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MU expresses concerns over live music cutbacks at Radio 1
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 23 March 2015
The Musicians’ Union has expressed concern about the news that Radio 1 plans to cut its live music output in order to meet budget demands caused by the freezing of the licence fee in 2010.
As previously reported, the cutbacks will result in the number of live sessions aired by the BBC pop station dropping from 250 to 160 a year, with the cuts mainly affecting sessions within specialist programming. Radio 1 will also cover fewer large-scale music events. The planned downsizing was revealed in a report by regulator the BBC Trust which reviewed all of the Corporation’s music radio services.
Noting the Union’s continued support for the BBC, and that it will be a vocal supporter of the broadcasting institution as it negotiates a new charter and license fee deal with the next government, MU General Secretary John Smith told reporters on Friday: “These findings from the BBC Trust run the risk of compromising the unique coverage of live music events on the BBC”.
He went on: “The proposal to reduce the number of live sessions on Radio 1 from 250 to 160 is very concerning and the BBC should remember the u-turn it was forced to make over 6 Music when it became clear how much the public valued that station. Without the BBC’s commitment to live music the public would have virtually no opportunity to experience it on broadcast media and the MU believes that Radio 1 must remain distinct from the offer made by commercial broadcasters – namely by maintaining its coverage of live music”.
