A rival station has been able to scoop up Radio 2 listeners because the BBC was complacent about its older audience, an insider has revealed.
As it shifted its approach to younger music fans, Radio 2 may have relied on research which said its core older audience had nowhere else to go, according to a programme producer who worked there for two decades.
Since its launch five years ago, challenger station Boom Radio has built a loyal audience of 750,000 listeners, targeting the BBC’s neglected over-65s.
Malcolm Prince, who worked with presenters including Paul O’Grady, Steve Wright, Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman over 20 years, claimed the BBC is now desperately trying to reverse course to win those people back.
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Boom was given a “chance to nip in and devote a portfolio of stations to that audience”, he said.
“Then the BBC says, ‘Bugger it, let’s go back to those people with a new archive Radio 2 spin-off for older listeners.’ But Ofcom said ‘No.’”
The UK’s most listened-to station with 12.7 million weekly fans, Radio 2 has been rocked by the shock sacking of Breakfast host Scott Mills. Former executives have said the station needs to bring in new star presenters and demonstrate a clearer strategy about who its audience is.
Listeners over 55 dismissed
Speaking to The i Paper, Prince recalled a BBC strategy meeting he attended in 2021. “Radio 2 was doing market research. They said there were four new age groups they were aiming for – one was the ‘mood mums’ (a 90s-music loving demographic of busy mothers, aged 35-54). I raised my hand and said ‘They don’t exist.’ They never did.
“The age groups stopped at 54,” Prince continued. “A brave colleague put her hand up and asked ‘What about those 55 and older, aren’t we interested in them?’ The research manager said: ‘Don’t worry about them, they’ll listen anyway.’”
Prince, who produced O’Grady’s Sunday afternoon show for 14 years and wrote a book about his close friend after his death in 2023, said: “Therein lies the problem. Five years ago there was a lack of interest in those people. They overlooked and neglected Paul’s audience.”
Malcolm Prince produced programmes with Kylie Minogue at Radio 2 (Photo: Malcolm Prince)
Last year Ofcom blocked BBC plans for a Radio 2 “golden oldies” spin-off station which would feature music from the 60s and 70s and archive shows presented by the likes of Tony Blackburn. The regulator said the proposal would have an unfair impact on commercial competitors already serving its target audience, like Boom.
BBC 6 Music, the hit digital station which serves 2.4 million alternative music fans who have outgrown Radio 1, could have been the “golden oldies” station now thwarted, Prince said.
“There were a number of concepts for 6 Music before its launch (in 2002).
“One was a station for senior citizens over 65. 6 Music was going to be that. Then they decided to go a different way. The BBC now does neglect that older audience and just raiding the archives is not the way to tackle it.”
The BBC said Radio 2 is “committed to the 55+ audience. The station continues to target a multi-generational audience over 35, a target audience which hasn’t changed in decades, and Radio 2 continues to have the largest 55+ audience in UK radio.”
O’Grady ‘furious’ at BBC
Former colleagues say Prince’s view of the BBC is clouded by the circumstances of O’Grady’s departure from Radio 2. The presenter was told to share his Sunday slot with comedian Rob Beckett, cutting his episodes.
Paul O’Grady was upset at the way the BBC cut his Sunday Radio 2 show, Prince says (Photo: Malcolm Prince)
“Radio 2 wanted to do things in new ways on Sundays,” Prince said. “The draft press release said Rob Beckett was going to ‘save Sundays,’ Paul was furious. They did apologise but the damage was done.
“To this day, I don’t know why they wanted to cut Paul’s show. He fulfilled his contract and left. They were probably happy he did. They said the door was always open to Paul, which is exactly what they said when Liza Tarbuck left this year.”
Steve Wright ‘distraught’
Prince, 61, who was executive producer on Steve Wright’s afternoon show, said the late broadcasting legend was also upset after he lost his Radio 2 show.
“Steve was distraught to lose his afternoon show. He phoned me after Paul O’Grady’s last show went out and asked ‘What have we done wrong, Malcolm?’
“Steve couldn’t understand it, he was extremely supportive of Radio 2, he did everything they wanted him to do.”
Norton was another Radio 2 star who felt the winds of change, said Prince. “His weekend show was the single most listened-to programme on the station. Then they said instead of the producer picking the music, which was my job, they were introducing a computer-generated playlist. Everything was changing. Graham quit and went to Virgin Radio.”
Prince, who followed O’Grady out of Broadcasting House, has found a new home at Boom Radio, where he makes his presenting debut with a new weekly show focused on stage and screen music.
New Boom musicals show
The former producer of Elaine Paige’s Radio 2 musical theatre show, Prince’s selections, ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Hamilton, will be his personal choice.
“Radio 2 wanted to lose the older people in production teams because experience is expensive,” he said. “If you take out a producer who knows music and let a computer pick the music, you can afford to have less experienced teams.”
The atmosphere at Boom, where presenters like David Hamilton broadcast from their kitchen or garden sheds, is very different from Radio 2’s “dysfunctional family”, claims Prince. He believes Sara Cox or Nick Grimshaw – “he’s terrific on 6 Music and appeals to young and old alike” – would be excellent choices to take over Breakfast at his old home.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We are proud that BBC Radio 2 remains, by far, the UK’s most popular radio station, attracting 12.7 million loyal listeners each week with its wide-ranging eclectic mix of content and music from across the decades, which is the secret of its success.”
Malcolm’s Musicals & Movies begins Wednesday May 6 at 9pm on Boom Radio, with a Saturday repeat on Boom Light