trading as wdr

Health matters

2013-05-18T10:39:00.004+01:00

Ex-BBC COO and thwarted DG candidate Caroline Thomson has joined the NHS Trust Development Authority as a non-executive director. This may give her a chance to spar once again, at least indirectly, with Lord Patten, who, as well as being Chairman of BBC Trust, sits on the European Advisory Board of Bridgepoint, an investment group with major holdings in NHS out-sourcer Care UK and Tunstall, a tele-health-care operator. Or perhaps Russell Reynolds Associates, the headhunters that Lord Patten works for, found Caroline the job...

Office management

2013-05-18T08:28:00.001+01:00

Peter Salmon, Director of North (and probably East, West and South-excluding-London) has blogged about the latest NAO review of the BBC's move to Salford Quays.

The papers have highlighted the scale of the relocation costs. No-one has made much of this para, in the changing budget of the project.

In February 2011, the BBC Trust approved an increase in the budgeted lifetime cost for the project in cash terms, from £876 million to £942 million. The increase was owing largely to the addition of £126 million following the BBC’s decision in 2010 to establish a head office unit and other central services at Salford, a £63 million increase for additional technology and a £28 million increase in estimated utility costs. The combined impact of adding these costs and updating other estimates increased the total gross lifetime cost by £238 million to £1,114 million (Figure 11 overleaf). The addition of these costs addressed a recommendation we made in our 2010 report for the BBC to ensure that all lifetime costs are included in business cases.

Peter was appointed Director, BBC North at the end of 2008. The budget line for the "head office unit" has now been reduced by £45m. But if you divide the remaining £81 million pounds over the twenty years from 2010 to 2030, it still means it costs over £4m a year to run the Salford "head office" and central services.

With open eyes

2013-05-17T12:11:00.001+01:00

When the recent BBC report into bullying came out, HR Director Lucy Adams claimed senior management failed to spot the problem because they were not close enough to rank and file staff.

She told Broadcast "“I was surprised because it’s not the BBC I recognise. I’m not witnessing this stuff. We haven’t been as visible and connected as we should have been. One of the key recommendations from the report is for senior managers – including those at the very top – to be much more visible, out there, connected and continuing to talk to our people."

The latest BBC organisation chart shows that, as of April, there are 595 staff in "BBC People" - I'm guessing three per cent of the work force. They were probably busy on redundancy cases....

Opportunity knocks

2013-05-17T11:50:00.001+01:00

Talented women - apply for any and all BBC jobs now; the odds are massively in your favour. Lord Hall has appointed just one woman, Anne Bulford, to replace another woman, Zarin Patel, and moved Helen Boaden sideways. Since then we've seen promotions for Danny Cohen, Roger Mosey; an enhanced role for Peter Salmon; James Harding in at News, and blokes to run Newsnight and Today.

Details of James Purnell's management structure in Strategy and Digital (in a pdf straight out of Mad Men) show some 41 key posts, of which 13 are filled by women - and many of them seem to have "business management" in their titles.

The charts also reveal that former Comms boss and hardy swimmer Paul Mylrea is still with Auntie, contrary to previous reports, and in charge of something called the BBC Stakeholder Engagement Plan.

Wheels

2013-05-16T11:41:00.001+01:00

And as Ian Katz is unveiled to the Newsnight staff as their new editor, Jamie Angus, helping out there as part-time Assistant Editor since the Rippon departure, is revealed as the next editor of Today on Radio 4.

Runner, cyclist and Crystal Palace-fan-living-near-Dorking, Jamie's currently a commissioner in BBC Global News. His BBC pedigree includes eight years on Today, rising to planning editor; daytime programmes editor on BBC World Service, and Editor of the World At One suite of programmes.

Isn't James Harding a cyclist ?

Ear ear

2013-05-16T09:52:00.004+01:00

Some odds and ends from the lastest quarterly radio listening figures: Radio London 94.9's reach is down 22% year on year - Danny Baker left the weekday afternoon slot at the start of November last year. For Paul Easton's take on the London market, click here.

BBC local radio in England is down 6% year on year. The Mark Forrest (All England-weekday-evening) Show launched in January, but Matt Deegan says that's not the problem ! Mark has 160,000 listeners - better than the three previous quarters.

Some BBC digital stations may have plateau-ed. 6Music, Radio 4 Extra, IXtra and The Asian Network could be where they are for a while.

Radio Cymru, which had to play old records at the start of the year in a dispute with the Welsh pop industry, is down to a new low of 119,000 listeners a week. BBC Radio nan Gaidheal is not rated on RAJAR.

Radio 2 and Radio 3 have had good quarters, led by their breakfast shows. Radio 2's turning into a monster, and commercial radio will now be yapping at the ankles of MPs for the imposition of the first radio ASBO. (Readers have pointed out that in the 70s and 80s, Radio One returned weekly audiences of up to 24 million - measured in the old way)

More men

2013-05-16T09:27:00.001+01:00

It seems, in the end, Lord Hall couldn't make the money right for Peter Barron; The Spectator is convinced that Ian Katz, deputy editor of The Guardian, will be announced today as the next editor of Newsnight.

He's been quiet on BBC issues since the 28th April, but clearly BBC2 is his channel of choice...

Extraordinary that BBC2 Murdoch doc did not mention Guardian's role in exposing hacking
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) April 28, 2013

Kirtsy Wark ridiculous suggesting Tom Baldwin appointment by Ed Miliband analagous to Cameron hiring Coulson #newsnight
— ian katz (@iankatz1000) May 10, 2012

Ian's been with the Guardian for 23 years, and is married to Justine Roberts, co-founder of Mumsnet. They have four children and live not far from Highbury and Islington. Earlier this year it was reported that Dan Stevens was being lined up to play Ian's role in a dramatic reconstruction of the Assange/Wikileaks/Guardian love-hate relationship.

Dodgy diction

2013-05-15T11:20:00.002+01:00

The BBC Trust Editorial Standards Committee has upheld a complaint against Thinking Allowed on Radio 4. Here's the nub of their finding.

The Committee considered that the phrase “cox sackers” was intended to be a play-on-words and if the words had been articulated clearly, the phrase would have been within the expectation of the programme’s audience. However, having listened carefully to the pronunciation of the phrase, the Committee believed the phrase was not articulated clearly enough and could easily have been misheard for the offensive word “cocksuckers” by the majority of the audience.

Professor Laurie Taylor is 77.

Talking shop

2013-05-15T11:06:00.000+01:00

Still no real news of the future of the BBC's struggling Digital Media Initiative, in the latest full minutes from the BBC Trust. Trustee Antony Fry, heading swiftly for the calmer waters of Premier League, said his finance committee had received "an update" and that "further discussions on the project would take place in the coming months". After he's gone, then.

Elsewhere, the Trust approved the BBC's budget plans for next year, without much in the way of transparency in the minutes; and gave the nod to continuing planning for Project Barcelona, by which the BBC wishes to sell its archives to you, the licence payer, as downloads. Lord Patten, 69, apparently likes the relaunch of BBC World.

The meeting thanked Tim Davie for his interregnum as DG; process freaks like me might have asked what's happened to the February minutes of the BBC Executive, before letting him go...

Cheesy tripe

2013-05-15T10:50:00.000+01:00

So it's farwell to Insalata di Tonno e Fagioli at £6.50, Farfalle al Salmone at £8.50, and Saltimbocca alla Romana at £11.20 - La Vigna, an Italian family restaurant at 110 Great Portland Street, has closed its doors for the last time. A trio of chefs formerly with the Arbutus group are opening Picture, a new eatery aimed at the BBC, over the road in Broadcasting House.

21 of the 65 covers will be at a long dining bar - and the menu has got one bit of the current BBC culture wrong, with an emphasis on "sharing dishes". Manager Tom Slegg says they'll change regularly, but offers examples of "Smoked Eel with Date Puree, Apple and Cucumber", and "Slow Poached Hen's Egg with Mushroom Marmalade" (is that really a sharing dish ?) and "Tripe Gratin with Chilli and Butterbeans". Mmm.
There'll also be a set lunch menu at £20. Says Slegg "We want it to have a light industrial feel. There'll be no white table cloths, no pretence [in Tripe Gratin? Ed] and no pressure on people when they eat" (presumably unless they're late for the set lunch).

Whaddya think ? Trendy enough to tempt James Purnell away from the Riding House Cafe ?

Barony

2013-05-15T08:47:00.000+01:00

Can the BBC match a Google lifestyle ? The hiatus over the appointment of the next editor of Newsnight continues. Broadcast and The Guardian were right; Lord "Roman" Hall wants Peter Barron back in charge, and now the discussion is over ~~money~~ modalities.

This particular signing looks like another recruitment by phone call, rather than competition. The difficulty is finding a title and "enhanced" role that would justify a salary that will distort relativities across the reborn "News and Current Affairs" division - a title not in fashion since we last had Poldark on the screen, and that's on the way back too. Why pay squillions to produce a show that attracts a nightly audience of around 750,000 ? Should they get more than double the Editor of Today, reaching 7m a week ?

Newsnight is beloved of a small group of people in the South East, often those who dine out, and wish to "catch up". Over the years, news bosses have demanded the inclusion of "other news" summaries, market and currency stats, and weather forecasts, delivered with disdain by a range of presenters. If Barron ends up on a bonus to drive the show back over 1m viewers, he'll have also demanded spending power, to make more films and specials - and reduce the reliance on dull conversations with BBC correspondents. Delivering Quality First - but to how many ?

Making allowances

2013-05-14T16:19:00.002+01:00

The National Audit Office have been running their calculators over latest data from the BBC's move to MediaCityUK, Salford Quays. They note a certain lack of formal control over allowances paid to some who moved; 11 people received over £100,000.

But the grim news is for those who might be fingered for the next move north; 1,000 further staff, yet to be identified, will be asked to take the Pendolino one way - and no new buildings will be rented. They'll be accommodated by "better use of space". Additional allowances will last a maximum of one year, instead of two, and there'll be no one-off payments (the first wave got £5k) or salary enhancements (some got 10%).

Radio night

2013-05-13T23:02:00.001+01:00

With a joblot of Argos light-sabres as table decorations, and Robbie Williams supported by the lyrics on autocue for "Let Me Entertain You" and "Rock DJ", the Sony Radio Academy Awards lurched into action, with Chris Evans struggling throughout to keep the crowd quiet, despite the drink prices.

By 8.43pm, the BBC Radio PR chief felt confident enough to tweet an all-purpose quote...

Boaden: "I'm delighted the range, quality and distinctiveness of our programmes has been recognised by the judges." #sraa2013
— James Hardy (@jameshardy61) May 13, 2013

This some two hours before the end of the formal awards ceremony.

Quite a lot for me to enjoy at a distance: a gold for Newsbeat in the News And Current Affairs category; gold for a World Service documentary with Robin Lustig; a special award for Steve Lamacq, who has occasionally polished his scripts near me in The Stag's Head; proper Olympic wins for the Event Coverage on 5Live, and for the Peter Allen/Colin Murray show; music awards for Cerys Matthews; entertainment awards for Danny Baker; gold for John Humphrys' journalism; a gold for Today, as Ceri Thomas moves on; and Station of the Year for Five Live.

Spare a thought tonight for the efforts of all those who spent tiring hours putting the entries, successful and unsuccessful, together.

Make show

2013-05-13T11:44:00.002+01:00

After the Bonkers BAFTAs, are we up for the Silly SONYs ? The Radio Academy awards take place tonight (a Monday, for gawd's sake ?) at the Grosvenor House Hotel, where a gin and tonic costs £11.50.

In a misguided attempt to make it even more of a party night, there will be live performances from Robbie Williams, The Saturdays and Jamie Cullum. Last year it was Jessie J, Gary Barlow and Alexandra Burke. I've made an offer to really zhizz up things next year, with performances from The Organist Entertains, plus live mini-episodes of Your and Yours and a real-time Shipping Forecast, with the whole thing fronted by Paula White of Radio Stoke, but have heard nowt...

Determined

2013-05-12T08:18:00.003+01:00

My weekend features two driven men just in their 50s. Eddie Izzard was sharped-suited with only discreet black leather heels at Wembley Arena. Via surreal thinking on Charles 1, The Kraken and dressage, more than 10,000 were well entertained, as opposed to many traipsing away from the stadium. I'd take a bet on Eddie getting to be Mayor of London; he's way funnier than Bepe Grillo.

Expect more sharp suits for David Moyes, as he moves up from £4m pa at Goodison Park, to £5m at Old Trafford. "Dithering Dave", Bill Kenwright used to call him - couldn't really decide what his best team was. He's just beginning to master that with a tiny squad; let's hope the multiple choices he'll have at United don't bring back the uncertainties. Moyes and Everton have been good for each other; time to cheer him on his way.

Be part(y) of it

2013-05-12T08:08:00.003+01:00

She's billed as "local lass" Paula White on BBC Radio Stoke. Friday saw her last weekday afternoon show, before moving to a Saturday slot. We hope.... Here are some of the best bits.

listen to ‘Drunk Show Fail’ on Audioboo

Down whose way ?

2013-05-11T13:11:00.000+01:00

BBC local radio types will be scratching their head at this odd bunch of stats from the annual Ofcom media tracker.

Radio listeners were asked to rate the extent to which they personally relied on BBC/commercial radio stations for coverage of certain local issues and events, with a score of 1 being ‘completely rely on’ and 5 ‘do not rely on at all’. Looking at the top two ratings, commercial radio listeners were more likely than BBC radio listeners to say that they relied on the radio for coverage of local news (25% vs 35%), travel/weather (29% vs 38%), information about events/the community (17% vs 27%), and emergencies such as snow and floods (26% vs 34%).

Targets

2013-05-10T11:45:00.001+01:00

The departure of Richard Klein from BBC4 for the factual department of ITV offers Danny Cohen the chance to improve the gender balance of the Vision top team. Janice Hadlow is currently minding 4 as well as her own BBC2; Charlotte Moore is minding One with a spring in her stride, and now has two slots for which to pitch.

It may take longer for Lord Hall to improve things at the BBC Management Board (which meets three times a month, not weekly, as I previously asserted). Currently, three women are members out of a total of 16 - of them, only Helen Boaden is from an output department. And ethnic diversity will almost disappear when Zarin Patel departs... I'm guessing Ralph Rivera has Puerto Rican heritage.

Time shift

2013-05-10T10:07:00.003+01:00

The process of selecting the next Editor of Today is finally edging forward - if they can find a rodent-free room in which to conduct interviews.

History suggests that Editors of The World At One have a reasonable track record of clinching the morning show job: Julian Holland, Jenny Abramsky, Kevin Marsh and Roger Mosey all followed the same path. (Rod Liddle came from the cerebral challenges of The World Tonight). Current WATO editor Nick Sutton is having a good run with presenter Martha Kearney now regularly pinning down guests without hectoring; he must be worth a punt....

0930 Saturday: I am reminded that Jamie Angus edited The World At One 2009/10 - not sure if he's also in the running, from a current position straddling World Service Commissioning and helping the interregnum at Newsnight.

Oooh Demelza

2013-05-09T11:02:00.002+01:00

One of Danny Cohen's last sign-offs as Controller of BBC1 - a six part adaptation of Poldark. Yes, back from two BBC series in 1975 and 1975, and an ITV follow-up in 1996. Risk-taker Danny's version will be scripted by Debbie Horsefield, of Cutting It fame. Steeped in Cornish history, Debbie comes from Eccles, went to Newcastle University, lives in Ramsbottom and is a patron of the Manchester United Supporters' Trust.

As you can see below, much of the action in the original tv version needed no script.

A remake of Poldark (on mopeds) was forecast sometime ago by Vic and Bob.

I can't find the scenes I want from the 70s online, but there is one where a mansion is torched by angry miners and villagers. No expense had been spared to dress the indoor set at Television Centre. There were some genuine art works on the dummy walls, and the chair usually used for the crowning of Miss World was in the room. So the extras had detailed instructions on what NOT to torch. Only one take was possible - some of the extras could be seen trying to remember which paintings were marked for destruction, which rather dissipated the dramatic tension - and the Miss World chair was burned anyway, unnoticed by the studio director.

In other news

2013-05-09T08:52:00.000+01:00

Some things you may have missed yesterday, because a grumpy, controlling old man, lionised by a media pack he swore at, knighted as he continued to swear and jab in public at referees and officials, feted by a BBC he wouldn't talk to for years, and successful on the back of immense buying power, announced his retirement.

Actor and film director Bryan Forbes died, aged 86. He was in The Colditz Story; wrote The Cockleshell Heroes and The League of Gentlemen; his first film as director was Whistle Down The Wind; in the States, he made The Stepford Wives and The Raging Moon.
The Home Office is to announce a review into the murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan, killed with an axe in a pub car park in South London in 1987. The case remains unsolved after six separate police investigations.
The legacy of Olympic investment took a blow with the announcement that University College London is not, after all, setting up a campus in Stratford.
Russia may be shifting from its support of President Assad of Syria

Evening all

2013-05-08T12:03:00.001+01:00

The indefatigable Darcy Sarto (probably not his, or her, real name) has forced a figure out of the BBC. The move to a shared weekday evening programme ('scept when there's live football) across English local radio has saved £1m. That's against a BBC income last year of £5,086m, an underlying surplus of £249m, and a total BBC local radio budget of £146.5m.

Our course, it may be a double bluff by English regions boss David Holdsworth, to see if he can wrench some money off Lord Hall; BBC local radio has a grand tradition of screwing down incoming DGs. There may be more ammunition when the next audience figures come out on May 16; there'll be a clamour for transparency on The Mark Forrest Evening Show.

Contributors to the forum page suggest David H may be in his last year with the BBC, on a current salary of £156,550, and with 28 years service under his belt. It will be interesting to see if there's an English regions restructuring before the cap on pay-outs comes in September.

Troubled waters

2013-05-08T09:24:00.000+01:00

The story of the BBC hack taken ill in the giant multimedia newsroom at Broadcasting House isn't going away; NUJ rep Sue Harris has told The Telegraph “The member of staff had to struggle out of camera shot to get to the paramedic as the crew weren’t allowed to walk across the newsroom to them because of their high-vis jackets.

"This cannot be allowed to happen again. A more sensible solution has to be found, such as putting screens up. Fortunately on this occasion the person in question was not critically ill, but the BBC cannot let petty rules potentially put lives in danger.”

A BBC spokesman denied that paramedics entering the newsroom had become an issue when the member of staff was taken ill and said that the patient walked to reception.

One has to say that screens, like thosed used at horse races, might be more distracting. But the story is part of a wider picture.

Staff in all divisions are going through a 90 minute "sheep dip" slide show and discussion about bullying. (That's despite Dinah Rose's advice that re-training should focus on induction and leadership). And HR boss Lucy Adams, who gave an unconvincing performance on bullying on the World At One last week, has offered a below-inflation pay rise, plus the mouthwatering news that the antiquated and meaningless UPA allowance is to be consolidated into unpensionable pay. Zarin Patel's promise (to MPs) to move talent that works like BBC staff onto staff pay is in a mess. A Stuart Hall tribute programme on Radio 5Live was only taken off the BBC iPlayer yesterday - and there's head scratching at MediaCityUK about how to get his beaming physog off the giant wall and window graphics. And there WILL be a separate inquiry into how Hall behaved on BBC premises, despite Lord Patten's attempt to wave it away on Sunday. Roger Mosey has emerged in a role that looks at least 90% similar to that held by Mark Byford, if on half the salary; the post of Deputy DG was closed at the cost of redundancy payments of £949k.

Unsteady, to say the least.

Lucy Adams has promised a full pay and grading review for mid-2013. It wasn't mentioned in yesterday's pay offer. The BBC has moved into modern buildings with heritage work practices and reward, and the management seem intent on handing the unions more Jokers to play.

Contortions

2013-05-07T19:14:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Roger Mosey, the BBC's first Editorial Director. The Guardian has been given some guidance on this new role: "It is understood he will effectively be Hall's deputy, although that is not his formal job title". Otherwise, Mark Byford's redundancy payment would be even more difficult for the press and Public Accounts Committee to swallow. And, as if to calm any remaining raised eyebrows, "it is understood Mosey will not formally be more senior in the BBC hierarchy than James Harding, Danny Cohen or Helen Boaden, the recently appointed directors of news, TV and radio respectively".

The remuneration for this role has not yet been formally published; Roger's total package as Acting Director of Vision was £277,800. It's not yet clear, deputy or no, if Roger will be a member of the BBC Executive Committee*. Peter Salmon, Director of BBC North, thought to have been beaten to the role of Director of Vision by Danny Cohen, has been given new responsibilities, to find "ways to extend and strengthen the BBC’s relationship with partners and audiences across the English regions". No news on his salary for this additional commitment; his package as last reported was £387,900 - that without a seat on the Executive. Perhaps the new role will require so much travel it would be silly to buy a family home near Salford.

*0930 Wednesday update: Roger will attend the Executive Board and sit on the Management Board.

Off

2013-05-07T10:49:00.002+01:00

CNN had good viewing figures in April; it does (and should) do well when there are significant US news stories. Jeff Zucker's hiring of Jake Tapper at 4pm has boosted the slot - and later figures benefit.

The first week of May has been less newsy - and the figures again show a switch off in the key demographic after Anderson Cooper's first outing, and as Piers appears. Piers Morgan is still trying to please - as last name "live" on the network, he's come back for a number of specials, including last night at midnight ET for the Amanda Berry story.