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So – earlier today @edvaizey suggested I "educate" him on the topic of why the suggesting BBC Radio 1 & 2 offer little that cannot be provided by commercial radio and should not be funded by the licence fee in their present form, shows a real lack of understanding of UK radio.
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UK Commercial radio has never been stronger in my view. The range of services and new stations are loved by listeners and there’s real variety in the offering – from Classic FM & LBC through to Kisstory & Absolute and everything in between.
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However, with regard to Radio 1 & 2, to say “I still can’t see what they are doing that commercial radio couldn’t” means either you aren't listening to the output of those stations closely enough, or you think commercial radio is doing something it’s really not.
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Take Radio 2 for example. It produces over 130 hours of documentaries a year. At least 40% of the music in daytime is from UK acts. It broadcasts at over 1000 hours of specialist music programmes a year from Jazz to Folk.
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The station plays a far broader range of music than any comparable commercial provider, taking into account both the number of plays and the size of the playlist. It’s really a very different radio station to anything on the dial.
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Of course commercial radio ‘could’ produce a station that did many of those things, but it simply wouldn't be viable in terms of cost and ad-revenue. As @radioriley pointed out in his blog, this kind of idea is “catastrophic” and “the maths simply don’t work.”
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I’ve worked in the commercial sector all of my radio career, and we’re lucky that the UK now has such vibrant and profitable commercial radio stations. They’re respected around the world. But a strong commercial sector benefits from a strong BBC. They work in tandem.
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Radio 1 & 2 are two of the best music stations in the world, held up as beacons of excellence globally. They are genuinely ‘world-beating’. To negate the role they play in the contemporary cultural life of the UK, & suggest it should be left to the market is a misjudgement.
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And any suggestion that Radio 1 & 2 are easily duplicated in the commercial sector is plain wrong. It would be a failure of epic proportions. I know the BBC is easy to knock, and of course there’s room for change in a changing world – but not the one you suggest.
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So, with respect, resist the temptation to trot out glib suggestions without seemingly having a full understanding of the true nature of the UK radio eco-system. I hope that helps to ‘educate’ you somewhat, within the confines of a thread! You’re welcome. 
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