Out of tune 

25 January 2006 tbs.pm/300

Save the Radio 4 Theme

Times Online: UK dream

If you have any interest whatsoever in the world of media (and you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t), you couldn’t help but notice the furore that has recently escalated relating to the planned axeing of BBC Radio 4’s UK Theme, which is/was the very last station in the UK to still use a formal piece of music as a ‘startup’ theme when commencing broadcasting each and every day.

Logically speaking it’s relatively easy to dismiss the UK Theme as an outdated anachronism, especially when you consider that all the other UK radio and television stations stopped using formal opening themes years ago. However it’s also easy to argue that the use of such a theme has benefits that aren’t strictly tangible plus there are other long-forgotten advantages.

Television (and some radio) programmes still make extensive use of theme music, and such music imprints character upon the programme in question, so it logically follows that a station theme would do likewise for a radio (or TV) station. Radio and television stations are often slated for having ‘manufactured character’ but such a theme helps to provide an additional distinction.

It’s rather odd that in an era where broadcasters everywhere are becoming increasingly desperate to impart and maintain emotional values for their respective station identities, Radio 4 seems to be taking the opposite step at this point in time to remove one of its long-standing and most characterful features. And if you want more news there’s always Radio 5 Live.

Granted that the actual theme music used might not be to everyone’s taste, but even critics of the music must concede that the actual use of a station theme is a separate issue altogether. And commercial stations often play up to five minutes of “time-wasting” adverts (complete with annoying jingles) several times an hour on a regular basis.

However the whole concept of a “station theme” seems to be now regarded as either “old-fashioned” or a “time waster”, but that doesn’t take into account the unique character and nature that Radio 4 still has as a public institution. Remove the station’ distinctive features one by one and you would end up with something that’s barely distinguishable from a commercial product.

And there are still other “time-wasting” features of arguably even less importance on Radio 4, such as the shipping forecast, which is now outdated by new technology and only benefits a few thousand people at most, but will still be broadcast several times a day and doesn’t even have the additional value(s) that a station theme can and does still impart.

Mark Thompson’s flippant comments in a Times article just helps to reinforce old prejudices relating to the broadcasting ‘elite’ being out of touch with the views and attitudes of some of its audience. You may disagree with their views but someone in his public position still has a duty to fully understand the issues and communicate this understanding effectively.

Although such comments may be ‘tongue-in-cheek’, Mark Thompson’s assertion that disgruntled listeners could “download the Spiegl medley from our website and programme their digital radios to play it whenever they like” fails to realise that only around 5% of digital radios can play music files. Not to mention the fact that not everybody in the UK has a digital radio.

Such unhelpful and patronising comments from a head of a public broadcasting corporation not only shows arrogance but also (most alarmingly) a lack of understanding for someone in Mark Thompson’s position. But Mark Thompson seems unusually adept at annoying large groups of people, judging from his previous track record dealing with BBC employees.

A final thought: Radio 4 has a weekly reach of about 10 million listeners compared with the BBC Asian Network’s 500,000, which is about 5% of the Radio 4 figure. If the BBC can justify providing a whole radio station serving the same audience size as 5% of the Radio 4 audience, then logic dictates that the opinion of 5% of the Radio 4 audience must be equally important.

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David Hastings Contact More by me

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