BBC Radio Bosses Are All White, Soon They Could Be All Men

This week the controller of BBC Radio 4, Gwyneth Williams, announced that she is going to leave after eight years in the role.

That raises one very obvious question: Who will take Gwyneth Williams’ place?

First some facts: If one looks at the BBC website it has a section titled “Who runs BBC Radio” along with their pictures.

The Director of Radio and Music is Bob Shennan – a white man

The Controller of Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network is Ben Cooper – a white man

The Controller of Radio 3 is Alan Davey – a white man

The Controller of Radio 5 Live and Live Sport Extra is Jonathan Wall – a white man

Following a restructure in 2016 Radio 2 and Radio 6 do not have controllers and so they are not listed in this section of the website nor is Director of Radio & Education – overall boss of all radio but:

The Head of Programmes for Radio 2 is Lewis Carnie – a white man

The Head of Programmes for Radio 6 Music is Paul Rodgers – a white man

Director of Radio & Education is James Purnell – a white man

In fact of the eight most senior roles Gwyneth Williams is the only woman to head any of the BBC’s radio stations. When she finally leaves that number could drop to zero.

And most people will have noticed that in the above lists there is not a single person of colour.

And so how is this senior tier of non-diversity doing?

According to the latest audience figures compiled by Rajar commercial radio extended its lead over BBC with total BBC audience down 1.6% compared to the same time the previous year.

And according to the BBC’s own report in 2015:

1.       The majority of BBC Radio’s audience is over 55 while the percentage of young people are increasingly BAME (Black Asian and Minority Ethnic)

2.       You are one and a half times more likely to listen to BBC Radio if you are white compared to if you are BAME.

3.       And unsurprisingly more men listen to BBC Radio than women.

This would normally be the part of a blog post I would argue why the BBC, and/or the media industry in general, needs to embrace diversity and inclusion. But I believe the figures are so stark they speak for themselves.

There are of course plenty of suitable women and/or BAME candidates who could not only replace Gwyneth Williams but could also refresh the other controller positions once the incumbents move on.

And so to answer my original question “Who will take Gwyneth Williams’ place?” the answer is I do not know.

But I am making a plea to the BBC:

Please consider a broad range of candidates and make diversity a priority because if we love the corporation and want it to flourish there is no way it can continue as business as usual.

(The picture at the top of the piece is a rough depiction of what the future of BBC Radio management meetings could look like if we are not careful)