Wanted: 100,000 takers for intelligent radio

IT all started at a Christmas party given by the composer Michael Nyman. Several of us were, as usual, moaning and whingeing about the "dumbing down" of the BBC, which itself was a reflection of the demagogic populism that characterises New Labour's cultural policy. Each guest tried to outdo the other in BBC horror stories. Dominic Gill, a former music critic of the Financial Times and a cofounder of Loot, was satirising the staple diet of Radio 4 with its chortling, jokey quizmasters talking down to a crowd of non-existent idiots.

George Walden wrote in similar vein in this newspaper several months ago.

At some stage that evening we decided that our whingeing had gone far enough. What was needed was action. We decided there and then that we would seriously consider a new radio station which wouldn't patronise its listeners, but would produce a fare of music and discussion that would appeal to the thinking sectors of the population, a layer that crossed class, age and political divides. We knew we would be attacked for "elitism" and catering to the "chattering classes" and "intellectuals" and all the other dirty words that are used to justify the slide into the gutter that marks much television output and an increasing segment of talk radio. In fact it is those who produce a monochrome, dumbed-down package who are the real elitists. They hate the stuff themselves, but think it's fine for the lower orders. Ugh! Last week the news leaked out and we have received hundreds of friendly messages, phone-calls and emails. What has become very clear to me this week is the vast cultural gap that exists inside the BBC between its most creative and talented producers and directors and the manager-accountants who run the show. Both sides observe each other in mutual incomprehension. Producers have described to me in gory detail how they feel out of place surrounded by a dense atmosphere of unwarranted, but definable ill-will. Those among them who win prizes and are commercially feted are fed dinners, and trite eulogies are heaped on their heads. Others are promoted and feel guilty at having to betray their former colleagues. Guilt, for them, becomes a self-protective and a self-deceptive emotion. Cynicism of the coarsest variety pervades the upper reaches of the Corporation, including the Board of Governors. Many of the bosses are already behaving as if they are running a commercial network. It is this craven capitulation that will lead to the death of public service television and radio. Often I find Radio 4 horribly stupid and dreary. Independent thinking is discouraged and more and more control is exercised from the top. Creative producers are starved of resources, freedom and authority. One of the last bastions of lightness, freshness and intelligence was Chris Dunkley's Feedback programme. He was considered too critical of the dictatorship of mediocrity, too sympathetic to the criticisms voiced by discerning listeners. So, farewell then, Chris Dunkley. It is in these conditions that Michael Nyman, Dominic Gill and myself have decided to try to create Radio Einstein. As a senior BBC producer wrote to me: "I imagined something like a cross between an Internet seminar, a really good journal and the best dinner party you've ever been to. A radio station that is unashamedly elitist in the intellectual sense - a forum for debate and argument and a straightforward presentation of ideas in every field(" NUMEROUS others in different walks of life and from different political and social backgrounds have expressed their support for such a station. In the United States, sections of the population who want quality radio subscribe to it and the result is both Radio Pacifica and public broadcasting networks, very different and infinitely superior to the BBC. I think there are enough people in this country who have the passion and dedication to create Radio Einstein, to give it a strong undertow and to provide all those interested in culture - in the broadest sense of the word - with a new tension and excitement, something which has been absent from the BBC for many years. We do not aim to recreate the archaic and mythical grandeur of the Third Programme, but to learn from that model and look forward to enlarging the scope for intelligent, critical appreciation of European and non- European cultures and ideas in the next millennium. Radio Einstein will only come into existence if around 100,000 people decide that they are prepared to pay a self-assessed tax for culture and agree to pay a monthly subscription. This could mark a small leap forward for all those fed-up with the fare currently on offer. So far the challenges to the BBC have come from a crassly commercial sector. This will be the first time that the Corporation is challenged from a somewhat different level. The result might be beneficial for all concerned.

Copyright 1999
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.