bbc
"It's Not That I Don't Like Scottish People..."
16/11/07 14:08 Filed in: Personal
Listening to 'Feedback' on Radio 4 today, there was a
piece about the over use of Scottish presenters on
Radio 4. Someone in Surrey was clearly settling down
to afternoon tea at five o'clock when she heard a
Scottish voice on the radio and was so shocked that
she simply had to turn off the wireless and go and
lie down for a while. I believe the words she used
were:
There's more which you can hear on the listen again section of the R4 web-site for the next seven days.
I'm used to the fact that Radio 4 listeners spend most of their day with a notepad and pen, ready to write in to the BBC at the slightest hint of something different or, heaven forbid, a grammatical error, but when they start writing in about anyone other than a middle-class English person from the home counties presenting programmes, I'm always a little surprised.
A couple of years ago, a very experienced continuity announcer from the World Service transferred to Radio 4. He lasted for about two months. His crime: being Ghanaian on Radio 4! There were the same letters in to Feedback from people in Surrey calling for his immediate dismissal. The fact that he spoke very clear English just didn't seem to register to the traditional Radio 4 listeners. In fact, had this continuity announcer spoken without clarity, he would have never lasted at the World Service, a station which at that time had the majority of its audience listening on short wave.
The resistance to change on Radio 4 even extends to the stations branding. Recently, all BBC stations were given updated branding. If you visit the Radio 1, 2, 3, 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra, 6 Music, BBC 7, Asian Network and 1xtra sites, you'll find this new unified brand. If you visit the Radio 4 site, you'll find the old brand. The new R4 brand is relegated to the new media output of the station, which is unlikely to be accessed by the core 'Surrey' audience.
"It's not that I don't like Scottish people, I just find their accents very irritating on the radio."
There's more which you can hear on the listen again section of the R4 web-site for the next seven days.
I'm used to the fact that Radio 4 listeners spend most of their day with a notepad and pen, ready to write in to the BBC at the slightest hint of something different or, heaven forbid, a grammatical error, but when they start writing in about anyone other than a middle-class English person from the home counties presenting programmes, I'm always a little surprised.
A couple of years ago, a very experienced continuity announcer from the World Service transferred to Radio 4. He lasted for about two months. His crime: being Ghanaian on Radio 4! There were the same letters in to Feedback from people in Surrey calling for his immediate dismissal. The fact that he spoke very clear English just didn't seem to register to the traditional Radio 4 listeners. In fact, had this continuity announcer spoken without clarity, he would have never lasted at the World Service, a station which at that time had the majority of its audience listening on short wave.
The resistance to change on Radio 4 even extends to the stations branding. Recently, all BBC stations were given updated branding. If you visit the Radio 1, 2, 3, 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra, 6 Music, BBC 7, Asian Network and 1xtra sites, you'll find this new unified brand. If you visit the Radio 4 site, you'll find the old brand. The new R4 brand is relegated to the new media output of the station, which is unlikely to be accessed by the core 'Surrey' audience.
| What's this? |
