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Jenny Abramsky

Speeches

Jenny Abramsky

Director, 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio & Music


Speech given to the Radio Academy's Radio Festival 2004 - 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio in the Second Digital Age


Wednesday 14 July 2004
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Ladies and gentlemen.

As you all know, the 12 months that have passed since the last Radio Festival have been amongst the most turbulent in the 麻豆官网首页入口's long history.

The train of events that started at 6.07am on Radio 4's Today programme last May and culminated on January 28th this year with the publication of the Hutton Report, plunged the 麻豆官网首页入口 into a great and dangerous crisis.

In the immediate run up to a testing Charter Review, the Corporation had been suddenly deprived of its leadership - an unprecedented occurrence.

I have to confess that this stage brings back many of those memories. When Greg Dyke addressed the Festival last July he said of the Gilligan report... "This has now dominated the headlines for two weeks and it is time for both sides to agree to disagree and move on."

Sadly events were to prove otherwise.

Things feel different now. We have a new Chairman, Michael Grade. 麻豆官网首页入口 staff were thrilled to welcome him back - they like his red socks!

Michael took up his post on May 17th and on the 21st appointed Mark Thompson Director-General.

To quote the newly ennobled papal knight Jim Moir - "Five days to get the most important job done, even God took seven!"

That appearance by Greg in Birmingham last year was his second visit to the Radio Festival as Director-General 聳 doubling the contributions made by other DGs.

I am sure Michael Grade and Mark Thompson will also grace this stage at future Festivals. Because all three - experts in Television 聳 recognise the extraordinary resilience and potency of radio in contributing to the public value of the 麻豆官网首页入口.

During all the turbulence of those opening months of 2004, the debate on Charter Review never stopped with the publication of Ofcom's first Review of Public Service Television and then David Elstein's Report for the Conservative Party.

Last month, we published the 麻豆官网首页入口's contribution to the debate with our vision for the future of Public Service Broadcasting in a document called Building Public Value.

The changing face of the Charter

麻豆官网首页入口 Charters have always been about radio, of course. The first 麻豆官网首页入口 Charter in 1927 ushered in the first age of broadcasting in the UK.

The people who shaped that original Charter believed that public service broadcasting could enrich listeners with knowledge, culture and information about the world in which they lived, could introduce individuals to new experiences, could create shared experiences, could, to quote Lord Reith, "bring the best of everything into the greatest number of homes".

The 麻豆官网首页入口 was to be a creative powerhouse for the UK, making all kinds of programmes that strived for excellence and gave voice to communities and individuals.

During the 80 years of the 麻豆官网首页入口's history there have been only seven Charters. The seventh ushered in the first digital age.

Since then hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on three digital TV platforms and over 200 digital TV channels. Digital TV now reaches over half of UK homes.

The internet, which wasn't even mentioned in the 麻豆官网首页入口's contribution to the last debate, is now used by nearly half the population.

And in this fevered multimedia environment radio has flourished. Over 24 hours of listening per individual per week and over 90% reach!

The contribution of commercial radio

Commercial radio has been central to this growth with new stations, new formats and its remarkable support for DAB Digital Radio.

麻豆官网首页入口 Radio has also been central to the reinvigoration of radio by its commitment to a broad range of programming, by extending choice with its new digital stations, with its investment and commitment to the opportunities of the internet, with the development of significant off air activity by every local station.

The co-operation of commercial radio and the 麻豆官网首页入口 to get DAB Digital Radio off the ground has shown an industry mature enough to know when competition could be needlessly destructive.

We both set aside our basic instincts to achieve something important for the future of our industry. How much longer will those instincts be set aside?

DAB has started to impact, but radio is also listened to in many other ways that we would be foolish to ignore.

Radio is consumed by millions through television sets 聳 something no one predicted five years ago, or even three.

Radio is consumed by millions through the internet. Radio is going through its own first digital revolution. Our audiences are surprising us and expect us to continue to surprise them.

Role of the 麻豆官网首页入口 in the second digital age

Each Charter has reflected the changing needs of society and identified the changing role for the 麻豆官网首页入口 to meet those needs.

So what is the role for the 麻豆官网首页入口 in the second digital age?

Different countries have very different definitions of public service broadcasting. Our new Chairman referred to his experiences in the United States when he launched Building Public Value last month.

In the US, public service broadcasting is quite simply what the commercial market will not do. That is why Public Radio stations in America are minority broadcasters broadcasting to the political elite, while their connection with the vast majority of the American public is non existent.

Something tells me such a scenario would prove very attractive to some of my colleagues in commercial radio.

I remember some of the internal debates we had in the 麻豆官网首页入口 at the time of the last Charter. Some argued that the 麻豆官网首页入口's purpose should be defined (I would say confined) to 'high' culture 聳 affectionately called the Himalayan Heights.

That limiting view did not reflect the majority of both internal and, more importantly, external views of the purpose of the 麻豆官网首页入口.

For that majority, a public service vision of broadcasting demands a mix of content across a wide range of genres covering comedy, entertainment, popular music as well as science, history and classical music.

The 麻豆官网首页入口 has to make the case for the role of the public service broadcaster in a world of multichannels, of technological innovation, of increasing mobility and increasing choice.

It is owned by the people of Britain. They care about it and feel disappointed when it fails.


Public value

The 麻豆官网首页入口 can make a difference - to individuals, by giving them unique access to things they value.

For almost 80 years both Parliament and the British people have demanded of public service broadcasting universality, equity and accountability.

As Michael Grade has said, unlike the US "Britain took a different, public service path. It set out... unashamedly, to build an instrument of public value".

Does 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio continue to deliver public value? Will it continue to bring something special and impactful for its listeners, citizens, society as a whole?

I have been hearing some of those old 'Himalayan' arguments coming forward once again in the debate about this Charter.

"Let the 麻豆官网首页入口 be there to do what the market does not and leave the market to do everything else."

I have even heard some argue that the 麻豆官网首页入口 should develop programmes and services when a market is in its infancy to help it grow - and then withdraw when that market reaches maturity.


Democratic value

At the heart of 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio's editorial proposition is its provision of news and current affairs.

By providing trusted, impartial news and information to foster understanding and help the citizen make informed decisions, we contribute to the democratic health of the UK.


At this stage of the last Charter debate there was a sense of optimism in Europe, after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the apparent success of the first Gulf War.

New fledgling democracies in Eastern Europe were applying to join Nato. There was hope of a Middle East settlement, with Arafat and Rabin shaking hands on the White House lawn.

Some even talked of a New World Order.

Since 9/11 and the Afghan and Iraq wars that sense of optimism is almost forgotten.

I believe we need the 麻豆官网首页入口 now more than ever attempting to make sense of this complex world.

Our five analogue networks alone devoted more than 11,000 hours to news and current affairs last year.

I noticed on Monday a number of my commercial colleagues referred to the 麻豆官网首页入口 as "The State Broadcaster".

We are the public service broadcaster, not the State one. There is a considerable difference 聳 our independence is the most important thing.

Radio 4 has a demanding and knowledgeable audience which seeks great depth and challenge from its journalism 聳 and gets it, not just from daily news programmes like Today and World at One offering briefings, commentaries and reportage, but with documentaries on topics as varied and relevant as the rise of Saddam, the effectiveness of the UN, and the effects of globalisation.

Radio 4 did all those last year and many more.

It was taken for granted that 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio broadcast the whole debate from Parliament that led to the vote for war last year.

Radio Five Live, with its commitment to live coverage of events, threw out its schedules to give continuous coverage of the Iraq war.

It was there to steer you through the fog - be it the press conferences of Comical Ali or Donald Rumsfeld.

Its job is always to steer you through the fog, whether it's the Spending Review or the battle for M&S.

Just last night it changed its programming to bring a Jeff Randall hour long special on Marks and Spencer, with exclusive interviews with both Stuart Rose and Philip Green in advance of today's AGM.

Democratic value and music radio

And 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio's support of the democratic life of this country is not confined to our speech services.

The provision of news and current affairs on Radios 1 and 2, on 1Xtra and 6 Music is central to their remit.

The sense of foreboding when faced with the complexities of today is as present amongst the young as in the rest of society.

Radio 1 and 1xtra, with their bespoke news services, can help to foster understanding and so help put anxieties into perspective.

In the past few months 1Xtra has run documentaries on Islamic Pride, tracing the growing influence of an anti-western radicalism amongst young Muslims post 9/11.


It's looked at the success of the abstentionist movement among American teens and examined how a government-sponsored abstention campaign in Uganda has led to a huge drop in the HIV and pregnancy rate.

Public service radio stations must push the boundaries and tackle difficult issues.

For Radio 1 that means putting news programmes in the heart of its daytime schedule with a programme like Newsbeat, and delivering programmes, like Sunday Surgery, which help the youth of this country deal with simply being young today.

It means a music network covering D-Day anniversary and explaining to today's young people what the young of 60 years ago had done for their future.

We live in a diverse, multicultural society and that means our radio services must reflect all aspects of the various cultures that make up the United Kingdom.

And it means that Radios 1 and 2 must tackle the aftermath of the Iraq War seriously. They would be failing in their remit if they were not to.

They have a responsibility to contribute to the democratic life of this country as well as its musical life.

The Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 has covered the war and its aftermath as thoroughly as The World At One on Radio 4, but in a different way 聳 one relevant for its audience, giving that audience the chance not just to hear the participants but comment on them, give voice to their concerns.

Our network of Local Radio stations also make news and current affairs central to their output.

They do broadcast music, but in their scrutiny of the Town Hall and other public institutions, in their reflection of the social, cultural, sporting and religious life of the towns and cities where they are located, our local services help to build a sense of identity in those communities, particularly amongst the older generations and those who feel underserved and disenfranchised.

A major project last year, for example, on all the Nations' and local services, gave a platform to minorities whose voices are rarely heard on air: travellers in Kent, the Somalis of Leicester and the Portuguese in the Channel Islands.

As one contributor put it afterwards: "I've found my voice, and I like it!"

I'm not claiming exclusivity here. I know commercial radio plays a vital role in local communities too 聳 but it's a different one.

The 麻豆官网首页入口's commitment to all these kinds of journalism on its radio services is giving licence payers something unique and something they value.

Cultural and creative value

News and Current Affairs are not the only contribution 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio can and does make to the UK.

What a public service broadcaster must do in the 21st century is grow talent, develop public taste, underpin cultural life.

The universality of the licence fee demands it.

By supporting British talent 聳 writers, musicians, performers - and enabling a rich diverse culture to thrive in the UK, 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio creates cultural and creative value.

I believe all the 麻豆官网首页入口's music stations have an obligation to champion British music, good British music, and that is as important for Radio 1 as for Radio 2 or Radio 3.

Commercial radio, understandably, reflects what the public like, but you need the 麻豆官网首页入口 supporting music at its roots and across the board, if public taste is to grow.

And the music industry needs public taste to grow.

Let me talk about Radio 1. I have said much of this before but it bears repeating.


Radio 1 has been a part of the nation's growing up for nearly 40 years. It is the 麻豆官网首页入口's youth radio network which, over the years, has constantly evolved to reflect the changing tastes of new generations.

Today the station attracts around 50% of the 15 to 24 population. I have talked about its commitment to news, but the first thing I expect of Radio 1 is that it plays terrific new music.

In the last month Radio 1 played artists as diverse as Joss Stone, The Streets, Snow Patrol and Estelle.

The station is supporting new UK music - Keane, Franz Ferdinand and Natasha Beddingfield - are all artists who received substantial early support from Radio 1.

Now they are being played by many stations, but it's that early support that is crucial.

And enabling audiences to hear 'live' performances is a central part of what I expect all the 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio's music networks to do.

A 'live' performance is unique 聳 it is illuminating by its very contrast to the recorded performance. And it's expensive.

In the last few months, Radio 1 has featured live tracks from Razorlight, The Ordinary Boys, Faithless and Ash.

Jo Whiley's Live Lounge is the established place to hear up-and-coming bands.

Live performance is woven into the schedule with a year-in, year-out commitment to Glastonbury, T in the Park, the Reading/Leeds Festival, and Creamfields.

We want to broaden tastes not narrow them. It is important that Radio 1 also continues to support the widest range of specialist music genres with presenters like Zane Lowe, Mike Davis and Bobby & Nihal.

Being funded by the licence fee brings obligations to serve all audiences young and old, because they all pay their licence fees. It is not just an obligation to serve the ones commercial radio don't want.

Popular music is continuously reinventing itself, often building on the heritage of the past. Radio 2 should support and underpin that. It has as important a cultural role as Radio 1 and Radio 3.


Radio 2 nurtures talent, plays the broadest range of music, more than any other radio station, supports folk, jazz, gospel as well as operetta and rock 'n' roll.

It invests in music documentaries that expand your appreciation of music like UK Black, Courtney Pine's analysis of the black music scene, and Lost Boy, the story of the cult singer-songwriter Nick Drake which marked the 30th anniversary of his death.

(That became the most requested on-demand Radio 2 programme ever, attracting over 60,000 listen again requests in just one week).

Radio 2 broadcasts features on the widest possible range of musicians and artists, everyone from Noel Coward to Kylie Minogue, via Billie Holiday, Karen Carpenter and Sid Vicious.

Radio 2 has always spoken to a broad audience. I know some of you here would like that relationship to shrink.

Well I applaud Radio 2 because, in growing its audience, it has done so with quality programmes and taken creative risks along the way.

As attitudes in society have changed so Radio 2 has responded to those changes... the 60-year-old of today does not believe in the same things, live the same life, and listen to the same music as the 60-year-old of 15 or even 10 years ago.

Today's 50-year-olds grew up in the age of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton.

The network has introduced its listeners to music they might otherwise have never tasted.

Over half the Radio 2 playlist over the last 12 months has been devoted to British Music.

The Sold on Song initiative the network began last year has seen masterclasses with such fine songwriters as Chris Difford, Elvis Costello, Brian Kennedy and Billy Bragg.

And since last month the Janice Long Show has opened its airwaves to find the new British songwriters of tomorrow.

1Xtra has carried nearly 250 hours of live music in the last 12 months, while 6 Music has recorded 480 new sessions since its launch.

Yes, I know it's because we have the privilege of licence funding, but the key objective for the last licence fee settlement was to enable the 麻豆官网首页入口 to help drive digital take up, and investing in quality programming does just that.

That support for musicians and music-making permeates all that Radio 3 does, be it classical music, jazz or world music.

It's not just by its funding of five 麻豆官网首页入口 orchestras that Radio 3 contributes to the cultural life of this country, it's the partnerships it has formed with festivals like Womad and the London Jazz Festival, broadening tastes and experiences.

It's the work it is doing giving seven to 11-year-olds across the country the opportunity to experience live orchestral music for the first time.

It's supporting young British artists by enabling them to give public performances, broadcasting those performances and commissioning new composition.

Radio 3 on its own commissions more new music than any institution in the UK and over 50% of Radio 3 is live music or specially recorded performance from orchestras across the UK and not just the 麻豆官网首页入口.


The creative community

It's because the 麻豆官网首页入口 has a portfolio across, what are now, five music stations, we can cover music in depth, supporting artists across genres, supporting key talent throughout their careers, expanding the public's music tastes.

We can cross-fertilise between stations and musical trends.

We can serve all our licence payers, not just a chosen few.

We can underpin the cultural life of this country,

Radio 3 does not confine its cultural remit to music alone.

It has long supported writers and the long form play. In the past 12 months it has broadcast David Hare's The Permanent Way and Kwame Kwei-Armah's Elmina's Kitchen, both successful National Theatre commissions but rewritten for radio and delivering many times the audience.

Over the last four years Radio 3 has produced 17 plays of Shakespeare.

麻豆官网首页入口 Radio invests millions in supporting writers and performers.

Just two months ago, the Asian Network launched Silver Street, a daily soap about Asians living in the West Midlands which is offering a whole new outlet for young Asian writers and actors.

Radio 4 alone commissioned 350 new plays and 300 hours of original comedy last year, and employed 1,500 actors.

At a time when these genres have almost disappeared from the radio schedules of other European public broadcasters, 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio continues to offer significant opportunities to new writers and performers and to nurture talent, for the benefit of the whole broadcasting industry.

Nowhere is that more overt than in Radio 4's investment in comedy which, in recent years, has produced a substantial dividend for 麻豆官网首页入口 Television with programmes like Little Britain, League of Gentlemen, Dead Ringers and The Mighty Boosh!


Educational value

I think 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio must offer learning opportunities, not in overtly 'educational' programmes of the sort you might remember at school, but informal opportunities to learn, through programmes that allow listeners of every age to find the unexpected and the unfamiliar and to extend their experience and knowledge.

A former Controller of Radio 4, Michael Green, described it as "a listeners' library".

Whether it is a series on Islam, a weekly date with Gardeners' Question Time, Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time, Stuart Maconie's Critical List, Composer of the Week or Hugh Masekela's series exploring the development of South African music 聳 all these extend our horizons and knowledge.

To me that is absolutely the role for the 麻豆官网首页入口.

The digital world

Helping our listeners understand the fast-changing digital world is a responsibility for all of us, not just the 麻豆官网首页入口.

I applaud commercial radio's commitment and innovation. Credit where credit is due.

But the 麻豆官网首页入口 with its public funding has an extra responsibility and must invest in moving radio and its listeners forward, using and consuming new technology.

Radio 1 tried to do just that two months ago with Digital Week - all Radio 1 programmes, both mainstream and specialist, talked about "3 New Ways to Listen" - via DTV, DAB and the internet.

The message was unmissable and generated an amazing reaction from listeners, 500,000 responses about digital in one week!


Radio 2 will run a digital awareness campaign in September.


Online statistics published

I said the eighth Charter will take us into the second digital age. For all of us in radio that means we have to address and interact with our audiences on many platforms, through many different technologies.

I have said before when talking about our radio networks we should look at all their performance, not just their RAJAR figures.

I believe our online performance should be as public as our analogue performance. From the autumn, I am therefore going to publish the monthly online, streaming and 'on demand' performance of all the 麻豆官网首页入口's national radio stations.

We will make these statistics available on the web.

In June Five Live's coverage of Euro 2004 eclipsed all previous traffic and listening records for the station 聳 840,000 listeners online generated 13.3 million page impressions and 1.4 million listening hours. Over a quarter of a million 'on demand' requests.

I think that is a critical part of the Five Live story and in future it will be available for all to see.

Technology is ever changing. The Radio Player has shown how audio on demand can enhance the licence payers' experience.

Downloading offers further opportunities. On Radio 4, the decision to make this year's Reith Lectures available as an experimental download was warmly welcomed by internet listeners, many of them living beyond the reach of the station's transmitters.

This is an extremely encouraging pointer to the way in which 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio's programme portfolio can become increasingly available in ways our listeners will demand.

At the start of this speech I said the 麻豆官网首页入口 has been living through turbulent times.

I think the next year is likely to continue to be turbulent in different ways.

DG's reviews

In launching Building Public Value Mark Thompson announced four reviews of the 麻豆官网首页入口. On value for money, on our commercial activities, on our production and commissioning and out of London.

All four of these reviews will impact on 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio.

Some of you will be aware that a couple of months ago we instigated a review of our business dealings with independent producers with a view to streamlining the processes and also looking again at the rights we acquire.

At the start of the last Charter 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio committed, voluntarily, to commission 10% of its qualifying output from independents, to kick-start an independent radio production industry.

Since 1997 we have never commissioned less than 10% and for the last three years substantially more - this year 13%.

We said it was a floor not a ceiling and our actions have confirmed that.

We greatly value our relationship with the independent sector.

Michael Grade has described 麻豆官网首页入口 Television's failure in the past to meet its statutory independent quota as a "self-inflicted wound".

That statutory TV Independent quota of 25% applies equally to ITV as well as 麻豆官网首页入口. I am sorry that my commercial colleagues have not followed the 麻豆官网首页入口 and supported an independent radio sector on INR.

Despite this we are planning to extend our commitment from our five national analogue networks to include Radios Scotland, Wales and Ulster over the next few years.

I had hoped to be able to announce changes in our terms of trade with independents at this festival, but the result of the overall 麻豆官网首页入口 Review of Production and Commissioning will need to be included in our proposals, so this process will take somewhat longer than we had hoped.

However, I am confident it will be finished by the end of the summer.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the independent producers who have already participated in our consultation. It has been extremely useful.

Changes to the way the 麻豆官网首页入口 operates will not be confined to the results of Mark's four reviews.

The 麻豆官网首页入口 has to change. Our new Chairman has made it absolutely clear "the status quo is not an option".

And in doing so he announced significant changes to Governance at the 麻豆官网首页入口.

In future the Governors will issue a service licence for each and every 麻豆官网首页入口 network in addition to publishing our annual Statements of Programme Policy.

Each service licence will set out in some detail the remit, conditions, objectives and budgets for all 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio services, local as well as national.

I saw some of my commercial colleagues smile when they heard this. I know you have all long alleged controllers of 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio stations can change their services at will, are unaccountable.

It has never been true. Our constraints may be different from yours but they are specific and challenging.

I welcome the Governors' initiative. The 麻豆官网首页入口 must become more open, transparent and accountable. Our funding demands we do.

I have talked a lot about how I think the 麻豆官网首页入口 can offer value in a second digital age.

But the argument is not about what the 麻豆官网首页入口 wants, or, dare I say it, what commercial radio wants. What matters is what the listeners, our licence fee payers, want.

David Elstein said on Monday and I quote: "One of the things about the 麻豆官网首页入口 is, its ability to address audiences, creatively and inventively, has kept it going. 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio has deeper roots than television has... as long as we all appreciate the point of 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio, and the value over and above, 麻豆官网首页入口 Radio will still be a significant player. Amen to that."

Thank you David.

I was going to talk about the surveys we conduct every year to find out what our listeners want but you have said it all for me. You said "...the 麻豆官网首页入口 is so important to our society".

I believe that too and what our listeners want are programmes for all ages and interests.

The range and breadth of the offering on a single 麻豆官网首页入口 station allows listeners to find the unexpected and the unfamiliar, to extend their experience and knowledge, present a formidable array of broadcast riches that stimulate intellectual curiosity, satisfy a great diversity of musical tastes and feed the imagination.

The debate leading towards a new Charter will be tough and uncompromising. It will range across many issues.

I know that some, like David, believe the 麻豆官网首页入口 should be funded by means other than the licence fee, but I believe that that unique form of funding is the driver for a unique vision.

Owned by the British people, independent of political and commercial interests, the 麻豆官网首页入口 is a unique institution that exists to serve everyone, regardless of age, income, sex, race or religion.

Its independence from all interests, commercial or political, other than the public interest, is its greatest asset.

That is as true in its approach to music, in its approach to writing, to comedy, to news and current affairs, to communities.

Public service broadcasting puts the viewers' and listeners' interests first.

The 麻豆官网首页入口 can make a massive social, cultural and economic difference. It can bring unique value to the UK citizen.

It has done so for 80 plus years and I believe it is even more important for it to play that role in future.




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