91Èȱ¬

The participants listened to a wide variety of 91Èȱ¬ radio stations, with only one listening regularly to commercial radio stations. Of the Network radio stations to which participants listened, the most popular by far were Radio 4, Radio 3 and Radio 2, though the 91Èȱ¬ World Service was also staple fare for one participant who said it was required listening for her each night, and praised the station’s in-depth news coverage, saying “I love current affairs and other radio stations give you snippets of news while the World Service gives far more detail.” Radio 3’s Composer of the Week programme was popular amongst some participants. Others mentioned were Radio 1 (“I occasionally listen to it to hear new music”), Radio 4 Extra (to which one participant listened via her TV set) and 91Èȱ¬ 6 Music.

Programmes on Radio 4 that were specifically mentioned included Woman’s Hour, Desert Island Discs (one participant said she listened to this mainly via podcasts), the Listening Project strand on PM, The World at One and the Moral Maze. The Radio 4 18.30 comedy slot was also popular with a number of the participants.

A small number of the participants listened to Radio Wales on a regular basis and one spoke for a number when she said “If there is an important story of relevance to Wales running then I’ll listen to Radio Wales”. Another said that accessing Radio Wales’ traffic news was a key and useful part of her listening day and the station’s sports coverage – and in particular its coverage of local soccer and rugby results – was a key attraction for some others. Amongst the presenters and programmes specifically mentioned as being popular were Owen Money and Rhod Gilbert.

However, some participants felt that Good Morning Wales was an element of the station’s schedule which was not appreciated and one participant spoke for a number when she said “I sometimes listen to Radio Wales in the morning, but Good Morning Wales just isn’t as interesting or stimulating as the Today programme on Radio 4.” Others agreed, with one saying “Radio Wales does appear a bit parochial sometimes, and the news programmes often lack enough substantial material”. The station’s Sunday morning schedule was praised with one person saying “It is very good – I like listening to Vaughan Roderick’s political programme”.

Some participants also listened to Radio Cymru, and it was praised for the assistance it provided to those learning Welsh. As one participant put it “I love listening to the station when I’m driving”. 

The participants listened to a wide variety of 91Èȱ¬ radio stations, with only one listening regularly to commercial radio stations. Of the Network radio stations to which participants listened, the most popular by far were Radio 4, Radio 3 and Radio 2, though the 91Èȱ¬ World Service was also staple fare for one participant who said it was required listening for her each night, and praised the station’s in-depth news coverage, saying “I love current affairs and other radio stations give you snippets of news while the World Service gives far more detail.” Radio 3’s Composer of the Week programme was popular amongst some participants. Others mentioned were Radio 1 (“I occasionally listen to it to hear new music”), Radio 4 Extra (to which one participant listened via her TV set) and 91Èȱ¬ 6 Music.

Programmes on Radio 4 that were specifically mentioned included Woman’s Hour, Desert Island Discs (one participant said she listened to this mainly via podcasts), the Listening Project strand on PM, The World at One and the Moral Maze. The Radio 4 18.30 comedy slot was also popular with a number of the participants.

A small number of the participants listened to Radio Wales on a regular basis and one spoke for a number when she said “If there is an important story of relevance to Wales running then I’ll listen to Radio Wales”. Another said that accessing Radio Wales’ traffic news was a key and useful part of her listening day and the station’s sports coverage – and in particular its coverage of local soccer and rugby results – was a key attraction for some others. Amongst the presenters and programmes specifically mentioned as being popular were Owen Money and Rhod Gilbert.

However, some participants felt that Good Morning Wales was an element of the station’s schedule which was not appreciated and one participant spoke for a number when she said “I sometimes listen to Radio Wales in the morning, but Good Morning Wales just isn’t as interesting or stimulating as the Today programme on Radio 4.” Others agreed, with one saying “Radio Wales does appear a bit parochial sometimes, and the news programmes often lack enough substantial material”. The station’s Sunday morning schedule was praised with one person saying “It is very good – I like listening to Vaughan Roderick’s political programme”.

Some participants also listened to Radio Cymru, and it was praised for the assistance it provided to those learning Welsh. As one participant put it “I love listening to the station when I’m driving”. 

Distribution was an issue for a number of those present, with around a third of the participants reporting difficulties accessing 91Èȱ¬ Cymru Wales TV programming. However, many 91Èȱ¬ Wales programmes were specifically mentioned as viewing highlights by others, including Iolo Williams’ nature programmes, Derek Brockway’s Weatherman Walking and crime drama Hinterland. One participant said of the latter “I think Hinterland is wonderful. I’m not Welsh speaking but to have the bilingual version was great, and helped me with my Welsh”.  Programmes about Wales’ various geographical areas and towns were very popular amongst participants.

Turning to Network TV output, those present said they loved the mix of entertainment, information and education provided by the 91Èȱ¬’s output and considered it vitally important to the corporation’s Public Service Broadcasting role. In this context they specifically mentioned programmes as varied as Call the Midwife, Strictly Come Dancing, University Challenge and Pointless. Regular programmes such as The One Show were also popular.

The 91Èȱ¬’s nature programmes were very warmly praised, with the recent series on the Great Barrier Reef thought to be of a very high standard.

Drama was important to all those present, with praise for War and Peace, currently being broadcast and one participant speaking for a number when she said “War and Peace is great – but it isn’t emphasised enough that it’s made in Wales.”

One participant raised the question as to why situation comedy seemed so uncommons in the 91Èȱ¬’s output at present, when it had been such a staple of the 91Èȱ¬’s output in the past.

CBeebies and C91Èȱ¬ were praised for their “excellent output”.

The participants were generally positive about the 91Èȱ¬’s news and current affairs output and one participants expressed the view of many when she said “As soon as I heard the news of the recent Paris shootings, I went straight to the 91Èȱ¬ News channel, because you can always trust it.” Another said “If the 91Èȱ¬ disappeared I’d really miss the news it provides – it does seem less biased than other outlets, and the 91Èȱ¬ clearly has some very good people working for it”.

Network News on the radio was considered good and the perception of those present was that it provided a world-wide perspective, though it was criticised for failing to “provide news local to us.” Indeed a wider criticism of Network News on both radio and TV was that its coverage of Wales was wholly inadequate, with one participant saying “it is disappointing that politics and news programmes concentrate quite so much on Westminster and give so little attention to the National Assembly for Wales”. Another also said “We’re just not getting enough news about Wales in the UK-wide news”.

91Èȱ¬ Wales Today was popular viewing amongst a high proportion of those present and was considered an important contribution to educating and informing people in Wales, with one participant watching both ITV Wales’ news for Wales at 1800 and 91Èȱ¬ Wales Today at 18.30 each evening, so as to be able to compare the provision of both broadcasters.

The 91Èȱ¬ News app and the 91Èȱ¬’s on-line news service was popular with a high proportion of participants and one spoke for a number of others when she said “When I wake up I check my phone and go to the 91Èȱ¬ News app, and then follow 91Èȱ¬ News on Twitter and Facebook as well as listening to the radio.” However, some felt that the Sky News app was easier to navigate than the 91Èȱ¬ News app and so was their first choice.

With the exception of news, most of those present made little use of the 91Èȱ¬’s on-line and on-demand services, though – as noted above - some participants did download 91Èȱ¬ podcasts and these were popular.

The absence of adverts was considered one of the key attractions of the 91Èȱ¬’s radio, TV and on-line output, and the Licence Fee was, on the whole, considered very good value for money, though one person said he’d be glad not to have to pay it. One participant spoke for a number when she said “I’m more than willing to pay the Licence Fee despite being old enough not to pay it. In fact, I’d pay more because the 91Èȱ¬ does so much good stuff”.

The 91Èȱ¬’s entire output on radio, TV and on-line from the National Eisteddfod for Wales was widely praised, as was the corporation’s coverage from music festivals.