Foyle/Ulster’s highest listenership in NI but fiscal uncertainty ahead: review

Equally, a limited number of North West respondents to a public consultation informing the new service review expressed dissatisfaction over the scrapping of Eamon Friel’s Saturday Club and approval for Radio Foyle programming that has since been scrapped or shifted - including Mark Patterson’s former afternoon show and the Sarah Brett and Paul McFadden shows which have been replaced by the Stephen Nolan Show.

Last December local programming at Radio Foyle was marginally reduced under a new scheduling shake-up affecting the Northland Road station with radio chiefs promising a stronger North West focus from Radio Ulster in future.

Radio Foyle formerly put out 8 hours of local programming as part of its day time schedule but this was cut by just under 30 minutes from December 2010.

Now the BBC Trust’s newly published ‘Service review: The BBC’s national radio stations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales’ has noted that the average length of time listeners stayed tuned to Radio Ulster/Foyle was high compared with other BBC stations although the report also noted that middle class, middle-aged men were more likely to listen to the station than other groups.

The average age of a Radio Ulster/Foyle listener was 55 in 2010-11 and has been reasonably consistent in recent years, the review found. There was also a male and ABC 1 (middle-class) bias.

The report was published as part of the Trust’s review of all the BBC’s radio stations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is the latest in the Trust’s rolling programme which sees each BBC service evaluated at least once every five years, and the review included a public consultation, audience research and discussions with local licence fee payers led by the Trust’s Audience Council for Northern Ireland.

In terms of quality audience approval scores for Radio Ulster/Foyle were high in comparison with other BBC stations in Northern Ireland.

On average audiences gave Radio Ulster/Foyle an approval score of 8.1 out of 10 in the first nine months of 2010-11. These approval scores are higher than in 2005-06 (7.9) and are higher than scores for each of the BBC’s network radio stations with the exception of Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live.

Audience perceptions of quality differed depending on the type of programme broadcast but most listeners thought the station was meeting its service licence commitments to provide engaging, challenging and innovative programmes.

Distinctiveness was also assessed and the station was considered distinctive because it offered content which was not available from other sources in Northern Ireland.

Furthermore, Radio Ulster/Foyle was found to be meeting its service licence conditions relating to news, current affairs and comedy programming. The Trust’s research showed that listeners to the station believed it was making an important contribution to its “public purposes” and that there was an opportunity for the station to use its wide reach to make an even greater contribution to the “public purposes.”

Radio Foyle’s “public purpose” in terms of citizenship is to “broadcast at least eight hours of news and current affairs each week;” and in terms of reflecting the UK’s nations, regions and communities is to “broadcast at least 220 hours of Irish and Ulster Scots programming a year.”

The Trust review also deemed Radio Foyle value for money. Radio Ulster/Foyle was operating within the service licence budget limits set by the Trust, it stated.

The relationship between Radio Ulster/Foyle’s costs and performance indicated that the station was cost-effective and the majority of licence fee payers believed that Radio Ulster/Foyle represented value for money.

Its costs were being considered alongside every other service as part of a BBC-wide review to reduce costs following the latest licence fee settlement whilst benchmarking production processes between nations’ radio stations was suggested as a way to identify opportunities to reduce costs.

Plotting a way forward for local radio the report said Radio Ulster/Foyle had set out a strategy to maintain its current strong performance and planned to remain distinctive and to continue developing its offer to reflect social and political change.

“Radio Ulster/Foyle’s strategy has three broad themes. Firstly, the station plans to ensure that it continues to reflect a changing society. This includes: developing news, current affairs and topical programmes to stay relevant; finding opportunities to support communities of interest; developing the station’s existing talent succession plan; and complementing news output with factual programming focused on nature, business and history,” the report stated.

“Secondly, Radio Ulster/Foyle plans to maintain reach and distinctiveness by: tailoring the Radio Foyle schedule to meet audience needs with content scheduled at times when audiences are most available to listen.

“These changes were implemented in December 2010 and will be supported by communications and marketing; creating more stand-out moments in existing Radio Ulster/Foyle content, especially those which focus on local success or stories; continuing to commission intelligent speech-based programming and music content which draws on distinctive local specialisms, interests and talent; identifying opportunities for collaboration across BBC Northern Ireland to showcase new talent and ideas, especially in the areas of comedy and entertainment.

“Thirdly, the station plans to achieve greater audience engagement across all age groups by: more audience interaction and outreach; the creation of special weeks or seasons to attract occasional listeners; cross-promotion across BBC NI (including TV); as well as greater use of social media and online to engage listeners. Radio Ulster/Foyle’s strategy is well-considered but will need to be revisited in light of the latest licence fee settlement,” it said.

The BBC Trust broadly welcomed the station’s plans, particularly, the strategy’s emphasis on maintaining quality and distinctiveness.

Ominously, however, it warned of further cuts to come, stating: “The extent of cost savings required from each service is uncertain and has not been taken into account in the strategy set out above, which is based on existing levels of funding.”

Intriguingly, an analysis of the public consultation which informed the Service Review noted that hardly anyone from the North West took part.

It found that “only a relatively small number of respondents listen to Radio Foyle, and of these most believe that Radio Foyle does a good job of representing the North West of Northern Ireland.”

Asked if BBC Radio Foyle should provide programmes which reflected the needs and interests of audiences in the North West those respondents that listened to the local station were in many cases very positive about the local programming although some respondents were not happy with the recent changes to the schedule.

There were also some respondents who thought it was not necessary to have a station especially for the North West of Northern Ireland.

Some commented that there was good coverage of local issues and they would like to see coverage enhanced. A number of programmes receive specific praise such as the Sarah Brett and Mark Patterson programmes.

“Excellently! 8am-10.30 we are very well served with national, international and local topics by Radio Foyle and the Mark Patterson show in the afternoons is second to none-wide ranging, interesting, humorous etc, the whole package. Would love more programming to be based at Radio Foyle,” claimed a woman aged 55 to 64.

“Excellent - first place i go to for local news, views and events,” was the response of one man aged 35 to 44.

“Local stories of interest are covered in depth and include different points of view,” was the view of another man aged 35 to 44.

“Top marks! I can listen on-line to Morning Program, Sarah Brett/Paul McFadden and Mark Patterson Shows to hear local people discuss local issues. Both the hard hitting, and the hilarious. Local figures whether it be police chiefs, medical experts, politicians be questioned rather than simply having them repeat press releases,” was the opinion of another man aged 25 to 34.

“Radio Foyle provides programmes which reflect the needs and interests of audiences in the North West exceptionally well. It should provide more programmes and have more air time,” argued a woman aged 25 to 34.

“It is an outstanding station for its locality. There is a clear focus on Derry City which may frustrate those in the wider NW area but that at aside it is plugged in to the communities that it serves at a deep and real level,” a man aged 35 to 44 stated.

There were a number of suggestions for improvements arising from the consultation including more business coverage, less news and more local news for the areas outside Londonderry.

There were also a number of respondents who were unhappy about recent changes to the schedule. In particular they mentioned the loss of the Eamon Friel Saturday Club, which they believed reflected the needs and interests of audiences in the North West.

“Radio Foyle should be expanded rather than cut. how you can cut output when it’s coming up to UK City of Culture and the programmes are more attractive than R Ulster anyway, I don’t know. The Foyle programmes and their presenters eg Sean Coyle, Mark Patterson treat people as if they have a brain cell,” claimed a woman aged 55 to 64.

“Radio Foyle is too news/current affairs heavy. The morning news is followed by a news lead show. In the afternoon there is another two hours of news/current affairs with the lunch time news and Mark Patterson. The shows are well done but there is just too much,” complained a woman aged 45 to 54.

“Mark Patterson show is a top notch magazine prog that taps into the specific needs of the North West. I’d like to see a little more coverage of the towns and villages outside of Derry city,” argued a man aged 45 to 54.

The scrappage of Eamon Friel’s Saturday Club was considered an unpopular move.

“Radio Foyle had one good example of this that I used to listen to on a Saturday afternoon; that was Eamon Friel. What happened to his broadcast?” complained a man aged 55 to 64

“I think Radio Foyle do an excellent Job, except for the loss of the Saturday Club. I don’t want to listen to a ‘Belfast’ programme. I now no longer listen to Radio Foyle on Saturdays,” complained another man aged 45 to 54.

“Radio Foyle reflected the needs and interests of people in Derry up until it stopped the Eamon Friel show on a Saturday afternoon. This was a great, informative programme which included interviews which related to local events as well as great music. Bring back this show which was an education and enjoyable,” was the refrain from another man aged 35 to 44.

Surprisingly a number of respondents said Radio Foyle was not necessary.

“The needs and interests of audiences in the North West of Northern Ireland are more than adequately covered by Radio Ulster. It is not necessary to have an opt-out station for such a small area. It would make a lot more sense to have an opt-out for Irish/Ulster Scots programmes,” claimed an man aged 16 to 24.

“I don’t think that this country is big enough to warrant two BBC radio stations of the same type. When listening to Radio Foyle, I often feel that they are struggling for sufficient local content. It may well be good to keep an office in Derry to collect the news, etc., but it should all be transmitted under the Radio Ulster banner. By the same token, there shouldn’t be too much content that only refers to Greater Belfast,” claimed a man aged 65 to 74.