beeb blunder
BBC legend slams broadcaster after bosses axed their show – insisting to viewers it will ‘won’t exist in 10 years’
He had some choice words for the current general director of the BBC
VETERAN BBC presenter Bill Rennells has delivered a scathing critique of the broadcaster.
After his long-running radio show was unceremoniously axed, he issued a prediction that the BBC may not survive the next decade.
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The 92-year-old, who held the title of the BBC’s oldest radio presenter, was left reeling when his beloved program Harmony Nights was cut on New Year’s Eve.
Bill spent over 40 years with the corporation, but that didn't hold him back from hitting out at their most recent decisions.
"I doubt the BBC will exist in 10 years’ time. They keep making so many mistakes," he warned.
Harmony Nights, a cherished call-in program that allowed listeners across Berkshire, Kent, and Oxford to request their favorite songs, was axed despite not being a victim of budget cuts.
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In a statement made by the BBC, the broadcaster praised Bill for his "commitment, time, and energy" but justified the show’s cancellation by citing shifting "audience habits."
Bill sees the decision as part of a larger, troubling trend within the BBC.
He described the cuts and changes sweeping through the broadcaster as "a betrayal of everything Frank Gillard did to set up that network in the 1960s".
Frank was pioneering BBC executive who played a crucial role in the development of BBC Local Radio.
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In an interview with The Times, Bill was blunt in his assessment of the current leadership, stating, "It’s easy to say of [director general Tim Davie] and crew, ‘They know not what they do’. However, I think they do."
Bill first joined the BBC as a news producer at Radio Oxford in 1970.
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He went on to reminisce about the disdain that national radio figures often had for their local radio counterparts in those days.
"When I first arrived at BBC Oxford, someone rang me up and said: ‘How are you getting on in s*** local radio?’ That was typical actually," he recalled.
He added: "What these people never realise is the wonderful community feel that you don’t get elsewhere – even if it’s just reading out a list of schools that have been closed due to bad weather."
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