THE END OF ," WEST REGIONAL "
snz,—Whilst I most heartily concur in your criticism of the White Paper, the worst news to many of us in the West Country is found in a section of the White Paper to which you make no reference. The introduction of the new " C for Cultural " programme in October next demands the use of two medium wavelengthi. One will be diverted from the European Service ; the other will entail the amalgamation of the West Regional and Midland Regional services. Of all seven regions, the West is perhaps the most homogeneous. The region has few, small and scattered indus- trial areas ; the high percentage of listeners are rural—working on the land, loving the land, interested in village life and problems, and with a very definite sense of regional " patriotism." The West Regional directors have catered most excellently for their specialised listeners. The university, staffs of Bristol and Exeter, the technical advisers of the County Agricultural Committees have been of the greatest service on the cultural and educational sides. Now, inevitably,. all this work is to be sadly curtailed. To make matters worse, this disappearance of the West Regional, as a separate entity, has come as a thief in the night. Few listeners here had any inkling of what was in store for them. And, as with too many of the " activities " of the present Government, the moment when it is possible to do anything about it is just the moment when it is impossible to 'do anything effective at all.—Ymirs, &c.,
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