result of revenue falling during the coronavirus pandemic.
Helen Thomas, the director of BBC England, says: “I’m proud people have turned to us for trusted news and information in huge numbers during COVID-19, proving the importance of our local and regional services. But those services were created more than 50 years ago, have changed very little and need significant reinvention. That has meant taking some difficult decisions.
“We are in the age of the Facebook community group and the WhatsApp neighbourhood chat. We must adapt to better reflect how people live their lives, how they get their news and what content they want.”
She added: “We’re going to modernise our offer to audiences in England by making digital a central part of everything we do.
“We’ll take forward lessons from COVID-19 that will make us more agile and more in touch with communities, while also ensuring we’re as efficient as we can be. I’m confident we can evolve our local and regional services while improving our impact and better serving our audiences.”
