Shropshire Star

Beacon Radio in 'we'll do it' offer to run Radio Shropshire

Executives of a Shropshire commercial radio station today revealed that they had made an offer to take over the running of BBC Radio Shropshire. Executives of a Shropshire commercial radio station today revealed that they had made an offer to take over the running of BBC Radio Shropshire. It was revealed earlier this month that the station could have virtually all of its programmes replaced with Radio 5 Live content under plans by the BBC for a shake-up of the entire local radio network. As part of a massive cost-saving exercise, the BBC is proposing to axe all local radio programmes across the country, except breakfast and drive-time shows and replace them with audio supplied by the national station. The National Union of Journalists has warned the move could lead to at least 700 job cuts nationally. But officials at Beacon Radio today said they had offered to run BBC Radio Shropshire at a significantly reduced budget with a saving to the BBC and the licence payer.

Published

Executives of a Shropshire commercial radio station today revealed that they had made an offer to take over the running of BBC Radio Shropshire.

It was revealed earlier this month that the station could have virtually all of its programmes replaced with Radio 5 Live content under plans by the BBC for a shake-up of the entire local radio network.

As part of a massive cost-saving exercise, the BBC is proposing to axe all local radio programmes across the country, except breakfast and drive-time shows and replace them with audio supplied by the national station.

The National Union of Journalists has warned the move could lead to at least 700 job cuts nationally.

But officials at Beacon Radio today said they had offered to run BBC Radio Shropshire at a significantly reduced budget with a saving to the BBC and the licence payer.

The BBC today confirmed it had received a letter from Beacon's parent company but said "no decisions" had been made.

Phil Riley, chief executive of Orion Media - parent company of Beacon - said it was "unthinkable" that the Shropshire region should not have a fully operational news talk service.

"The suggestion is outrageous. This county creates a mass of news and sport stories every day," he said.

"It is unacceptable that the BBC should be cutting back on its service to the area. We already have an accomplished and credible news and sports team based at Beacon and are willing to provide the service."

He added: "The financing of the service is not an issue. From our understanding of the costs of running BBC Radio Shropshire, we believe we could achieve a 50 per cent saving."

Jo Waters, a spokeswoman for the BBC, said: "I can confirm that we've received a letter from Orion Media about this and we'll respond in due course."

Ms Water said the corporation also wanted to reiterate its statement, made last week, which stressed that "no decisions" about the future of BBC local radio have been made.

By Russell Roberts

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