BBC Trust

Summary

This report presents the findings of our service review of BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 Music and Asian Network.

Our review, announced in August 2014, considered:

• How well the BBC serves audiences with 'music radio'
• How well Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 Music and Asian Network are performing against the terms of their service licences
• How well-positioned Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 Music and Asian Network are to deliver their service licence commitments in the future
• Whether the service licences for Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 Music and Asian Network should be changed

We carried out a public consultation at the end of 2014 and received around 2,900 responses from licence fee payers. In addition, we received a number of responses from industry and other stakeholder organisations. We also commissioned qualitative audience research to inform our thinking for the review and we interviewed members of BBC radio staff. This evidence, alongside performance monitoring and financial analysis, has given us a clear picture of these services. The supporting evidence for this review can be found below and the full report can be found here (PDF file).

Key findings

The review has found that the stations are viewed as high quality by audiences, deliver the requirements of their service licences and represent good value for money for licence fee payers.

We have found that the BBC is of critical importance to the music sector, and that the high level of support given by the six stations to new, UK and live music makes them distinct from the commercial sector.  Analysis of the music played on each of the six BBC music radio stations shows that they play a wider range of tracks and genres than is available elsewhere on radio. We’ve also found that the overlap of the music played on BBC music radio and commercial stations is low.

Listening levels across the BBC’s Music Radio stations have increased in recent years with 49 per cent of all UK adults listening to at least one of the six stations each week, and listeners’ perceptions of quality of the stations are high.

Despite the increasing challenge of competition from online platforms, radio as a medium remains valued by audiences as a destination to discover and listen to music. Analysis of the music played on each of the six BBC music radio stations found that they play a wider range of tracks and genres than is available elsewhere on radio.

We have developed 11 action points which we are asking the BBC to take forward as a result of this review. In summary these include:

Future focus – BBC radio should continue to develop its online strategy and should engage on a regular basis with the UK music sector and commercial radio. As the current definition of ‘new’ music is becoming invalid, the BBC should work with the music industry to find a more appropriate way to define new music on BBC radio.

Output – Radio 1 should find more ways to deliver a range of public purposes in its daytime programming. Radio 3 should maximise its distinctiveness by minimising similarities with other stations.

Audiences – Radio 1 should remain focused on serving a younger audience and Radio 2 should address the disparity in reach among black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) listeners.

Service licence changes – In order to enable savings, the number of live sessions on Radio 1 is being reduced, Radio 1 and 1Xtra will increase the number of documentaries shared between the stations, and the number of dramas on Radio 3 will reduce. Asian Network’s news and current affairs output will now be safeguarded through a service licence commitment to broadcast at least 24 hours of news and current affairs per week.

Full report

Summary of service licence amendments

Public consultation report

Audience research report

Performance analysis

Radio 3 content analysis

Responses from organisations

Responses from organisations to the review can be found here.

Audience Council submissions

Equality analysis