THE POP model that has replaced the easy-listening BFBS 2 service has been met with outrage from many listeners in both the forces and local community.
As part of a major cost-cutting drive, programmes such as ‘The Archers’, ‘The News Quiz’ and daytime music shows were cancelled last week and replaced by a relay of BFBS London’s pop service – a format that is almost identical to BFBS 1, which also transmits in Cyprus.
“Basically, you now have two BFBS stations playing the same music and in some cases the same presenters. Why can’t they just go whole hog and just relay BBC Radio Four – or at least play some records that are not all aimed at kids?” a serviceman from Akrotiri told the Cyprus Mail.
“What has happened to BFBS 2 is monumentally stupid,” he added.
Even the most casual listener couldn’t have missed the fact that things have changed dramatically in the past week.
BFBS 2 had been popular in much of Cyprus, but early reaction to the changes indicates that listeners are frustrated with the new progamme grid, with some questioning the logic of the move by BFBS management.
It is understood that many serving officers feel let down by BFBS: some charge the station with now only providing a service exclusively for young squaddies, with a complete disregard for older listeners with a broader taste.
However, in an interview with the Cyprus Mail, BFBS controller Charles Foster defended the shake-up, saying his team were working hard to provide an alternative to the pop-channel.
“We have altered the music mix to reduce the number of records “aimed at kids” by expanding the period from which we play our oldies, so listeners should now be hearing contemporary material, which may include rap, as well as classic hits from the 80s, 70s and 60s,” he said.
Foster also brushed off claims that older servicemen had now ceased to be catered for.
“The vast majority of our core audience is in the 20-40 age group – with the most falling into the 20-24 demographic. The next biggest audience is the 25-29 group, then 36-40 and then 30-34.
“In our last audience research, these people declared themselves in overwhelming numbers to be BFBS Radio 1 listeners. BFBS Radio 2 listeners – the very small number that there were – were mainly older than 35, but especially over 40.”
Station bosses took the decision to pull the plug on BFBS 2 programming because listening figures within the target forces community were described as being ‘very low’.
“We have received a small number of emails from former BFBS Radio 2 listeners, both in the forces and from the expatriate community, from where the higher number of complaints has come.
“The correspondence about BFBS Radio 2 has been small but passionate. We plan to survey the entitled audience in Cyprus later this year,” Foster added.
BFBS acts as something of an aural umbilical cord keeping British servicemen and their families in touch with events both in the UK and back at base and is funded by the Ministry of Defence, as part of its welfare budget.
A total of 30 BFBS jobs have been axed in recent weeks, mostly from the radio broadcasting department alone and all reference to BFBS 2 has been removed from the BFBS website.
