The state of BBC Radio London sums up the state of the world as they lose a third of listeners in 2022

Robert Elms interviews Paul Weller

Back in 2019, I wrote a blog detailing how much I enjoyed the Robert Elms show on BBC Radio London. I listed 10 great things in London I'd discovered as a result of the show. My week days consisted of listening to Vanessa Feltz over breakfast, Robert Elms mid morning and Jo Good in the afternoon. Eddie Nestor would finish my radio listening day with his acid wit on the drivetime show.

Vanessa was a very good breakfast presenter. I have to admit, it took me a while to warm to her. Prior to Feltz, there had been a succession of zany presenters, Danny Baker and Jonno Coleman spring to mind. At first, I wasnt overly keen on Feltz's more serious style, however I came to appreciate that she was good at the gig and covered the morning news in a professional and entertaining way. Robert Elms weekday show was a fascinating, entertaining mine of information. Not only that, it was a fantastic resource for finding new artists and shows. Maybe half of the bands I've got into in the last 20 years were first played on the Robert Elms show. When I wrote the blog in 2019, I assumed that Robert would carry on until he either retired or the grim reaper intervened. It didn't occur to me that BBC management would be so stupid as to muck around with a winning formula. Robert has been benaished to Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Every show has a different time and unlike weekdays, I have stuff to do at weekends. Having two days less broadcast time means less new music, less guests, vicious pruning of rather good regular slots. Whereas I caught nearly all of Elms show, I maybe catch the Friday show and hour or two of the Sat/Sun shows. Now whilst it's not 'all about me' and some may find the extra Sunday slot great, the show simply doesn't have the time to do what it did before. 

Vanessa Feltz saw the writing on the wall and slung her hook. She's now on Talk TV in the afternoon which really is of little interest to me. Jo Good is on the graveyard shift from 10pm to 1am. I love Jo but I simply don't listen to the radio then. Eddie Nestor has moved from his drivetime show, where he was brilliant, to the Elms slot, where he is not. The drivetime show is fast moving and interactive. The mid morning show should, in my humble opinion, be slower paced, cover arts and culture and new music. Eddie is lumbered with a play list designed by Bots (if you believe Eddie) or a team of highly qualified musicoligists (if you believe his boss Sara David). He has no new musicians playing the piano in the corner. He has no writers, film makers and show directors talking about new productions. Many of the subjects are quite worthy, some are interesting. Eddie does banter well, but as someone who listens to a London station to learn about my city, it is no use at all. It simply does what LBC was already doing. 

As to the other shows. Vanessa's replacement is Ok. I have to say that when Jim Davis sits in, it is far better. Jim is simply better at presenting a breakfast show and if the BBC management can't see that they should be replaced. Jo's replacement Shay is as dull as dishwater. Whereas Jo was zany and off the wall, Shay is just dull. The subjects are grim and there is no fun. Again it is like a version of LBC.

Eddie's drivetime show has sort of been replaced by the London sports show. This simply doesn't work, apart from on days when there was significant London sporting events and news. Eddie gave a great insight into the news and the last hour was a more adult discussion of issues. Now we get a couple of hours of people trying to make the days sports news in London sound interesting. All well and good if Arsenal are playing Chelsea or Middlesex are in the Cricket final, but on dull Monday nights in February, when there are no games, no manager sackings and no cricket, it is simply boring waffle. 

I was thinking about how they have ruined the station. It is exactly like what Boris and his Brexit Spartans have done to the UK. Like BBC Radio London, most of the things we like about the UK are still sort of here somewhere. The only trouble is it's all become aggro and a load of hassle. Whereas before we'd sail through passport control in France, now we have to bugger about waiting for a stamp. Want to buy goods from the EU? Well you pay for it then get a bill for import duty. Want a tomato for your salad, good luck with that. You can always pay £7.99 a kilo at the independent shops, where they have plenty. I can't believe that even the staunchest Brexiteers can believe that this government has done a good job on 'getting Brexit done'. If ever there was a way to make it work for the UK, Boris and his merry men have seemingly done everything to scupper it. 

Yesterday we had a sureeal moment. We had the Prime Minister telling the people of Northern Ireland that they have the 'best of both worlds' as they are in the single market and in the UK'. No shit Sherlock. What about the rest of us? It seems to me that BBC Radio London is a perfect metaphor for the UK and the Brexit Spartans. They've taken something that worked pretty well and everyone was happy with and wrecked it, whilst claiming they've made it better. The bottom line is that, according to RAJAR, BBC Radio London has lost 31% of it's audience in a year. 

BBC Radio London sees a 31% drop in listeners year on year, down from almost a million listeners in Q3 2021 to 671,000 this quarter.

In any commercial organisation, the bosses would be sacked by the shareholders. Clearly that isn't how things work at the BBC. 

I guess one thing I've learned. Nothing lasts forever, no matter how good (or bad) it may be. Everything is transient. Change is difficult, it isn't always good, but it is inevitable. It's a theme I cover in much of my work, such as this particular song by  The False Dots