BBC Radio boss set to retire

Appearing at the Radio Festival in the British Library, the radio chief, who has been in post since 2013, addressed rumours about her departure that have been circulating for months.

“When one is thinking of their retirement, it is not exactly a secret, it is more a case of when it happens,” she said.

“Everyone knows I am planning to make an announcement sometime in the autumn – but you will have to wait a little longer for that to happen.”

The departure of former BBC News director Boaden, who has been in her current post since 2013, could enable director general Tony Hall to conclude plans to streamline the organisation’s top team.

In July, director of strategy and digital James Purnell was appointed to oversee the newly-created Ideas Service, with responsibility for Children’s, Learning and broader partnerships. Charlotte Moore now has responsibility of BBC3 and BBC Sport alongside TV channels and iPlayer.

Boaden warned that careful planning would be required if Hall opted to merge radio with another division.

“Radio has been a directorate and a separate part of the BBC since it began,” she said. “If that no longer continues then a whole load of things will be up in the air. But I don’t know…I won’t be there.”

Compete and Compare

Meanwhile, Boaden outlined BBC Radio’s “challenging” plan to triple the volume of output for which indies can compete to 27,000 hours over the next six years.

“There will be pressure on commissioners and controllers to demonstrate that they are fair, impartial and will choose the best ideas regardless of where they come from,” she said. “That accountability will be tough.”

She said the BBC had been working closely with radio indie trade body RIG to “perfect” the system.

According to Boaden, Radio 4’s in-house arm was used to competition from outside the BBC, but music stations such as Radio 1 and Radio 2 were less familiar with such pressure.   

RIG chair and TBI Media founder Phil Critchlow urged the BBC to offer access to pitch resources and to unlock its most valuable peaktime hours as it begins dismantling its quota system.

“There’s a lot to do,” he said. “Moving from 9000 to 27,000 hours will take time, but it needs to be done on the basis of a level playing field.

“We can produce peaktime. We are asking for the opportunity to produce for Radio 1 in daytime and will step up to the mark. We can get the right people in place at our companies and they will form part of the pitch process.”

Boaden also called on the commercial sector to increase its commitment to third-party commissioning and claimed it was unsustainable for the sector to rely too heavily on the BBC.

“We have just taken on the licence fee for the over-75s,” she said. “It’s likely that there will be another round of cuts and savings.  That means lower prices and less programming.”