trading as wdr

Tall boy

2026-04-10T09:13:00.002+01:00

Incoming BBC Director General Matt Brittin was spotted in the ~~Temple of Doom~~ main newsroom on the lower ground floor of Broadcasting House.

I say 'spotted'; his 1.9m height was surrounded at its base by a rolling maul of News' 'Senior Leaders'....

All change

2026-04-09T14:16:00.001+01:00

Students of how transformation happens at the BBC will have already discovered from declared expenses that COO Leigh Tavaziva, Chief Product Officer Storm Fagan and Peter O'Kane, now departed Chief Technology Officer, travelled to Seattle and Los Angeles business class in March last year.

Deduction

2026-04-07T08:57:00.001+01:00

The 1978 version of "Death On The Nile", with Peter Ustinov as Poirot, was out again on BBC2 this weekend (and thus for another month on iPlayer). It would interesting to know it's cumulative BBC audience over 16 appearances.

Ear ear

2026-04-05T09:37:00.004+01:00

Radio futurologist James Cridland has just updated his very useful post about how to listen to BBC Radio abroad - network stations and local. Live, not catch-up, available from a webpage that seems to have taken nine months to construct.

Selling mugs

2026-04-04T08:54:00.003+01:00

Yet another job opportunity with BBC Studios in New York, salary unspecified. You could be Director of Retail Development. It's an omnishambles, Brittin.

The Director, Retail Development role will execute omnichannel retail development and marketing strategies to maximize brand presence and retailer support.

The primary focus will be to expand and manage BBC Studios brands’ retail placement across mid-tier, value, off price, grocery, drug and new business channels in the US and Canada. Opportunity to support eCommerce, as well.

Nomination time

2026-04-03T13:01:00.002+01:00

Minutes of the BBC Board's Nominations Committee from 20th January reveal they - Samir Shah, Damon Buffini, Muriel Gray, and Caroline Thomson - chose Rhodri Talfan Davies as "the outstanding candidate" to be interim DG.

They also decided, rather oddly, to appoint Chris Jones, an existing non-executive director to the Editorial Standards and Guidelines Committee. A wise man, no doubt, but an accountant.

Then Dom Loehnis and Helen Crowley of headhunters Egon Zehnder joined the meeting for a discussion of the 'longlist' of potential candidates to replace Tim Davie. Come on, guys, 'long' ?

Mattpod

2026-04-03T11:40:00.002+01:00

I'm grateful to Podnews for pointing me to the fact that incoming BBC DG Matt Brittin has caught podcasting, at least as a holiday job.

Mr Brittin is paired with Hayaatun Sillem, who spent 20 years with the Royal Academy of Engineering, the last eight as CEO. The theme is leadership, and the title of the series is What We Don't Know. Guests include Andy Haldane, Chancellor of Sheffield University; Natasha Frangos of media accountants HaysMac; Hetti Barkworth-Nanton CBE CEO of Ploughshare Innonvations, formerly of Vodafone; former BP boss John Browne; Paul van Zyl of The Conduit; Navjot Sawhney, founder of The Washing Machine Project; all produced by Boxlight, the podcast brainchild of Jimmy McLoughlin. Watch out for appearances as BBC Neds....

The first episode is all about Matt. Not much new, though the BBC can expect some much needed prioritisation and 'velocity'.

En pointe

2026-04-02T13:27:00.000+01:00

Expect poise from the new editor of Today on Radio 4, Rebecca Keating.

Rebecca (MacGregor State High School, Brisbane and Queensland University of Technology) was a young member of Ballet Theatre Queensland, playing The Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, and The Fairy (below) in 1996 and 1997.

She started in journalism with ABC Online (her photos of parliamentary buildings are still credited online) and came to the UK in 2006, joining the BBC News channel. Then followed an number of roles at Westminster, before she joined R4 News and Current Affairs, first with the World At One team, then Today, and, up until now, World At One where she's been holding Sarah Montague's hand.

In 2013, she married Nicholas Watt, then still Chief Political Correspondent at the Guardian. He moved to Newsnight in 2016.

Indeed Bernard. Great hair cutting by @RebeccaKeating using new hair clippers and scissors. Full family production line: I was followed by Theo (4) and Lily (21 months) https://t.co/J0ASv74YIB
— Nicholas Watt (@nicholaswatt) May 4, 2020

Bit by bit

2026-04-02T08:58:00.001+01:00

Says the BBC yesterday: "We can confirm the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the existence of an ongoing police investigation, which was subsequently closed in 2019 with no arrest or charge being made.

"We are doing more work to understand the details of what was known by the BBC at this time."

Operation Winter Key's remit was "to investigate allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse, where the alleged abuse was committed before 2012", firstly when the alleged abusers were "people of prominence in public life". Some 80 officers developed 222 cases, based in temporary offices near the Stratford Docklands Light Railway Station. The team had learned lessons from Operation Midland, the bungled Met investigation into the fantasy claims of Carl Beech. An inspection of Winter Key in 2019 said "The Winter Key cases all seemed to have been thoroughly investigated, and we didn’t find anything to indicate that the team had made poor decisions".

It went on to praise Winter Key's discretion: "For example, wherever possible, they prefer to take a
discreet approach when dealing with high-profile suspects for non-recent offences. This often involves a process known as voluntary attendance, which means that the suspect agrees to attend police premises for interview. Interviews can also be conducted elsewhere (for example, at a solicitor’s office)."

Winter Key may have closed down in 2019, but the Met seems to have a better handle on its records than the BBC: 'We have been in contact with the man's employer on several occasions, between the start of our investigation in 2017 and the present day. It would not be appropriate to share the specific nature of these discussions.'

BBC News tells us that the director general at the time of the investigation, Tony Hall, did not know about the allegations. Who did ? And did they know Winter Key was about child sexual abuse ?

An added complication: Hampshire Police said the sexual offences allegations were first reported by a third party in 2016, and that the force logged the details and passed on information to the Met for investigation. Will that third party complainant reveal themselves to the press this weekend ?

Loose

2026-04-01T09:29:00.001+01:00

One presumes Rhodri is Gold Commander on Scott Mills, but who's helping ?

Lisa Hunter (BA Hons Politics, Newcastle, PG Broadcast Journalism, Cardiff University) joined the BBC as Director of External Communications in November 2025, the week before the DG and Director of News resigned. Previously, Lisa was a member of the Governing Council at Newcastle University and Head of Strategic Communications at MHP Group, a groovy multi-disciplinary PR team handily placed in Great Portland Street. Just before Lisa left MHP, they signed Alison Phillips, editor in chief at the Daily Mirror.

New loose ends: The BBC says the person complaining about Scott Mills over something that happened between 1997 and 2000 brought 'new information' that triggered the sacking. The BBC also says that it fielded a separate inquiry from freelance journalist Anna Brees last May. She said she had information about alleged “inappropriate communications” involving the Radio 2 DJ, and wanted to know if he had ever been the subject of an internal investigation. She didn't get a reply; the BBC now says her information “should have been followed up and we should have asked further questions”.

Anna has a degree in Theology and Anthropolgy from Lampeter, and has worked as a journalist in the Channel Islands, ITV Birmingham, ITV Oxford and BBC South. She currently does social media training, makes short videos about Penarth and Barry, and works for the new Welsh independence party Gwlad (at least until May 7th).

Who knew what when

2026-03-31T09:07:00.002+01:00

So last Monday someone complains about Scott Mills' behaviour, back in 1997-2000; the BBC looks into it, and decides to sack him on Saturday. The news is broken at 11:30am yesterday, and the Daily Mirror seems to have had a beat on the remainder of Fleet Street. The Mirror is the only tabloid vaguely supportive of the existence of the BBC.

How much could the BBC have already known from Mills' file ? In 1997, Scott was working for "London's Heart 106.2", joining Radio 1 in 1998. But we're told the allegations of "serious sex offences" against a "teenage boy" were raised by a force outside London. In 2001, Scott Mills came out as gay to The Guardian; later he talked about turning to alcohol after the suicide of an early boyfriend. Mitch. He also talked about 'the support of Radio 1'. Matthew Bannister was Controller in 1997, followed by Andy Parfitt.

The outside-London force decide to raise Mills with the Met in December 2016. What was the trigger ? The Dame Janet Smith review into Savile et Al at the BBC was published that year; the BBC fell out with Tony Blackburn over 'the standard of his evidence' to the inquiry. Also in 2016, Scott Mills parted with another boyfriend, marketing man Bradley Harris. In July 2018, the Met interviewed Scott Mills under caution. A file was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, suggesting the police felt there was a case to answer; they 'determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.' Presumably some of this should have come to the notice of Scott's managers; Ben Cooper was the Controller of Radio 1.

A reminder that Lorna Clarke, who communicated news of Mills' departure to staff, was 'stepped back' from her role as Director of Music in July last year after the Glastonbury coverage of Bob Vylan.

Let's meet again

2026-03-29T10:31:00.002+01:00

The chaotic end to 2025 required no less than two BBC Board meetings in December. It's hard to tell from the consistently opaque minutes which particular governance issue required meetings on the 11th and 18th December. Remember chair Samir Shah was in and out of Lisa Nandy's office, probably for sessions on the naughty step, with meetings on 1st, 3rd and 16th December.

On 11th December the major items were reviewing Caroline Thomson and Richard Sambrook's changes to the Editorial Standard and Guidelines Committee's remit and procedures - it had signally failed to engage formally with the bombshell Michael Prescott/David Grossman dossier. The Board asked for some re-drafting ahead of the 18th meeting. The 11th also signed off a large spending commitment on the production of Casualty.

The big business on the 18th was money; a strategic decision to let BBC Studios spend more to make more )where have we heard that before ?) and a first-look budget for 2026/27. Proposed organisational changes clearly spooked some non-exectuives, who asked for a full zero-budgeting exercise to report back in March. One element lacking clarity - how much the BBC is prepared to spend on the World Service, a detail still missing from last week's annual plan.

One little item: The Board noted an update from the Chair on succession planning for the DirectorGeneral. This a matter of 39 days after Tim Davie's resignation.

Say what ?

2026-03-28T09:16:00.002+00:00

The Oxford English Dictionary offers six pronunciations of Iranian. The BBC seems to be sticking to the top left, apart, dare I say, from Jeremy Bowen, who is, frankly, a model of inconsistency, too often straying to the right hand side. Perhaps the Pronunciation Department will draw an isogloss around him.

Creative thinking

2026-03-27T16:11:00.001+00:00

He's done it before. Tim Davie was appointed co-chair of the Creative Industries Council by Culture Secretary Matt Hancock in June 2018; at the time he was CEO BBC Studios. He succeeded Nicola Mendelsohn. (Nicola Mendelsohn is now "Head of Global Business Group" at Met, based in New York).

Tim stepped down in December 2021 (Nadine Dorries appointed his successor, Peter Bazalgette).

When Lisa Nandy first appeared at Culture, Bazalgette's tenure was extended, and Baroness Vadera joined him as a 'directly-appointed' co-chair; there was talk of a major recruitment exercise to replace them in 2026.

But this looks like another direct appointment, which, under Whitehall rules, should only last for eighteen months. One presumes that Nandy still rates Davie, despite her talk of 'a problem of leadership' at the BBC of last July. A working address in 44 Belgrave Square looks like a good perch for Tim to pick up a bundle of non-executive roles....

Question

2026-03-26T11:39:00.003+00:00

Media studies GCSE 2026. Q16. There were fourteen formal meetings between Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and BBC Chairman Samir Shah in the last three months of 2025.

In your opinion does this mean:

a) they get on well together and enjoy exchanging ideas ?

b) she doesn't trust him an inch, and wants regular deliveries of homework ?

You again

2026-03-26T10:08:00.002+00:00

A new record number of meetings between Culture Secretary and BBC Chair in the last three months of 2025.

Matt and Sid

2026-03-25T10:19:00.001+00:00

Matt Brittin (Hampton and Robinson College, Cambridge) likes to point out at least some working class connections, writing at the turn of the year: "Sadly my dear Dad Sid, died this autumn. He grew up in a condemned corner shop between St Pancras and Euston, his world of technology was a wireless radio for BBC news and entertainment. "

Sid went to Holloway County Grammar School, off Camden Road, Islington. A keen footballer, cricketer (63 for the 1st XI v Chobham), his street soccer skills were honed during the blitz, later having trials for Brentford, QPR and Chelsea, though National Service blocked his route to professional football. In the 1950s he played for the old boys' team, the Old Camdenians.

Sid made it to Senior Manager for Lloyds Bank in a 36-year career, starting in Harlesden in 1955, and travelling through Islington, Golders Green, Hendon Central, Covent Garden, Finsbury Square and Bromley. However the progress was at one stage marked by a breakdown as he found himself overwhelmed with 'targets'. The tale was told to Clive Anderson, in a 2009 Radio 4 documentary "What became of the bank manager ?"

Sid took early retirement in 1991. He kept busy from his base in suburban Staines, playing bowls for Ashford, and writing features for the Thames Guardian, a quarterly magazine of 'topical and historical stories about England's greatest river.'

He was also a regular letter writer to The Telegraph, perhaps countering son Matt's support of The Guardian.

January 2014

SIR – When I was working in a bank in the Eighties, a customer complained bitterly after our banking hall was redecorated.

It transpired that he had written his pin on the wall next to the cash machine and it had been covered up with paint. His view was that his number was no use to anyone so long as he had the card.

Sid Brittin

Staines upon Thames, Surrey

Platform ticket

2026-03-24T08:59:00.001+00:00

The second wave of John Birt's BBC revolution was the rush to digital; the first wave - 'production modernisation' had seen nearly 10,000 jobs shed, and producting support 'professionalised'. Before that, the technology side of the BBC had an 'army' feel to it. Engineers were climbing transmitters for maintenance, floors were full of copper wiring, and concrete was the favoured building-material.

At the start of the second wave, Birt visited the West Coast, saw the light, and started holding evening parties for digital 'movers and shakers' in the Council Chamber, where sushi and pizza was ordered and delivered in real time ! It seemed obvious from that point that the BBC should acquire some American talent to help drive through these changes. Birt tried wooing Craig Fields, a founding director of Perot Systems and Network Solutions, an internet technology company - he turned down Director of Technology, agreed to come as a two-day-a-week adviser, but did not stay long.

Towards the end of Birt's tenure, Mark Frost, with AOL in his cv, came over to kick start the wider BBC online operation. By that time, BBC News Online had quietly roared ahead without US influence, and, when Greg Dyke arrived, was given custody of BBC Sport Online as a reward. Frost left after a year.

Under DG Mark Thompson, the BBC imported Erik Huggers from Microsoft (though he turned out to be Dutch). Among those who claim to be the key driver of iPlayer, Erik probably has a good case. Then followed Ralph Rivera, with a pedigree in games at AOL.

Now we have the man from Google arriving. Does he have a platforms strategy already in place ? And who will help him deliver it ?

US domestic

2026-03-23T14:54:00.002+00:00

Whoever emerges as custodian of the BBC's news values, I'd like them to explain how 1,200 of directly comissioned words entitled "The Bachelorette's messy break-up with its unlikely star Taylor Frankie Paul" fits with any of the Public Purposes. It appeared this weekend; American news sites posed the question "Why is Taylor Frankie Paul trending ?", and pointed to an unedifying viral video of a domestic fracas. Is today's BBC so competitive for US clicks that we have to join in ?

Raring to go

2026-03-23T09:08:00.001+00:00

Matt Brittin is already getting plenty of advice on what to do with the 3-D chess pieces of the existing BBC management structure, ahead of his formal arrival at Broadcasting House. Indulging in a Premier League analogy, does he come from Google like Nuno Espirito Santo, demanding jobs for at least five others on his coaching team, or does he travel light, like Jose Mourinho ?

The BBC conversations will have started a long time ago, and Brittin clearly made good use of the BAFTA coffee area and members' bar before shaping his presentation for the big interview. A relieved Samir Shah and Caroline Thomson will have already debriefed him on the bits they did and didn't like.

There is little doubt that he should appoint a Deputy Director General, as a lightning conductor to absorb the thunderbolts of error and omission of news and programme-making before they end up as existential challenges to his own tenure. He also has a vacancy at the top of News. At least one of these should go to a woman.

He might take time to consider the general state of 'transformation' much bruited at BH, where expensive consultants and deep HR thinkers have recently brought those working in broadcasting software and hardware back together again, to save money. He will certainly want to build a better top table.

There's a clear impression he wants to get going, and Interim DG Rhodri Talfan Davies may be left to one side, to shepherd the Annual Report to publication, while Matt gets his teeth into the good stuff....

99 and out

2026-03-21T08:29:00.000+00:00

The CBS Radio news service started in 1927, a precursor to the whole network. The C came from late investor Columbia Records, giving a full title of the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System. A year later the record company pulled out, and William S Paley bought it - it became the Columbia Broadcasting System. It was 'home' to Edward R. Murrow's rooftop reports during the Nazi bombing of London during World War II.

These days, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the USA and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said on Friday.

Matt landing

2026-03-19T08:51:22.742+00:00

It looks like it only the vetting hurdle to clear for Matt Brittin ahead of his announcement as next Director General of the BBC.

Will it be a formal interview with a security team ? Will it be harder than Mandelson's ? Will they ask his last year's full salary at Google - he previously couldn't remember a figure in front of MPs ? Will they check his A Levels - did Geography or Rowing get him into Robinson College, Cambridge, to study Land Economy ? Should they run the rule over his Facebook friends - Alan Rusbridger, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, balanced by Kamal Ahmed and Beverly Turner ?

Should he be forgiven for losing three Boat Races in a row ? Particularly at a time when I liked to place a £1 double with that day's Everton result at the Ladbrokes on Highbury Corner ?

Easy to say

2026-03-18T08:48:45.381+00:00

I'm no Rubik's Cube expert, but have found 'solving' one side first doesn't help with the remaining five sides.

Thus, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy on her plans for the BBC. "If the NHS is essential to the health of our people the BBC is essential to the health of our democracy.

"So while the terms, the structures and the funding for the BBC will continue to be negotiated every several years, we should seek to end the bizarre situation where if the Charter isn’t agreed in time, the BBC ceases to exist."

There's no clarity on how she'll achieve this. Perhaps burying A Grand Statement of Permanent Existence somewhere Mr and Mrs Tice can't sniff it out. Even if they can't find it, the phrase 'to be negotiated every several years' isn't really the escape from a permanent argument about renewal that the BBC side had hoped for....

On the move ?

2026-03-17T10:50:45.765+00:00

Copied from Linkedin, a photo of BBC Chief People Officer Uzair Qadeer and headhunters Korn Ferry CEO Kevin Cashman, catching up at Soho House last month. Kevin to Uzair: "Someday I hope to be secure enough to wear glasses like you man!!"

Dismiss ?

2026-03-17T09:25:00.002+00:00

The BBC's US lawyer in the matter of Trump v BBC, Charles D Tobin, has gone in hard ball with a raft of documents for the consideration of Florida judge Roy K Altman, saying "Because the Court lacks personal jurisdiction over Defendants – and the Complaint fails to plead valid claims – the Court should dismiss this case with prejudice". "With prejudice" means no second go at claiming the same alleged defamation.

The lack of personal jurisdiction, first. Trump's lawyers aimed at multiple defendants - the British Broadcasting Corporation a.k.a BBC; BBC Studios Distribution Ltd; and BBC Studios Production Ltd. A statement from Martin Freeman COO of BBC Studios Production Ltd makes it clear they had nothing to do with the creation of the offending Panorama; a statement from Director of Digital Distribution Richard Cooper says there was no BBC channel offering access to the programme in Florida. For the public service component, Director of News Content Richard Burgess explains that BBC offices in Coral Gables are not involved, being home largely to around 25 employees of a separate company, BBC News USA, running BBC Mundo, the Latin American language 'bit' of the World Service.

The Trump charge claims the BBC filmed part of the Panorama documentary at Mar-A-Lago. Executive Producer Leo Telling says those clips were licenced from other news organisations or picked up on the web. Mr Telling looks like being a key witness if it ever gets to trial...

So now Trump's lawyers will have to produce evidence that a number of people in Florida actually saw the Panorama AND they were so influenced that it made them cut donations to The Donald and/or voted for someone else as a consequence. Trump won Florida in 2024 with 6,110,125 votes, up from 5,668,731 in 2020.