DAN WOOTTON: After an age purge, the BBC is slowly killing off the nation’s most popular station, Radio 2

Think about you have been Paul O’Grady, one of many nation’s pre-eminent entertainers who, at 67, flies excessive on the radio with a loyal viewers of thousands and thousands each Sunday afternoon, solely to search out that he has to surrender half his exhibits yearly, to make room for a a lot youthful and fewer completed DJ.

That substitute, a ubiquitous and innocent comic named Rob Beckett, was three a long time youthful, you recognize.

No surprise O’Grady, who by no means minces his phrases or provides in to company mumbo-jumbo BBChe stated woke up Bosses the place to shove their demeaning proposal.

However for British Bashing Company administration, it appears that evidently a presenter’s age, together with their ethnicity and gender, is the one factor that issues now.

Due to this, the good Simon Mayo was pressured to host his then-hit present with Jo Whiley, a disastrous chemical-free experiment that led to failure.

BBC Radio 2 presenter Paul O’Grady (pictured with Queen Consort) has been informed he can be sharing half his exhibits with newcomer Rob Beckett

“The good Simon Mayo was pressured to host his then-hit present with Jo Whiley, a disastrous chemical-free experiment that took off.”

That is why Steve Wright, 68, was brutally dropped from the afternoon slot he owned for 23 years to get replaced by Scott Mills, 49.

And judging by the writing on the wall, there is no doubt why Ken Bruce can be becoming a member of his so-called “Radio 2 fugitives” within the business area subsequent month to leap earlier than he too is inevitably up in opposition to a youthful, extra senior mannequin was exchanged.

It has been evident over the previous decade that the BBC despises its heartland viewers, significantly all aged, white and male.

However the aware determination to kill off the nation’s favourite radio station, Radio 2 – as soon as the jewel within the Beebs’ crown – with an overtly age-political method is nonetheless astounding.

As a result of, make no mistake, that is what the BBC has been doing for the final 5 years.

Dan Wootton

At present, that obsession with youth and variety led to an almighty shutdown of Radio 2.

Figures from Rajar present that greater than half 1,000,000 listeners walked away final yr, with the station falling to 14.29 million within the final quarter of 2022 from 14.87 million within the final quarter of 2021.

Zoe Ball’s breakfast present alone misplaced a whopping 350,000 listeners.

No shock they’re transferring into the business sector, together with Biggest Hits Radio – already dwelling to Mayo, quickly to be joined by Bruce and his legendary Popmaster Quiz – which jumped by over 1,000,000 listeners to 4.36 million in the identical interval is.

It is a station that was created simply 4 years in the past.

A good brisker addition, Increase Radio, an impartial station that includes legendary DJs of yesteryear like David “Diddy” Hamilton, has skyrocketed to greater than half 1,000,000 listeners.

No surprise they managed to safe the companies of O’Grady for a particular Christmas Day present final yr.

Within the business world, shutting down Radio 2 can be seen as a catastrophe and the offending executives can be informed to throw their hooks.

However on the BBC they’re more likely to be celebrated for turning away a demographic they not care about.

The company has a contempt for the older viewers, you recognize.

That is ironic given their latest shameful determination to drive the over-75s to pay the extortionate royalty.

The clear purpose, nevertheless, is to draw youthful individuals who, sarcastically, cannot think about something extra absurd than listening to a daily radio present and a DJ once they’re the era of streaming and self-curating via companies like Spotify.

In that futile providing, Radio 2 has additionally jettisoned its method of largely traditional hits from the Sixties, Nineteen Seventies and Eighties for an up to date ‘edgier’ playlist that will have beforehand been handed over to youth channel Radio 1.

For instance, an evaluation by the Each day Mail revealed that Wright carried out half of the songs from these a long time, in comparison with only one in 5 on the substitute present hosted by Mills, who directed a lot of the 2000s songs.

To be sincere, it is not simply the fellows on the station which can be affected by the purge.

Even the feminine stars of Radio 2 have felt the pinch for not consuming from the Fountain of Youth.

“The unhappy and wholly pointless demise of Radio 2 shames the BBC and emboldens these like me who’re campaigning for decriminalisation, or ideally the abolition of license charges.”

Hardworking early morning presenter Vanessa Feltz stated she feels previous her sell-by date after turning 60 final yr, a damning indictment on a broadcaster liked by thousands and thousands of older folks.

Considerably, she was changed by 38-year-old Welsh broadcaster Owain Wyn Evans.

After signing for a brand new job at Discuss TV, Vanessa lately admitted that older presenters are “not valued in the identical means.”

She stated: “Consider all of the individuals who have left. Paul O’Grady is gone. I went. Steve Wright is there, however not a lot. Chris Evans is gone. Graham Norton too.

“The music is not as interesting as a result of they modified it to attraction to a youthful viewers that they are so determined to achieve.”

There Vanessa summarized all the pieces that disgusts me concerning the BBC in two paragraphs.

They don’t seem to be a corporation aiming to signify all Britons, however reasonably a small subset of the metropolitan elite.

That’s the reason I’ve been campaigning for a while to drive the BBC to promote its predominant stations, together with Radio 1 and Radio 2.

There’s completely no want for them to proceed to be backed by fee-payers because the company’s unlucky administration is destroying these former nationwide establishments little by little.

The unhappy and wholly pointless demise of Radio 2 shames the BBC and emboldens these like me who’re campaigning for decriminalisation, or ideally the abolition of license charges.