FEATURE:
The Nation’s Favourite
PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
Why BBC Radio 2 Remains the U.K.’s Most Popular Radio Station
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THERE is a good reason…
PHOTO CREDIT: BBC
why BBC Radio 2 is the most popular station in the U.K. A title I don’t think will ever be taken from them. You can follow the station on Instagram and Twitter. There were some interesting findings from the recent RAJAR figures. It seems, regardless of how much time passes, you cannot dent and deny the role BBC Radio 2 plays. How it remains so popular. This fixture for millions of listeners:
“BBC Radio 2 remains the UK’s favourite radio station with Vernon Kay presenting the UK’s biggest radio show and Zoe Ball presenting the most popular breakfast show.
According to RAJAR, podcast listening is at an all-time high with 12.3 million people in the UK (15+) now listening to podcasts each week, a new record. This reflects evolving listener habits, with an increased appetite for podcasts and on-demand content, as digital audience figures continue to grow.
BBC Radio 2 had 13.3m listeners with 6.4m tuning in for The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show. Vernon Kay has the biggest UK radio show with 6.7m listeners”.
Even though I am a devotee of BBC Radio 6 Music, I have listened to BBC Radio 2 since I was a child. Even if I do not listen as much now, there are still reasons to tune in. Zoe Ball is a wonderful breakfast host and worth everything she earns. A source of constant joy and energy, I love the fact that she and the team have this infectious and brilliant bond that makes you part of the family. She is a legendary broadcaster and someone I hope remains at the station for years and years more. In addition to the live shows are incredible weekly edition of Dance Sounds of the 90s with Vernon Kay, Sounds of the 90s with Fearne Cotton, and Eras. We have Pick of the Pops, Rylan on Saturday, Liza Tarbuck, Vernon Kay, Sara Cox, and Jo Whiley. I tune into the excellent Radio 2 Unwinds with Angela Griffin (Sunday at 11 p.m.).
There is so much variety and range on BBC Radio 2. I do not agree that any station has a set demographic in terms of age and musical tastes. BBC Radio 2 plays a lot of modern music in addition to looking back through the decades. If you want something a bit more Indie, deeper-diving or off-the-beaten-track, then BBC Radio 6 Music provides that. BBC Radio 1 perhaps more concerned with the contemporary rather than classic (though they do nod back quite a bit). BBC Radio 2 is not a station for archived music or an older listenership. Instead, it caters to pretty much anyone. You will find something to love. Every presenter so committed to their role. Part of this family rather than some faceless, corporate organisation. I guess the station still has a bit of an issue with gender and racial balance in terms of its playlist. Look across their entire playlist and it is still balanced very much in favour of male artists. Quite heavily on some shows and days. This needs to be addressed. Same goes with artists of colour. However, there have been some improvements when it comes to the most played songs on the station. Much better balance there. I want to come to a recent feature from Music Week. They spoke with Helen Thomas, Jeff Smith, Jo Whiley and Trevor Nelson on the station's role in the industry. This was an interview from August 2023. The interview has been shared as, next month, BBC Radio 2 in the Park returns (and will be held in Preston) for the first time since 2019, where Kylie Minogue and Tears For Fears lead a star-studded line-up. After a turbulent period, it’s set to be a celebration of the station’s dominance over U.K. radio:
“To continue that analogy, Radio 2 head of station Helen Thomas and longstanding head of music Jeff Smith have shown themselves to be chancellors of distinction. Radio 2 was still top of the class in the RAJAR results for the first three months of 2023, with its ratings down just 0.8% year-on-year to 14.46 million and up 1.2% on the prior quarter.
It seems an opportune time, then, for Music Week to check in with the team over Zoom – especially with the imminent return of Radio 2 In The Park for the first time since 2019. Taking place in Leicester’s Victoria Park from September 16-17 and headlined by Kylie Minogue and Tears For Fears, the expanded event will be the station’s biggest ever gathering held outside London.
“All roads lead to Leicester right now, that is absolutely where our focus is,” says Thomas. “It’s our flagship live music event, so we can’t wait. This is like year one for us really, because we got so close with Leeds last year, which would have been our first two-day event.”
The 2022 show was cancelled following the death of the Queen.
“It couldn’t be more important because it’s a chance for us to see our listeners face to face and for all our presenters to come together,” Thomas continues. “It’s all available on iPlayer, BBC Sounds and, of course, on Radio 2 as well, so it’s a hugely significant live music moment for us.”
Jeff Smith, too, foresees a landmark moment.
“We achieved an awful lot with our festival in a day, so it’s brilliant to be able to have two days and also take it around the UK,” suggests Smith. “We saw with Glastonbury and the response to Elton that there is such an appetite for live music, and I think we’re going to see that again.”
Bananarama, Texas, James Blunt, Deacon Blue, Beverley Knight, Busted, Soft Cell, Pretenders, Shalamar, Rick Astley, Jessie Ware, Lemar, Sam Ryder and Simply Red are also on the bill, with all of the 70,000 tickets available selling out in under eight hours.
“No other radio station could put that bill on, because it is an authentic reflection of what we do at Radio 2,” says Thomas. “To have everyone from Tears For Fears to Jessie Ware, who has also presented on Radio 2, is such a brilliant statement of our music policy made real.”
Thomas took up the reins in 2020, succeeding Lewis Carnie, whereas radio veteran Smith has held his title since joining the Beeb from Napster in 2007. The pair are highly complimentary of each other’s qualities.
“Jeff is amazing,” says Thomas. “I genuinely feel blessed to have someone of his experience and wisdom. He’s excellent counsel for me. We’ve got an amazing team at Radio 2 and when you’ve got people who share the vision, you can achieve a lot – and we have. We’ve been through so much since I got this job: we’ve had two royal deaths and a pandemic, and that’s just for starters.”
“I’ve never worked with a better boss,” beams Smith. “We get on so well because we understand each other perfectly. To Helen’s credit, she’s brought this station together more than I’ve ever known it.”
Presenter Trevor Nelson, who has hosted Rhythm Nation on the station since 2016, believes the numbers speak for themselves.
“The audience figures tell you why the industry needs Radio 2,” he laughs. “I think we’ve offered something that clearly no one else has. Number one, we just offer that comfort. In lockdown, the audience reacted to all these known voices they’d trusted every year, so there is that assurance.”
Nelson suggests Radio 2’s balance of entertainment and music is something few of its peers can match.
“We have our specialists and we have our massive mainstream personalities, and it’s that balance that makes it,” he says. “The number one word I always get from listeners is – and it’s so cheesy – is friendship. There’s that companionship and familiarity in a changing world, without it being ‘Hitsville USA.’”
Nelson, who appeared on stage with Thomas to collect the Radio Station honour at the 2021 Music Week Awards, says new music is among his top priorities.
“I don’t stick to the tried and trusted all the time,” he says. “And I’m trying to drive people who might have slightly musically checked out to stream music, make their own playlists and have a bit more interest in new music, as well as rediscovering old music.”
Nelson has upped his workload further still of late, delving into his interview archive for the Trevor Nelson’s Divas series on BBC Sounds, hosting an orchestral reimagining of Bob Marley’s greatest hits from Birmingham Town Hall and presenting a one-off concert at the Royal Albert Hall to mark the 75th anniversary of Windrush. He is also curating Trevor Nelson’s Soul Christmas at the London venue this December. As one of the few diverse voices on Radio 2, he is willing and able to utilise his platform to make a difference.
“I feel a huge responsibility,” he says. “I do four shows a week on Radio 2 and they let me playlist my own show, which is brilliant for musical diversity. My old cohort [DJ] Spoony joined recently; he started depping for me and then they gave him a show. And Angela Griffin has a late night show, so there are diverse voices. I’m not standing here saying we 100% need more, the audience that are listening to the station reflect the DJs on the station. But bit by bit, over the years to come, I expect that to change and I want it to.”
Nelson also says that he can help drive the shift.
“The fact that I’m Black and am on the biggest station is great for my culture, because it proves that if someone else comes along, there isn’t a perception that they can’t be successful on Radio 2,” he says. “So I do take the responsibility. It’s a question I would have avoided years ago, because I always wanted to be judged on merit, not the colour of my skin, but I accept the challenge at Radio 2 and so far, so good. I’ve got nothing but love for the audience.”
Of course, BBC Radio 2 is seeking to impact the industry in other ways.
Chief among its innovations is the Piano Room, which has been a hit with listeners since launching in January 2022. The format sees each artist perform three tracks – a new song, one of their well-known tracks and a classic cover accompanied by an orchestra – during the morning show and has welcomed acts such as U2’s Bono & The Edge, Depeche Mode and Cat Burns.
In February, Piano Room Month featured Stormzy, Pink, Sugababes, Suede, Haircut 100 and Jake Shears featuring Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys, each of whom performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra live from Maida Vale studios.
“We’ve created an opportunity whereby artists like Pink can expand that whole arrangement with us and deliver a longer piece to TV or iPlayer,” points out Smith. “Clearly, what we’re all about is value for the licence fee payer, but also the music industry and I think the value it can get out of that content is incalculable. And it’s another way of getting new music through to daytime.”
Smith considers R2’s relationship with record labels to be “brilliant”, but is keen to encourage even closer cooperation.
“I’d say to the music industry, talk to me more about what we can do with the Piano Room to expose your artist’s music to a wider audience than ever before with the sheer scale and scope that we can offer,” he says. “Pink was a great example of that, but also Depeche Mode, who had never done anything with an orchestra before. I was talking to their manager and he was saying it’s one of the best things they’ve done for decades. And they did a million views on each of those tracks on YouTube.”
Blur, meanwhile, recently became the latest big name act to star in BBC Radio 2 In Concert, performing an exclusive show in front of a small audience of listeners at BBC Radio Theatre in July.
While Smith believes the extent to which radio can claim credit for breaking acts in 2023 is a matter of opinion, he is convinced it remains a vital piece of the jigsaw.
“I’m not too sure it necessarily begins within mainstream daytime radio,” he muses. “Nowadays, all sorts of people could claim they’ve given birth to these hits. But if you want to be successful, ultimately, I believe you’ve got to be on the radio. That is a level you have to attain and it has to be the ambition for many artists, even now. If you want to be successful why wouldn’t you want to be on the biggest radio station in the UK? The biggest radio station in Europe? It’s not going to work for everybody and not all artists are going to work for us, but radio is still so important to breaking new music.”
Smith accepts that the advent of streaming and platforms such as YouTube and TikTok have impacted the medium – just not in the way many would assume. He cites the resurgence of Kate Bush’s 1985 classic Running Up That Hill on the back of featuring in Netflix’s Stranger Things to flesh out his point.
“Generations are coming together through consumption of music and it’s happenstance that we now find ourselves in a world where that is celebrated,” he surmises. “People aren’t as tribal now. They love a broad range of music and Radio 2, as a one-stop shop, is a great place to find that.”
Smith says that Radio 2 stands apart due to its “full-service nature”.
“If one of the platforms we just talked about started to try to be something like Radio 2 that would be interesting, that would be a threat. I’m not arrogant enough to say there’s not competition out there, but those are very much on-demand experiences.”
Sharing her delight at the statistic that one in four adults who listen to UK radio are listening to Radio 2, Thomas points to the open-mindedness of the station’s audience.
“Whatever their age, they don’t just want to listen to the music of their youth, they also want to hear what their kids or grandkids are listening to,” she insists. “We are a proud station aimed at everyone over the age of 35, and that feeds through every aspect of our schedule. There is no other radio station like it on the planet and I want it to continue to tower above all others.”
Even so, the past 12 months have not been without their challenges. Vernon Kay became the new host of the mid-morning show after Ken Bruce, who presented the slot for more than three decades, departed for Bauer Audio UK’s Greatest Hits Radio. Bruce, who had also hosted Radio 2’s Eurovision coverage since 1988, could claim to be the UK’s most popular DJ based on RAJAR figures released in February, with 8.2 million listeners.
“Ken is an amazing broadcaster, who was here at the BBC for 45 years and 31 years on mid-mornings, and he chose to leave,” says Thomas. “It wasn’t a change that I was looking to make, but he had an offer and he decided to go.”
Helen Thomas views the passion of the station’s listenership as an overwhelming positive.
“The listeners of Radio 2 love the station and they tell us what they think, and I value that,” she says. “I would rather have that relationship with our audience because they’re grown-ups as well. I’ve been doing this a long time and Jeff has been doing it even longer, and you know in your gut if something sounds right. You feel it, you can hear it and you can see the response from the listeners.”
As she looks ahead, Thomas says that she wants to keep pushing boundaries.
“Post-Radio 2 In The Park, where are we going next year? Who are we going to get on the bill?” she says. “Hilariously, I was asking Jeff who we’d got for the Piano Room next February, literally the day after selling out 70,000 tickets for Leicester, because it never stops. So I feel like the future is going to be all right.”
Before we leave Thomas and her team to it, we ask whether, amidst all the positivity, there is anything that keeps her awake at night.
“Well, to be honest with you, everything,” she answers. “I’m a terribly light sleeper!”.
I was keen to include as much as that feature as possible. Still dominating the U.K. airwaves, BBC Radio 2 is this institution. What role does it have going forward? I feel, even in a streaming age, the station can remain relatable and contemporary. Showcasing so many incredible new artists but also playing plenty of legacy artists, there is this broad playlist that speaks to listeners across the age demographic. I think there will be new faces coming to the station in years to come. Maybe some younger blood, we will still see icons like Zoe Ball remain. It is great that the station remains so popular. Soi many reasons as to why that is. I have listened to the station since I was very young. I will continue to do so. You get something very special from BBC Radio 2 that you cannot…
GET anywhere else.