I am sorry to hear that Breakfast presenter Steve Le Fevre is leaving Radio Bristol. Not that I ever listen to the show, or anything else on the station for that matter, but he is a lovely bloke and a decent broadcaster who, I always felt, would be far better suited to a daytime slot rather than a fast-moving news show. His easy-going patter would have improved just about any other part of the daytime schedule before the enduringly excellent Geoff Twentyman presents the evening Drivetime show. But it was not to be. Good luck for the future, Steve. I think they wasted your not inconsiderable talents.
And good luck to Radio Bristol, too, because I have the feeling they will need quite a lot of it in the near future. Listening figures have tanked in recent years to the extent that the reach is regularly around 11% these days with a weekly audience of 104,000. Before the last managing editor Tim Pemberton commenced his years of mismanagement, the reach rarely went below 20%. These are dark days for a once much loved radio station. Where did it all go wrong?
My conclusion is that it went wrong just about everywhere. There was no doubt that the schedules needed tweaking, but Pemberton decided to break the golden rule that you don’t fix what isn’t broken and tore the heart out of the station. The presenters, much loved and bristling with local knowledge and genuine love of the area, have gradually been replaced by jobbing journeymen and bland stand-ins. Losing John Turner was the dumbest thing Radio Bristol could ever have done, but to then allow the likes of Keith Warmington to leave too was crass beyond words.
I am not a professional (or even amateur) radio person but my god I could have done a better job than Pemberton. I am told that the station aims for the over 55 age group which, you may not surprised to learn, includes me, but why? It is true that the population is ageing at a rapid rate of knots, but does Radio Bristol not know that at least a few people in Bristol are young? And Radio Bristol is supposed to be public service broadcasting, catering for, at least in theory, everyone in the area. But listen to the daytime shows and it really is aimed, 100%, at our senior folk. No one under 50 would surely want to be caught listening to the station? It would be like buying a porno magazine at the newsagent and then bumping into the local vicar. You just wouldn’t want it to happen.
The dull, generic presenters, the appalling golden oldie music schedule whereby even an Elvis tune from the 1950s is regarded as dangerous and cutting edge, is all but unlistenable. There is little new talent coming through. The Mid Morning show has at the helm one John Darvall, the ultimate generic personality-free presenter, with all the charisma of a house brick. Lunchtime has Steve Yabsley who has a cult following but a listenership of hundreds and the afternoon show? God knows who does that these days. I’ll bet if you asked 100 people on your High Street, 100 people would not know.
And weekends? After the brilliant Ali Vowles, it’s all downhill with a three hour programme where pensioners ring up with their medical problems, followed by two Clifton-sounding women self-indulging and then playing, yes, music from the middle ages. Only Geoff Twentyman – again – on Saturday Sport saves the day. Sundays? A three hour God slot and then? Why, they’ve hit on the genial idea of resurrecting Anneka Rice’s Treasure Hunt. I mean? Who is thinking of this stuff? And more interestingly, who the hell is listening?
I am beginning to wonder what on earth the point is to Radio Bristol? Where is the cutting edge to the BBC? I don’t want a sweary, shouty show, but there is so much talent out there, it just seems incredible that Radio Bristol ignores it, preferring to concentrate on the 11% who listen and not the 89% who don’t?
Have the powers-that-be never listened to the community radio stations? As I have said before, Pat Hart at BCFM, whom I have never met nor spoken to by the way, is by far the best breakfast show presenter in the area. Throughout the BCFM schedules, there are talented broadcasters and excellent shows, especially with regard to sport where they approach the subject in a totally original way. And what better way of attracting new, younger listeners than by sport shows and newer, more modern music? I have thought for ages that Radio Bristol could blossom with a Saturday magazine show, combining sport, entertainment and music that people under 50 actually listen to. Who on earth wants to listen to pensioners complaining about their haemorrhoids?
And during the week, get rid of the rubbishy phone ins where the same old – and I mean old – listeners ring in day in day out, dump the D list “celebs” who have a panto at Bath to promote and get out into the community. You can only do this if you have presenters who know and understand the community. Radio Bristol, with a few honourable exceptions, have hardly anyone who knows the first thing about what’s going on beyond the wine bars of Clifton.
Radio Bristol is broken, it needs fixing, Pemberton is gone, long live Pemberton, hopefully as far away from Radio Bristol as possible. New ideas, new, hungry presenters, take a punt on something a bit different, remember the things that used to make Radio Bristol so popular and put those ideas into a 21st century context. It’s not that difficult, is it? Give me a call. I’m ready and available to help. I’ll bet I couldn’t make the station any worse.
