BBC Radio must be bolder in 2008 to keep up with a new competitor

At a party in September celebrating his departure as BBC head of classical music, Nicholas Kenyon held up what appeared to be a fossilised owl's pellet. It dated from his days as controller of Radio 3 and had been sent to him by a listener objecting to a schedule change. It was the Bakelite on-off switch from his radio. He would require it back only if Kenyon reversed the changes he had made.

This story just went to show that conservative though BBC Radio is, its listeners are even more so. In my year of listening to radio with a professional ear, I sometimes felt I was doing the equivalent of commentating on an old, well-established and much-loved tree. I knew it was alive and I knew it was growing: leaves would fall off and new ones would grow; the bark would thicken, flake and replace itself. It wasn't quite the same tree that had stood there ten years ago but, by God, it looked similar.

Radio 3, in fact, is not the most immutable of the BBC's stations. In February, it gained a new breakfast-show presenter and a new afternoon schedule that made room for opera. This involved moving Choral Evensong to Sunday afternoons - an appropriate slot, you might think, but some listeners wailed like no choristers you would wish to hear.

Radio 1 got itself a new early, early presenter - Greg James, plucked from student radio -and fired DJs JK and Joel. It appointed an Asian voice, Nihal, to present its weekend breakfast show and risked making Kelly Osbourne its agony aunt on Sunday's Surgery. Radio 2 more modestly spent the year bedding down its new voices, Chris Evans and Russell Brand, but continued to sound like the station most open to change.

At Radio 4, personnel come and go, but the station's basic formats are stuck where they were ten or even 20 years ago. Kirsty Young brings a regional voice and less cattiness to Desert Island Discs, and she is doing the job well now, but it is only a marginal change of tone.

Jane Garvey is less posh than Martha Kearney on Woman's Hour and helps dilute its Home Counties smugness. Kearney, meanwhile, is better suited to The World at One, where her presence as chief presenter modifies the perception that politics on Radio 4 is all men talking to men. The best news of all is that Evan Davis is to become a Today presenter. The appointment of a reasonably hip, witty, unconfrontational (and openly gay) presenter represents a real generational shift.

But Radio 4's controller, Mark Damazer, still dares do little more than patch and mend his slightly old-fashioned, very southern-biased station. He dilly-dallied over what to do with Home Truths after the death of John Peel, leaving soundalikes in charge for more than a year. He should have been bold and hired someone completely different: my suggestion was Sharon Osbourne. He waited and the programme died. The danger is that the rocky ride enjoyed by its replacement Saturday Live - for which an unclear brief, not its presenter, Fi Glover, is to blame - will make him even more cautious.

A similar problem is developing with Loose Ends. Having not been able to use its founding host, Ned Sherrin, for over a year (he died in October), it has been presented by either Peter Curran or Clive Anderson. A decision must be made: replace Sherrin or replace the programme. As the programme largely was Sherrin, I know the solution I'd favour. But Damazer would face the wrath of the kinds of listeners who marched on Broadcasting House when he jettisoned "The UK Theme".

A decade ago, Radio 4 and its audience proved so averse to change that the BBC had to launch its own alternative talk station, Radio 5 Live. Now the great hope for innovation in speech radio lies not with the BBC but with Channel 4, which next autumn will launch Channel 4 Radio as a direct competitor to Radio 4. Davis was offered a presenter's job on its Today equivalent, so you can see the calibre of journalists it will be going after. This month, Bob Shennan, currently controller of 5 Live, was appointed to run it. It may turn out to be cheap and nasty and front-loaded with phone-ins. On the other hand - who knows? - it may make as big an impact as Channel 4 Television did in its own field.

Andrew Billen is a staff writer for the Times

Pick of Christmas radio

Humph in Wonderland
25 December, 12 noon, Radio 4
I'm Sorry, Lewis Carroll Doesn't Have a Clue.

David Beckham's Line of Enquiry
25 December, 3pm, Radio 2br />Becks tackles listeners' questions - like why, oh why did you marry her?

Tony Wilson Tribute With Paul Morleybr />25 December, 10pm, BBC 6 Musicbr />Morley brings you tidings of comfort and Joy Division.

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