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Media
Wright defends Beeb, but says BBC radio must be ready to evolve
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 10 June 2010
More BBC shenanigans, and the boss of BBC Radio 3 – Roger Wright – has said that all radio stations need to adapt to the changing world, and that no one station should be protected from its obligations to change because of “nostalgic sympathies”.
Wright referenced the plans for radio set out in the aforementioned BBC Strategic Review, adding that the BBC Trust has some “tough decisions” to make. Meanwhile, he admitted his own station – Radio 3 – also needed to adapt. In fact you can’t help thinking Wright’s remarks were less a defence of his colleagues in BBC senior management as they attempt to downsize the Corporation’s radio output, and more a justification for a future evolution of the Beeb’s classical, folk and world music channel which he is already planning. Speaking at the aforementioned AGM of collecting society PPL, Wright said he was keen to examine “how we need to keep with the times”.
On more general issues, he took time to defend the BBC at large, which he said often suffered from the increasingly popular British past time of knocking large institutions. He told his music industry audience: “We live in a time when institutions are not particularly loved but what they offer is often still appreciated. The NHS and the BBC are just examples of two institutions which suffer from this current anti-institution outlook – but the principles behind the organisations and what they offer is still universally admired”.
