According to a recent newspaper article by Andrew Gilligan, the staffing level for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme was revealed as 55.
When I was on Radio 4's Today, we had 55 staff to produce 17 hours of radio each week - and we couldn't play any records or have any phone-ins. Beneath the surface, the programme was often only separated from missing an interview, losing a clip or even falling off air by a single harried 22-year-old production assistant who'd already been on duty for 12 hours. And that was the BBC's flagship show.
God knows what Good Morning Scunthorpe must have been like.
55!?
What do they all do? Presumably that figure of 55 people include producers responsible for 'forward planning', and organising a steady stream of speakers for Thought for the Day. It does seem rather a lot though.
If production assistants are genuinely under pressure in a team that size, God knows how they would cope working in local radio. I’ve worked at stations that would love to be able to employ 55 people as its total staff, let alone just for programme-making.
During the 1970s/1980s LBC's breakfast show 'AM' - presented for many years by the excellent double-act of Bob Holness and Douglas Cameron - had a production team of just six, not counting presenters and others heard on-air (sport, travel, business etc.).
There were three producers. One would work 0500-1300 and would also studio produce the show 0600-1000. Another would do 1500-2300 (often later) to set-up interviews and other material for the following day's programme. A third would do an 'office hours' day shift dealing with 'forward planning' - arranging future interviews, special events etc. There were also two dedicated reporters providing material for the programme. Overseeing the whole thing was the programme's Editor.
In addition there were also a couple of people who produced the weekend editions of the programme.
As a contrast I produced the weekend overnight show (Saturday, Sunday and Monday 0100-0500) for a couple of years in the late 70s. Three programmes – 12 hours of programming - a week with just myself and the presenter to put everything together. No phone-ins either. Somehow we managed to come up with enough material to fill those hours each week. For a while we also had to pre-record an extra half-hour ‘Best Of’ programme as well. I was also the programme’s studio operator.
In December 2000 I returned briefly to LBC to cover a few production shifts. By then the production team for the breakfast show (presented at the time by Simon Bates) consisted of just two people.
One producer would come in at 5.00am and finalise the programme before studio producing 6.00 – 10.00, while the other would arrive at 3.00pm and work through until about 11.00pm (often later) to set-up interviews and other items for the following day. I am reliably informed that Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on London’s LBC 97.3, (Monday-Friday 7.00 – 10.00am) currently has a production team of three; not counting Nick or other on-air contributors, such as newsreaders, sport and travel people etc.
Does Today really need 55 people? I have also been told that the production team for Simon Mayo’s afternoon programme on BBC Radio Five Live, while not as many as that of the Today programme, is still in double figures.
As much as I consume and enjoy a great deal of the BBC’s radio and TV output during a typical week – and, as a result, personally consider the licence fee to represent good value for money on the whole – I do feel that the time has come to take a good look at how my/our money is spent. It’s not just the money paid to star names such as Terry Wogan, Chris Moyles, Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton, or BBC senior management, but the whole structure of the Corporation and the number of people it employs.
Is anybody able to explain – or even defend – the need for a production team of that size?
I would genuinely like to know.
When I was on Radio 4's Today, we had 55 staff to produce 17 hours of radio each week - and we couldn't play any records or have any phone-ins. Beneath the surface, the programme was often only separated from missing an interview, losing a clip or even falling off air by a single harried 22-year-old production assistant who'd already been on duty for 12 hours. And that was the BBC's flagship show.
God knows what Good Morning Scunthorpe must have been like.
55!?
What do they all do? Presumably that figure of 55 people include producers responsible for 'forward planning', and organising a steady stream of speakers for Thought for the Day. It does seem rather a lot though.
If production assistants are genuinely under pressure in a team that size, God knows how they would cope working in local radio. I’ve worked at stations that would love to be able to employ 55 people as its total staff, let alone just for programme-making.
During the 1970s/1980s LBC's breakfast show 'AM' - presented for many years by the excellent double-act of Bob Holness and Douglas Cameron - had a production team of just six, not counting presenters and others heard on-air (sport, travel, business etc.).
There were three producers. One would work 0500-1300 and would also studio produce the show 0600-1000. Another would do 1500-2300 (often later) to set-up interviews and other material for the following day's programme. A third would do an 'office hours' day shift dealing with 'forward planning' - arranging future interviews, special events etc. There were also two dedicated reporters providing material for the programme. Overseeing the whole thing was the programme's Editor.
In addition there were also a couple of people who produced the weekend editions of the programme.
As a contrast I produced the weekend overnight show (Saturday, Sunday and Monday 0100-0500) for a couple of years in the late 70s. Three programmes – 12 hours of programming - a week with just myself and the presenter to put everything together. No phone-ins either. Somehow we managed to come up with enough material to fill those hours each week. For a while we also had to pre-record an extra half-hour ‘Best Of’ programme as well. I was also the programme’s studio operator.
In December 2000 I returned briefly to LBC to cover a few production shifts. By then the production team for the breakfast show (presented at the time by Simon Bates) consisted of just two people.
One producer would come in at 5.00am and finalise the programme before studio producing 6.00 – 10.00, while the other would arrive at 3.00pm and work through until about 11.00pm (often later) to set-up interviews and other items for the following day. I am reliably informed that Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on London’s LBC 97.3, (Monday-Friday 7.00 – 10.00am) currently has a production team of three; not counting Nick or other on-air contributors, such as newsreaders, sport and travel people etc.
Does Today really need 55 people? I have also been told that the production team for Simon Mayo’s afternoon programme on BBC Radio Five Live, while not as many as that of the Today programme, is still in double figures.
As much as I consume and enjoy a great deal of the BBC’s radio and TV output during a typical week – and, as a result, personally consider the licence fee to represent good value for money on the whole – I do feel that the time has come to take a good look at how my/our money is spent. It’s not just the money paid to star names such as Terry Wogan, Chris Moyles, Jonathan Ross and Graham Norton, or BBC senior management, but the whole structure of the Corporation and the number of people it employs.
Is anybody able to explain – or even defend – the need for a production team of that size?
I would genuinely like to know.
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1 comments:
I agree with you Paul that's too many people; although Gilligan did leave a good few years ago and I should imagine its gone down...a bit.
It is though, sadly, a symptom across the whole BBC. Even in local radio they are producing new with teams of a dozen, compared to commercials 3 or under. You go to any press conference, local or national, and the BBC will have a two man TV crew and a radio reporter, when multimedia training should mean one person can do all three.
But people who start young at the BBC tend to stay there, and never really see that it can be done as well/better - for less.
Loser: the licence fee payer.
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