Stand against BBC Radio Cumbria Cuts

26th October 2011

BBC Radio Cumbria cuts October  2011
Briefing from Julie Clayton NUJ rep.

• Cumbria is not like the rest of the UK - we believe we deserve to be made a special case. Not all local radio stations have been asked to save the 20% being imposed on us. Local radio connects with an audience that isn't served well by other areas of the BBC output.

• We are the only local broadcaster or media outlet which covers the whole of the county. In terms of area, we work in a county that would cover the south of England from northeast London to the Isle Of Wight.

• Cumbria is the county furthest from the BBC's hub in London. It is essential the licence fee payers of Cumbria have a meaningful point of contact with the BBC in the heart of their community.

• We were first on scene for Lockerbie, Grayrigg, Derrick Bird, the floods, and the Keswick bus crash. We ensure the BBC nationally knows what's happening when big stories break here in Cumbria, and we flag up other major news stories for the national audience - such as the breast cancer scandal in Carlisle. The number of network northern correspondents is also being drastically cut meaning a reduced BBC Cumbria staff will have to pick up the slack.

• BBC Radio Cumbria will lose 9.4 FTE (full time equivalent) posts. Because of the  budget saving this represents, the NUJ at BBC Cumbria believes we're looking at the likelihood of 12 or 13 (possibly more) members of staff losing their jobs. We believe we will lose a third of the workforce.

• We will only be broadcasting locally between 6am and 7pm weekdays. Saturday from 6am to 6pm and Sundays from 6am to 1pm. This means the rest of the output will be shared regional or national programming. We expect to lose at least 50 hours of BBC Radio Cumbria's local programmes.

• A concession has been that we can retain our afternoon programmes where other stations will share a regional programme. However given the financial savings that must be made this may be impossible, a further fifteen hours may be lost.

• Our ability to respond to news events (ie, Floods, Derrick Bird / Grayrigg / the Keswick school bus crash) will be severely affected by a reduction in staff numbers and it is unclear if we would be able to stay on air through the night for the audience.

• It will also be impossible to offer the support to our community we've shown in times of crisis such as Foot and Mouth or the floods that have blighted the county in recent years.

• In addition to news BBC Radio Cumbria has many other strengths not least the weather, sport, drama, documentaries, features, traffic and travel, community interaction, outside broadcasts, local knowledge and the relationship with our listeners. The breadth and quality of what we do can only be diminished by the scale of these cuts.

• BBC Radio Cumbria is the most listened to BBC local radio station in the country and has won numerous national awards and plaudits from politicians and the public.

• Around 150,000 Cumbrians a week listen to us compared to the 88,000 who listen to Radio 4. We have a reach of 36.4 per cent which is higher than all other local or national radio services in the county.

• The savings we have to make in Cumbria are just a TINY fraction of the BBC's overall budget, but they will have a disproportionately negative effect on the BBC's overall output here.

• There are also plans to switch off medium wave frequencies which would put an end to our AM broadcasts.

• The north east and Cumbria Inside Out team face cuts of 40 per cent - programmes will be pan regional meaning our local investigative journalism may feature Hull and Sheffield.

• Weather teams in the north east and Cumbria must reduce from 3 to 1 meaning local radio morning weather bulletins will come from a pool based centrally.

We would appreciate any support you can offer.

The BBC Trust is starting a period of public consultation. The contact details are below....

BBC Trust Unit
180 Great Portland Street
London
W1W 5QZ
Email trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk
The consultation details can be found here 

Information line on 03700 103 100

textphone on 03700 100 212
Lines are open from Monday to Friday, between 9.30am and 5.30pm

You may also wish to share your views with the Director General Mark Thompson, the Chief Operating Officer Caroline Thomson and the Head of News Helen Boaden by writing to BBC Television Centre, Wood Lane, London.
You may also wish to share any correspondence with Nigel Dyson the editor of BBC Radio Cumbria, Phil Roberts the Head of Regional and Local Programming based at BBC Newcastle and your local MP.
Julie Clayton can be contacted at savebbccumbria@gmail.com

Cumbria County Council also has a voting section at the bottom of its homepage www.cumbria.gov.uk