Only a few decades ago, radio in the U.K. was confined to three national stations transmitted by the British Broadcasting Corporation, plus whatever foreign stations (or, in the 1960s, the "pirates" - transmitting from ships moored just outside territorial waters) the listeners could pick up.
The BBC no longer enjoys a near-monopoly, however, and is today facing something of a crisis. Constantly under attack from sections of the media for its perceived left-leaning political bias, and threatened with a massive reduction in funding, the future of this organisation is in doubt.
The BBC is funded entirely by licence fees, supposedly paid by everyone who owns a TV set. This causes massive resentment in some quarters. Many are quick to point out examples of extravagance, such as the number of overseas staff, the enormous salaries paid to TV stars, and the large number of BBC local radio stations.
Radio Leicester became the first of these in 1967, and there are now 40. The corporation claims for them a share of 9.1% of the national radio audience, which sounds impressive considering the number of rival commercial stations - over 200 at a recent count - but there is huge disparity between stations. Radio Guernsey manages a highly creditable 29%, while Radio London clocks up a pathetic 1.5%. These extremes fit the overall pattern of small population equals little competition equals high listener share, and vice versa. It is understandable that the BBC's critics question the need for public service radio in urban areas saturated with commercial stations.
Yet the quality of the commercials' output varies as widely as the BBC's local audience share. Many of the stations concentrating on pop try their best to provide mass-appeal programming combined with musical diversity, but it seems others have given up on the idea. The output of a typical big-city station, in central England, consists of a couple of dozen current chart hits, played over and over again for weeks on end, with half an hour or so of oldies per day as a token gesture.
Working in a factory, office or warehouse which imposes such a station on its workforce is not an uplifting experience. The most depressing aspect of it is the apparent acceptance of this neo-torture by the captive audience. If questioned about it, the majority will comment that they don't really notice - which begs the question, do they also hardly notice the adverts? If not, there would seem to be little reason for the station's existence.
Happily there are exceptions to the prevailing gloom. Big L broadcasts on the decidedly old-fashioned 1395 metres medium wave, but also via satellite and on the Internet. With a mix of lesser-known presenters and veterans of BBC national radio led by Mike Read, this station appears willing to play anything - apart from the relentless loop of current hits so beloved of mainstream commercial radio. It is possible to email a presenter, mentioning a particular record, and hear it played within minutes. Try doing that with most of the others and you will be ignored.
The future should be bright for such progressive-thinking radio stations as Big L, plus others in the same mould. Hopefully as their popularity grows, the bigger and less imaginative stations will follow suit and stop turning sections of the British population into zombies.
