John Abberley: Radio Stoke will remain out of tune with most listeners

IF THERE'S one thing I learned when I worked for the BBC, it's that Auntie will always find a reason to go her own sweet way, whatever anyone else says.

So I'm afraid those disgruntled elderly listeners who are fed up with the music played on Radio Stoke won't get anywhere with their complaints.

Neither will any notice be taken of the flattering suggestion that Alan Cookman and myself might make ideal presenters whose choice of music would suit mature listeners.

Nevertheless, you get the feeling there's some discontent about the sounds coming over the airwaves. There must be when somebody wants an old crock like me to do the job.

Perhaps it's the right time to reflect seriously about the BBC's objectives in running local stations and ask why the legitimate grouses of listeners continue to be ignored.

I think there's a strong case to be made for regular programmes aimed specifically at people over 50. After all, they form the majority of the audience and help to pay for the service through the licence fee.

But in this context I should make it clear that the management and staff of Radio Stoke couldn't implement such changes even if they were keen to do so.

For many years they have been remotely controlled from Birmingham, like the rest of the stations in the Midlands. The presenters don't even choose the records they play.

To my mind, this is the worst possible way to run the operation. By its nature, local radio works best when it's based on local know-how and grass-roots knowledge.

That's how it was 41 years ago when I helped to put Radio Stoke on the air and we were left to our own devices.

We put ourselves in the hands of our small but faithful band of listeners. We wanted everybody to come into the studio to broadcast or make programmes.

In other words, whatever went on the air was entirely local, all done and dusted without any outside interference. That's the essence of my argument.

Indeed, it was the BBC's own argument to justify branching into local radio. One of its aims, I remember, was to give a voice to minority groups who'd never been heard before.

That kind of localness has long disappeared from local broadcasting. And no-one now would dream of including a daily record requests programme, as we did for years.

I have never understood why playing record requests went out of fashion. All right, there could be a repetitive element, but the overriding factor is that the station was playing what the listeners wanted to hear.

As well as that, request programmes had an unpredictable quality. I remember playing an extract from the Max Bruch violin concerto and something from Elgar's Enigma Variations, both as birthday requests.

Could you imagine timeless classical music like that ever coming out of Radio Stoke on its drive-time programmes today? Sorry mate, you need to tune to Classic FM.

The sad thing is that audiences have been brainwashed into thinking there's only one kind of local radio – loud pop music interrupted by phone calls and traffic reports.

On the positive side, I will say that Radio Stoke has always been good at helping people to sort out their problems and its football coverage is of a consistently high order.

In fact, their Stoke City man, Nigel Johnson, is one of the station's treasures.

He seems to get better as the years go by. When's he going to get that richly-deserved medal?

However, one man doesn't make a radio station and I stick to my view that Radio Stoke would benefit greatly if it could loosen its stranglehold ties with Birmingham.

If that happened there might be time to play music to suit older listeners – and who knows? I might apply for the job.