Dear BBC, You have broken your best radio station.

[muninnhuginn]

Now you've broken it, I realise what it was I liked about BBC7. The mix of older and newer comedy and drama had an energy and edge that Radio 4 doesn't have. It had pace: even the odd filler interview managed to be quirky.
What BBC7 didn't have was news (still doesn't) and endless interview-type talk. Adding repeats of Desert Island Discs and interviews from Front Row slows its pace, dilutes the comedy, drama and readings that gave the station its own unique flavour.
What BBC7 also had was older children's broadcasting (albeit reduced when Big Toe became Big Toe Books) that was intelligent and, I think, unpatronising to children whilkst being interesting to the adult listener too. When the rebranding (or should we call it "colonisation" or "absorption"?) was announced, the change to the 4 o'clock slot sounded promising. If this is broadcasting for all the family, then it's target age group was apparently reached by adding the ages of all members of a family (including the grandparents) and aiming to provide output soothing enough for the 200-year old Methuseleh identified as its listener.
(At the time that The Big Toe Show was canned and Radio 4 cut its Sunday evening children's show, I wrote to the BBC to complain on my daughter's as well as my own behalf. She has enjoyed Big Toe Books--as have I--but has mainly moved on to other BBC7 drama. With the incursions of repeated talk, there is less of this, too, to create a life-long BBC listener out of her.)
What I most object to is the loss of choice. If I don't like what Radio 3 is broadcasting, there is a commercial alternative. If I don't want Radio 2 or 1, there are other options. If I don't like what's on 4, I could previously turn to 7. Now I get more of 4 and less of the difference.
I don't know how much the rebranding exercise cost--new logo, new ident, all those interminable adverts--but I do wonder if that money could have been better spent preserving--and growing--what was best about BBC7.
Meanwhile, my daughter will decamp elsewhere if 4 Extra (7-Lite?) doesn't suit. I'm left with the prospect of the mute button.
Yours,
irritated ravens
PS I love The Archers on Radio 4 with the chance to imagine around the stories. I don't want all the gaps filled in by extra programs. There is a mystery to those non-speaking characters and to the undramatised parts of characters' stories that makes them more richer and more real.

Comments

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm overjoyed at the end of Ceebeebies, which I don't think any kids listened to anyway, like the extra drama, and I love Arthur Smith's presentation of the Comedy Club. I stopped listening to The Archers years ago anyway, and am very happy at extra The Now Show.

Otherwise I don't see much change. There is no news, and there was always chat and interviews - at least Arthur's anecdotes are good.