BBC Trust

There was significant praise for Radio 4 from amongst the relatively small proportion of regular listeners present, with the station’s factual and news programmes receiving particular commendation. Programmes mentioned in this context included The Book Programme, From Our Own Correspondent, Desert Island Discs and the Today programme, though opinions on the merits of John Humphries as a presenter were mixed, with some welcoming his forthright approach, whilst others were of the view that he interrupted interviewees too much. A number of loyal Radio Cymru listeners said that Radio 4 was their alternative station, or that they listened to Radio 4 in the car, while Radio Cymru was the default station at home. It was not evident whether this was because of reception issues while travelling.

The station’s news output was considered central, though some of those present felt that there was too much focus on ‘bad news’. A number of participants also expressed the view that a key problem with Radio 4’s news output was that it was predominantly Westminster-centric and rarely reported on political issues beyond the “Westminster bubble”. As one participant said “The over-emphasis on Westminster news is just oppressive!”.

None present said that they listened to 4 Extra, though some significant issues with DAB reception were articulated, with the listening choices of several of those present dictated by reception limitations.

The number of Radio 5 Live listeners present was very low, – and the main attraction on those occasions being live football commentary. None said that they listened to 5 Live Sports Extra, though as mentioned above, this could be because of DAB reception limitations in the area.

Around half those people present listened  regularly to Radio Cymru, with a high proportion being habitual listeners. Opinions were mixed regarding the recent changes in the schedules and presenter line-ups with some critical of the change; as one contributor put it “I miss waking up with Dei Tomos”!  Others present shared the view of the participant who said “Most of the changes have been for the better!” However, there were differences of opinion regarding the variety or otherwise of the new schedule, with some welcoming  the variety within the schedule, while others still felt that many programmes were too similar.  There was some significant consensus and appreciation of the difficulties inherent in the station’s aim of providing something for everyone, and thus in trying to reflect BBC Network stations Radios 1 – 6 Music. There was also an appreciation of the reasons why the station had adopted a zoning pattern for programmes, even if individual programmes were not liked by individual members of the audience.

A number of participants said they listened to the station’s news output though there were some who said that they now found it difficult to identify where the ‘harder news’ programmes were within the news schedules, with the format of Dylan Jones’ morning programme and Taro’r Post at lunch-time having contributed to this ‘confusion’. Others felt that these soft news zones were a success, and contributed to the retention of Post Cyntaf listeners into the morning schedules. Some participants also said that they felt that the phone-in and discussion programme sometimes had too local a focus, with one participant saying “it is supposed to be a national service, but sometimes Taro’r Post feels too much like a ‘papur bro’ (local community newspaper).”

The station’s weekend schedule was widely praised, with references being made to Galwad Cynnar (“real experts talking about things of interest in good quality Welsh”) Elin Manahan Thomas’s classical music programme, Beti a’i Phobl and Hywel Gwynfryn’s programme by a number of participants. The variety of matters discussed on Dei Thomas’s Sunday night programme was widely appreciated, and a key message was that listeners really enjoyed sharing a learning experience with presenters, or learning new things through their listening to Radio Cymru. While the programmes mentioned might have suggested a strong preference for established presenters, a number of participants also emphasised how much they enjoyed hearing new voices, and the importance of using external production companies to bring in those new voices.

The Cymru Fyw on-line Welsh service was used by a relatively high proportion of those present who spoke Welsh, both through the app on a smartphone or tablet and via a web browser. The service was praised for its timeliness, with one participant saying that he really appreciated that Cymru Fyw had news stories before other Wales news websites. It was also appreciated as a portal to other Welsh language or Wales based news services. Other participants expressed their appreciation of Radio Cymru podcasts which they could download and listen on portable devices like MP3 players or smartphones.

Cymru Fyw was also praised for the ease of navigation around the site and while some welcomed the range of content already available through the service, others felt if would benefit from more content and a greater range of choice, and from seeing featured stories being changed more frequently. The point was made that Cymru Fyw made on-line information about Wales easier to access in Welsh than was the case in English. There is no equivalent portal giving access to such information in English.  As one participant said “Clearly apps and services like Cymru Fyw are the future”.

A small number of participants said they listened to BBC 6 Music in the mornings and were also fans of Cerys Mathews’ music choices for her programme on the station.

Radio 3 was also appreciated by some participants, in particular for its performances of full compositions, though others felt that the station now included too much conversation.

Radio Wales was also a popular choice for some participants, though the general feeling felt as if it was primarily aimed at a south Wales audience. A programme highlight for a number of listeners was A String of Pearls, because of the format of the programme, which explained the music and its context. The bulk of criticism of the station was directed at the preponderance within Radio Wales’ schedule of phone-in programmes and “pointless chat”.

Background music was considered a problem on both radio and TV programmes for some participants, with people expressing the view that it was simply inappropriate in news items. There were complaints too about its impact in drama and about the general sound quality and audibility of dialogue in some recent broadcast productions – with Jamaica Inn given as an example by some participants.

A number of parents and grandparents expressed their appreciation of CBBC and CBeebies which they considered great services, combining fun and educational content. There was appreciation of the Welsh language apps on the CBeebies site, but some frustration was expressed over the difficulty in finding them on the site.

Sport was, as ever, a divider of opinions. Some felt that the BBC paid too much attention to rugby at the cost of football (“rugby seems to be presented as Wales’ ‘national game’ but that’s not true here in the north”), and others agreed that it would be good if the BBC were to gain the TV broadcasting rights for Wales’ international football matches. On the whole, many participants felt that “the BBC is marvellous for sport” and very positive references were made to the BBC’s London 2012 Olympic Games coverage and Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The BBC’s TV output on BBC One and BBC Two Wales as well as on S4C was appreciated, and a number of programmes such as Pobol y Cwm, Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience, Antiques Roadshow and Countryfile mentioned (though some members of the public felt that Countryfile was a shadow of its former self – “It is more like Blue Peter these days”). Views were mixed on the drama BBC-S4C co-commission Y Gwyll / Hinterland with some of the view that the plot in each episode was rather rushed, but others were of the more positive view that it was a “mesmerising drama”. More than one table wondered why some network programmes “were repeated endlessly” when it would be better if a greater number programmes from Wales were shown on the network.

News and the impartiality of the BBC’s Network news provision was a topic for lively discussion. A number of participants said that the BBC’s coverage of the Scottish referendum debate had undermined their perception of the BBC’s news impartiality and been damaging to the Corporation. As one participant put it “However hard they might have tried to be impartial, what was really seen in the BBC’s news coverage was Westminster’s inherent conservatism.” Criticism was also made that there has been so little coverage of Scotland since the referendum – “the coverage switched almost overnight from Scotland back to Nigel Farage and UKIP”. Frustration was also expressed that while network news had improved in terms of identifying the relevance of stories to the individual nations of the UK (e.g. “the NHS in England…”) it was still poor at comparing the policy of legal situations in the different nations of the UK. Some participants also felt that BBC journalists and Westminster politicians were in an unhealthy symbiotic relationship, with the news cycle being set by the actions of politicians and too much anticipation of speeches or statements on news programmes.

A number of the participants said that they made use of the BBC iPlayer to catch-up on programmes they had missed, and looked forward to being able to access all S4C’s programmes via the iPlayer in the not too distant future. Some disappointment was expressed by some of those present that they had found it difficult to access the radio iPlayer via Smart TVs. Others expressed their frustration at the poor broadband speed they experienced in some parts of the local area and the impact of this on their ability to use all the iPlayer’s facilities.

The BBC was considered by some to reflect a particular agenda in its radio and TV output – with references made to the feminism and pro-gay agendas – though this was a minority view.

The TV Licence Fee was considered by most, though not all people to be good value for money, though some participants speculated as to whether this would have to change in future with the of convergence of digital services as a result of the advent of ‘smart’ devices.