Signs that the radio signals should be switched off for good?
By Yahya Mahmoud
Should radio stations be turned off? [Image: Unsplash]
Over the last ten years; according to the Express and Star, the BBC’s share of radio listening has fallen to a post pandemic low. Now the reason behind it is simple. The trend for the BBC Radio services is mainly driven by a slow drop in the amount of people listening to either the national or regional services.
The average weekly audience for these stations was seven million between April and June 2024, and down two million from 9.2 million between July and September 2021.
According to a graph by IPA Graphics, BBC Radio 2 audience figures has floated around the 12.5-15 million range, so still popular right? Well compared to its sister channel, BBC Radio 1, its audience figures between September 2021 and June 2024 was between 7.5 and 10 million however it had been falling slightly slowly below 7.5 million before climbing above it.
BBC Radio figures decline [Image: Getty Images]
Meanwhile commercial radio station ‘Greatest Hits Radio’ in that same timeframe of September 2021 and June 2024 has climbed significantly from just above 2.5 million weekly average listeners to just above 7.5 million and being slightly ahead of BBC Radio 1.
Which just goes to show that Radio 1’s output is slowly spiralling down while Radio 2 is still very popular compared to other stations up and down the UK.
Greatest Hits Radio for instance had a 30% increase from the 5.8 million average listeners in 2023.
The appetite for Radio isn’t as strong as the appetite for Television. So upon extensive research on the future of FM Radio, FM Radio is likely being retained until at least 2030 when by that point, the BBC could close a small number of transmitters and reduce power at the main sites due to budgetary constraints.
Decrease in those listening to the radio [Image: Getty Images]
An example of a programme on BBC Radio is The Archers, the longest running soap opera in any medium in the history of broadcasting as it is. According to the book ‘Life On Air’ written by David Hendy, he described the poor standing of radio drama at the time as “a failure to fully shake off the conventions of non-realism which had prevailed in the 1940s and 1950s." So the show went through sweeping editorial reforms, including the introduction of female writers. Helen Leadbeater and Margaret Phelan were credited with giving the programme a new definitive style of writing and content. Even if some of the listeners complained about their radical feminism.
To reiterate the question, should the radio signals be switched off for good? The answer lies with the listeners themselves.