Radio News Should Take a Cue From British Format

A recent article from London by William Tuohy (“Britons Are All Ears for Daily Newsmakers,” World Report, Oct. 26) proclaimed that many British people still get their prime-time news from the radio. Why ever not? Just because America has become a tube-culture, the rest of the world has not--yet!

As a journalist totally enchanted by the medium of radio, and one who has worked at the BBC, the fact that many people still tune in their sets is comforting but not at all surprising. Much of the quality journalism in Britain comes over the radio airwaves.

One beauty of radio news is that it is so immediate. What’s more, the news director’s agenda is not ruled by what he or she has pictures of. All that is needed to get the story out quickly is a reporter or someone on the end of a phone line.

There is also the avoidance of the cult of personality in news. No pretty anchors or vacant field reporters waiting to do their “live” shots--just competent journalists who care about serving the public.

So I remember the radio news back home in England with slightly rose-tinted vision. But why is it that in California few of the people I meet seem to appreciate the journalistic heights that radio can reach? I was talking to a Los Angeles newspaper journalist recently and was asked about my future career plans. On replying that I wanted to return to Britain to work in radio, his immediate response was, “Why not television?”

Revolutionary changes in BBC radio news have just been announced. These include plans for a 24-hour rolling news network to supplement the news and current affairs coverage of Radio 4, the existing national speech network. Radio 4’s magazine programs and drama have been preserved on a separate frequency against the incursion of pure news coverage.

America, however, is way ahead in rolling news (the round-the-clock coverage of current affairs), setting an example in its development but, I hope, not in content. “Give us 22 minutes and we’ll give you the world.” “All you need to know.” But about what? Car chases, celebrity faces--and something sensational about the royal family from my side of the Atlantic?

Rolling news radio in Los Angeles ends up being mostly confusing and superficial, broken up by sports reports and commercials. I do know when my “traffic and weather together” will be. Or when “we” will be going down to the Pacific Stock Exchange, but I’m never sure when to listen to get a clear news agenda. The rolling news stations only seem to react: their output dominated by what is coming in from the news-copter. At home, proposals for Radio 4’s rolling news contain opportunities for much more in-depth reporting. News coverage will be journalistically proactive, setting the agenda rather than just trying to keep up with it. It will focus not on just the who, when and where, but also consider the how and the why.

The talk stations in Los Angeles already provide some sort of context, but generally these stick to audience-grabbing controversies. To my mind, the saving grace is National Public Radio. It is a shame that what is generally offered is information soup rather than such well-constructed, if rather brief, bursts of quality journalism, as “Morning Edition.”

There is no blame to apportion in this media circus. Journalists and reporters are restricted by the market forces of commercial radio. The variety of music stations, each with its own style, gives the consumer the ultimate choice of entertainment listening. Why not in news too? Is it possible that there is a niche for a different style of news radio, one that would give more informed and more contextual pieces within the private sector? Is it that people will not tune in to this sort of station? Or is it because they have not been given the choice?

I am not advocating a staid and solid Radio 4-style approach. Probably the most popular news program in Britain is “Newsbeat,” a 15-minute daily broadcast on the BBC’s youth music station. It’s smart, it’s informed and, most importantly, in the mind of any station manager, it’s listened to!

As British radio looks West to diversify its programming, perhaps America can look back to the Old World to recapture a little of the buzz of prime-time radio news.