Once upon a time – well, from about 2012 actually – the BBC had an operating licence that was issued and regulated by the BBC Trust. It was intended to document what the BBC was supposed to do and how much, across all its platforms.
That seemed like a good idea – and probably was.
All worked reasonably well – with some tweaks here and there – for a few years. In local radio, these tweaks were mainly to allow some flexibility and sharing between stations that had much geographically, politically or culturally in common, such as between Radio Humberside and Lincolnshire, Bristol and Somerset and between Channel Islands Guernsey and Jersey.
In 2017, BBC regulation – including the operating licence – was transferred to Ofcom, the Office of Communications, which also overseas post, broadcasting technology, mobile phones and the radio spectrum as well, nowadays, as online safety.
The arrangement continued, largely unnoticed and unmonitored, until 2023.
When, that spring, the BBC announced sweeping plans for what had, until then, evolved into a network of 40 stations in England broadcasting local programmes for local people from studios in the county or metropolitan district where they live.
Instead of at least 12 hours a day of genuinely local – “single station” – output, sharing would cut this to just eight hours a day during the week, from 6am until 2pm, with just two presenters, each on air for four hours. For most stations, everything else, apart from sport commentaries, would be shared.
“As the impact of the local radio cuts have become apparent, concerns over Ofcom’s regulation of the BBC have not gone away.” Adam Christie
As with any and every area of human activity, the minutiae of detailed broadcasting regulation attracts its nerds.
A few of us are members of the NUJ and in the Leeds and West Yorkshire branch.
So, time that could have been enjoyed with families or by the pool was spent trying to interpret the complex terminology of the sections of the BBC operating licence covering local radio.
The revelations were astounding, but simultaneously, not surprising.
The terminology was incomprehensible and clauses inconsistent.
We got the impression – and that’s all it was – that, when Ofcom had taken over the licence, no one had bothered read it … in sufficient detail.
We also suspected that those at the BBC in charge of the local radio cuts hadn’t appreciated the details either.
Despite debates in parliament, with MPs from the (then) major parties expressing serious reservations and concerns, as well as select committee hearings, the BBC and Ofcom did little to provide clarification.
The branch tried to help, but the sheer complexity of the detail proved to be a huge obstacle in itself. We produced a 2,000-word, four-page briefing for local MPs.
Radio Today covered our findings. In due course, we learned that while the piece wasn’t followed up by other journalists, it had been read by BBC managers.
Now, three years later, as the impact of the local radio cuts have become apparent, concerns over Ofcom’s regulation of the BBC have not gone away.
Indeed, if anything, such concerns about the overall effectiveness of Ofcom as broadcasting regulator have got louder in recent months. On March 18 this year, The New World published its own comprehensive dossier cataloguing Ofcom’s unwillingness to address concerns about GBNews.
Over the winter, the Scottish Parliament was highly critical of Ofcom’s apparent willingness to let Channel 3 licensee STV shred its news operation for northern Scotland.
In an occasional series for the NUJ Leeds & West Yorkshire branch website, I’ll be offering a personal overview of Ofcom’s handling of BBC local radio.
The BBC charter is now being reviewed before its renewal in January 2028. Whatever that Charter says, the future of the BBC after that will very largely be determined by regulation. Ofcom’s recent performance suggests it may not be fit for this purpose. Deciding who regulates the BBC and how is as important as the Charter itself.
In his first personal perspective, Adam argues that Ofcom has changed the BBC’s operating licence – to potentially allow the Corporation to take the local out of local radio. Read the full piece here.