Kate Chisholm

Stalwarts of the airwaves

The BBC was not included in the Guardian’s poll of the UK’s ‘leading arts institutions’ at the weekend, which asked for their opinions on the new Coalition government and the prospect for ‘culture’ in an era of crunch.

issue 29 May 2010

The BBC was not included in the Guardian’s poll of the UK’s ‘leading arts institutions’ at the weekend, which asked for their opinions on the new Coalition government and the prospect for ‘culture’ in an era of crunch.

The BBC was not included in the Guardian’s poll of the UK’s ‘leading arts institutions’ at the weekend, which asked for their opinions on the new Coalition government and the prospect for ‘culture’ in an era of crunch. Strange? Perhaps the editor regards the BBC as invulnerable? Or, more probably, its programmes have become so much part of the wallpaper of our lives that their contribution to the thinking health of the nation is taken for granted. In fact, none of our broadcasting channels, stations, production companies was represented in the poll. It was like reading a novel with half the chapters missing.

Yet the quality of what we hear on the radio is directly related to the funding available, the BBC networks being privileged of course by the licence fee.

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