How different is it from that of commercial radio stations?
BBC service radio networks are distinctive from the commercial radio stations. It would be wrong to say that we solely do things that the market can’t support. Because we have an obligation to provide something to everybody, the services have to be popular. But these are absolutely distinctive. We would take creative risks with our programming such as of BBC Radio 2 – we will do a speech based consumer phone-in and discussion stations are doing that. On Radio 1 we will break great new music and we will take risks with that. We invest in social action programming, investigating issues that young people are facing in Britain today. And on BBC Radio 3 we support orchestras. So our patronage of the hour is not just something having on the plaque on the wall, it is actually real money going into supporting musicians creating music and support the cultural life of Britain today. So that some of the stuff that we do in music, commercial service radio stations don’t indulge in. In speech radio
