The BBC will reduce the number of regional BBC Introbing programmes from 32 to 20.
Changes to the system have been expected since the end of last year as part of the broadcaster’s plans to reorganize local services. However, it was suggested that the number of programmes could be reduced to 11, which triggered a campaign to save the platform, in which a group of music organisers wrote to the BBC to express their “serious concern” about the future of BBC Introbing.
The BBC has now said in a statement that it will “continue to celebrate local music across England with new plans for BBC Introducing on local radio and BBC Sounds.” The number of programs that are being cut or merged is not as large as expected, and the frequency of broadcasting will increase to twice a week. BBC Introbing programmes will now be broadcast on Thursday evenings, as well as in the current Saturday evening slot.
There are currently no details on which stations will see their BBC Introbing programmes cut or merged.
The broadcaster also announced new band-focused features on the BBC Sounds app, including a “Place for Me” section where users can listen to music by new artists in their area.
In addition, the Presenting Artist of the Week program will be presented on all 39 local BBC stations, and selected tracks will be broadcast during peak hours. The BBC also promised that all local radio stations “will retain the musical experience locally to support the production of programs and attract new talent.” This will require the creation of new roles to create on-demand audio for BBC Sounds.
Chris Burns, controller of the local audio commissioning department, said: “Presenting shows on local BBC stations plays an important role in supporting new talent — and will continue to do so — but we know that more and more people are turning to BBC Sounds to listen, and we want to do more there and in our peak daytime schedules to showcase new talent.”
BBC Introducing was responsible for getting stars like Ed Sheeran, George Ezra and Little Sims to start their careers. Artists can submit their music on the website for review. Currently, the BBC Music Introduction website receives over 5,000 tracks from new artists per week.
NME spoke to various artists and industry representatives about the fight to save BBC Introbing last month. Lewis Whiting, guitarist of English Teacher from Leeds, described the support the band received from BBC Introbing as “priceless”, adding: “This is the main thing that local bands strive for: you can see that in the past, local BBC Introbing broadcasts have brought results and made the bands’ careers more tangible. It gave us a future.”
Several sources have expressed concern about the “regionalization” of the BBC show. Regionalization of shows is just one step towards getting rid of them completely and, consequently, depriving new artists of a vital platform for their music to be heard,” said BBC Radio London presenter Jess Izat.
