BBC Trust

Few of those present listened to the radio, with none listening to the BBC’s national or Network radio stations through choice (one listened to BBC Radio 2 at work, but emphasised that this was not her choice, expressing the view that the station should broadcast more music and less ‘chatter’). The husband of one of the participants listened to Radio Wales while travelling by car so as to catch up on Wales news, as well as local traffic and travel information.

For those participants who did occasionally listen to the radio, the first choice was Capital FM, which was chosen for playing the latest popular music and because such as high proportion of its output was music. Some remembered fondly the local radio station, Valleys Radio, shut down in 2009, which they said had provided them with a very worthwhile local information service, as well as popular music.

Only one participant accessed radio services via DAB with others either doing so via FM or through their TV. The quality of reception varied widely according to the geographical location of audience members, but poor quality reception was given as a significant disincentive to listen to the radio.

TV was the medium of choice for all the participants, with comedy and drama (including continuing drama) the most popular genres. As one participant put it, “you might have had a terrible day, but if you watch a good comedy then you forget your awful day. A good belly laugh really is the best medicine”. In this context Mrs Brown’s Boys was mentioned as always worth watching.

Drama was also a popular drama with returning dramas such as Eastenders and Holby City mentioned by several participants. On the whole, however, the consensus was that ITV was better at drama than the BBC, despite praise for BBC drama Doctor Who and Sherlock. One participant spoke for many of those present when she said “I like the type of drama where you can’t go to the toilet until it’s finished, despite being desperate to go!”

Other popular genres included reality and documentary programmes, as well as entertainment programmes. In this context, DIY SOS, Masterchef and Great British Bake Off were mentioned.

When asked about their first choice of BBC TV channel, BBC Three was the most popular amongst the participants, with programmes such as Family Guy, Don’t tell the bride and the repeat showing of Eastenders amongst the channel’s most popular programmes. There was recognition too that the channel played an important part in developing drama. There was widespread opposition to the proposals that BBC Three should become an on-line only channel, with most regular viewers (even those with IP enabled smart TVs sharing this view) expressing the view that poor broadband speed could make this difficult  and would also be inconsistent with their key way of discovering content, which was by flicking from TV channel to TV channel.

Being parents or grandparents to young children, most of the participants were heavy users of CBeebies and CBBC and both channels were popular with the children in their households. There was opposition however to the proposals to extend the broadcast hours of these channels, with parents expressing the view that it was already difficult to stop their children’s viewing in a timely fashion that allowed time for bath and bed-time related activities, and still allowed them to catch their favourite programmes.

Some participants felt that it would be great if Sunday could once again be reinstated as the day of ‘family viewing’, making the case for showing family films on Sunday afternoons. The perception too was that the TV Christmas schedule was poorer than in the past from the point of view of family viewing.

Wales news was the most important aspect of their news and current affairs TV viewing with the 6.30pm edition of BBC Wales Today considered a good programme, and the local weather reports with Derek Brockway considered required viewing. Network news was described by more than one participant as “England news” and so of no relevance to them. As one participant put it “I only watch Welsh news – the English news doesn’t bother me”. The major source of non-Welsh news amongst all the participants was Facebook, with stories only pursued (either on-line or by watching TV news bulletins) if posted by friends on their Facebook pages. The exception was when major news stories were running, such as child abduction, when they would follow the stories on TV.