Radio
Too posh for Saturday
Michael Vestey
What is a Saturday morning voice on Radio Four? Why should there even be such a thing on a network listened to by millions of intelligent people?
If a voice is suitable on a Thursday evening what makes it become unsuitable by Saturday morning? All nonsense, of course, and sadly too typical of the people now in charge of BBC radio.
Even I, battle-hardened and cynical, my brain cells rhino-skinned from years of observing both from within and without how the BBC functions, was astonished to read that the controller of Radio Four, James Boyle, had sacked the editor of this magazine, Boris Johnson, from presenting the weekly political programme, the Week In Westminster, because he considered his voice too posh. Apparently, it was accept- able when the programme was broadcast on Thursday evening but not now that it's returning to its original slot on Saturday morning.
I mention this because I have referred to it before, citing the example of a skilled woman broadcaster who was told she couldn't present programmes because of her allegedly upper-middle-class voice but could continue reporting for them. So, I ask again: what is a Saturday morning voice? There is no such thing except in the insular, sheltered Scottish mind of Boyle and the dreaded focus groups that he relies on so heavily to help him decide which programmes are to be made and who is to present them. It is patronising to be told that we might be offended at being exposed to so-called posh voices. Just as it is to believe that we would be upset at hearing regional voices. Sdmetimes we are, of course, but that is only because there might be, at any one time, too many of them and for all the wrong reasons.
There is nothing wrong with any kind of voice, provided it can be easily understood across the whole country and has some- thing literate and intelligent to say in a clear grammatical form. That goes for posh voices as much as those from the regions. Certain voices will always irritate, but that is the nature of a varied people like the British. So who are these focus groups to which Boyle submits voices for approval? Are they Radio Four listeners? I sometimes doubt it, judging by all the changes Boyle has made to Radio Four since he took over. I have yet to meet a Radio Four listener who approves of any- thing he has done to the network.
Do you know anyone who participates in a focus group for BBC Radio? I don't. Some readers might recall that I have my own unofficial focus group which has strong views about Radios Three and Four and which airs them over six-hour Sunday lunches. They might, as the afternoon fades seamlessly and unnoticed into the evening, become a slightly out-of-focus group but never mind. Indeed, we assem- bled last Sunday for rabbit casserole and calling them to order I raised what Boris Johnson described last week as 'voicism' at the BBC.
No one minded posh voices any more than they objected to good, intelligent regional voices. There had to be a balance. We don't want everyone to sound the same. And we were frankly baffled by what constituted a 'Saturday morning voice'. It's not as if the BBC has any idea, either, judging by the range of voices on offer on Radio Four at that time. You can hear the posh voices of Sue MacGregor and Edward Stourton on Today. Do Sunder- land factory workers run screaming from the room in terror when they hear them? No doubt there are factory workers in Sun- derland who listen to Radio Four, and why not?
Later, at 11.30 there is Kate Adie pre- senting From Our Own Correspondent, a task she performs beautifully. Her voice is what passes for posh these days and in her precise enunciation one can hear the authority of the late Barbara Woodhouse. But when she comes on do we all sit, obe- diently awaiting a good word from the mas- ter and a Bonio to go with it? I think not. We are pleased to hear a good broadcaster.
Between Today and FOOC, as it is known, there is, of course, Loose Ends with Ned Sherrin (another bit of posh) and that hour of sheer purgatory after Today, John Peel and his programme of domestic ennui, Home Truths. Nothing posh about that, more's the pity. An hour of nappy talk, tales of dogs on buses, in-laws on holiday and animals in cars in Hemel Hempstead is clearly Boyle's perfect idea of a Saturday morning on the radio. As Boyle was a John Birt appointment he is probably reflecting his director-general's own prejudices. He was nicknamed 'McBirt' when he was head of Radio Scotland. It's time he was returned to north of the border.
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