Radio 4 braced for more bad news as the big switch-off continues

Trouble at the BBC: Listening figures slump, while children's TV suffers embarrassment and the Oscars go to Sky

RADIO 4 is bracing itself for a wave of criticism when its latest listening figures are released on Thursday.

The station's average audience for the past three months will be down compared with last year and opponents of the schedule launched in April are expected to argue that it is driving listeners away.

Most damaging for Radio 4's controller, James Boyle, are figures which show that the station's share of total radio listening has fallen to 9.3 per cent, from 10.4 per cent at the beginning of the year. July and August figures show Radio 4 attracting only 7.6 million listeners, down from more than 9 million last summer, and a loss of 655,000 since the spring, when the changed schedule was starting to have an impact.

Radio 4 insists that its strength in the third quarter of last year was unusually high - caused largely by the Ashes cricket series on Test Match Special and better audiences for news programmes after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. However, BBC insiders said this summer's audience figures were the lowest that they could remember.

A month ago Mr Boyle held a meeting with programme makers, which showed that the changed Saturday morning schedule was attracting far fewer listeners than the old line-up of Sport on Four, Breakaway and The Week in Westminster. "There were a lot of dips in the graphs," said one who attended, "but they were whisked past our eyes so quickly that it was hard to tell exactly which new programmes are performing badly."

However, Mr Boyle has admitted to a number of problems with the new schedule.

Many of the post-9am interview programmes will not be returning. The weekday 1.30pm lunchtime quizzes and game shows have been deemed overkill and each week two are to be replaced with features.

"The figures you will see this week are really retrospective," said a Radio 4 spokeswoman. "They do not reflect what is happening now."

Weekday evenings are believed to be attracting more listeners than under the old schedule, and some programmes, such as the arts discussion show Front Row, have attracted critical acclaim.

However, the corporation is plainly sensitive to any criticism - and some programme- makers report audience figures that used to be circulated around departments are now, mysteriously, in short supply.

Meanwhile, the presenters, producers and reporting teams of The World at One, PM, The World This Weekend and Broadcasting House are in revolt because flawed new editing equipment is making their job "impossible". They say only a "Blitz spirit" is keeping their programmes on air.

A strongly worded letter is to be sent to the chairman, vice-chairman and governors of the BBC, complaining that it is becoming impossible to put out quality programmes.

The journalists, who include Nick Clarke, Charlie Lee- Potter and Eddie Mair, write: "Even the most technically minded and computer- friendly staff find it a nightmare. At every level, there are frequent failures. For example, the entire script preparation system collapsed 20 minutes before one programme went on air; lines for remote interviews collapse and important interviews are broadcast from crackly telephones." The letter follows acomplaint last month to management from the chief announcer, Peter Donaldson.

HITS

HOME

TRUTHS

WHEN

IS IT?

9am

Saturday

WHAT

IS IT?

John Peel hosts an innovative and interactive programme that deals with

domestic and family life. Both funny and sad, it relies heavily on listeners' ideas.

WHAT

DID IT

REPLACE?

The nostalgic Cliff Morgan and his Sport on Four and the irritatingly

cheerful Breakaway.

CRITICAL REACTION

Radio 4 snobs probably hate the idea of a Radio 1 DJ and ordinary listeners getting their hands on a programme. Critics complain that it lacks substance, but it is as innovative as anything on radio and has quickly attracted a devoted audience.

BETWEEN

OURSELVES

9.00am

Thursday

Olivia O'Leary

interviewing two people with something in common, such as having a relative taken hostage in a far-off land. (At present off-air)

The Moral Maze and Face the Facts have both featured in this slot.

Olivia O'Leary is one of the best presenters in the business, and her programme has the sort of intimacy with the audience characteristic of Radio 4 classics such as Desert Island Discs and In the Psychiatrist's chair.

THE

WESTMINSTER HOUR

10pm

Sunday

Review of the week in politics, presented by Andrew Rawnsley. A mixture of debate, investigation with an element of parliamentary sketch.

Medicine Now, and the parliamentary programme In

Committee.

Has a highly serious agenda, and packs a lot into an hour without appealing only to obsessives the way In Committee did. Is said to be in need of one adjustment - a

presenter who talks to the audience, not at it.

FRONT

ROW

7.15pm

weekdays

Nightly arts

programme, with a broad agenda - from Mark Lawson delving into pop music to Francine Stock on Salvador Dali.

Different programme every day, from File on 4 to Pick of the Week.

Like the old Kaleidescope, but with more bite. Mark Lawson handles discussions in a headmasterly way, although his performance was not quite good enough to get him the Start the Week job after Lord Bragg.

MISSES

BROADCASTING HOUSE

9am

Sunday

Like a news review section from a

Sunday paper on air. Eddie Mair hosts a discussion

programme about the big stories of the week.

Just as newspapers have replaced church going, Broadcasting House has replaced Sunday Worship.

The day's news sounds too frothy when included in the show and the guests rarely manage

searing insights to stories that ran

earlier in the week. Radio 4 admits the

programme needs help and is working on it.

THE

WEEKDAY QUIZZES

1.30pm

weekdays

Quizzes and panel shows in rotation: Round Britain Quiz, Quote... Unquote, Worldly Wise, a radio version of Mastermind and Brain of Britain.

The last ten minutes of the World at One and The Archers.

The BBC has already admitted there are too many quizzes for the public to take. Two are to be replaced with features, but critics are unhappy having a shorter midday news and moving The Archers to 2pm has inevitably irritated many.

LAST SECTION

OF THE TODAY

PROGRAMME

8.45am

Monday to Saturday

A daily debate on any topic that the show can get three people to discuss. Then a final news bulletin before the show ends.

Yesterday in

Parliament - or a story when Westminster was not sitting - and the 9am news.

After hours of short, tight pieces the long final debate feels loose and flabby. Moving the 9am bulletin into the show was supposed to keep listeners tuned but Radio 4 has retreated, admitting it was too much of a benchmark to go.

MOTHERS

AND

SONS

9.00am

Wednesday

Parliamentary sketchwriter Matthew Parris and his mother talking to another mother and son, comparing

experiences.

(At present off-air)

MidWeek summer break filler. Previous offerings have

included a Sandi Toksvig chat show.

Saccharine and bland. Matthew Parris has one of the sweetest voices in broadcasting, but it's best suited to sharp subjects and delivering acute comments about parliamentary humbug. His mother seemed to gush over every guest.