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Alan Davey has thousands of CDs and LPs. The new Controller of Radio 3 knows that in the digital world he has no need of them but he can’t bear to throw them out. Just to look at them gives him pleasure.
This does not sound like a man who is going to take a yard brush to his new network. Mind you, he would not be popular with the BBC Trust if he did. It said recently that :”we think that the priority for Radio 3 should be to increase choice for radio listeners by maximising its distinctiveness and minimising similarities with other stations”, by which they presumably mean Classic FM.
Mr Davey is a cheery soul who looks on the bright side and is obviously delighted with his appointment but there are causes for concern.
For a start the average age of his listeners is 58, older than the average for Radio 4. Then he has been given no extra money to spend on new initiatives to help him on his way, in fact the 5 per cent per cent cuts per annum continue.
The future is particularly uncertain.
After the Election the BBC’s Charter will be renewed, but on what is not clear, and the level of the licence fee is once more up for debate. Few think it will be significantly increased.
It could be cut.
If it is then undoubtedly the Corporation will come under pressure to cut one or more of its orchestras. Imagine if it decided it was the Scottish one that had to go! The bloody internecine fighting that would follow any cut would task the new Controller’s diplomatic skills to the limit.
Although officially under no ratings pressure Alan Davey has to attract new audiences and to steer a careful course which allows him to appeal to younger listeners without offending the older ones many of whom believe they are defending the last bastion of public service broadcasting.
It’s a formidable task for the former civil servant and head of Arts Council England. (Incidentally his successor there comes from Classic FM.)
One thing Mr Davey will not do is combine his new job with that of Director of the Proms, as his predecessor Roger Wright did. He will appoint a Director who will report to him.
It’s a debateable arrangement, and depends upon a good working relationship being established with the boss of the Proms.
I a time in the past when the jobs were separate and neither Controller would talk to each other, or to Radio 3’s Head of Music. Communication was only by memo and all three men seem to have avoided being in the same room at the same time. This was extremely difficult for the staff who had to develop diplomatic skills of a high order.
Armed with listeners’ questions I talked to Alan Davey last Wednesday.
By the way, if you are having trouble deciding which way to vote why not ask your candidates about the future of the BBC?
That was a completely disinterested suggestion from me, Roger Bolton.
Roger Bolton is the presenter of
