THE newsroom at commercial radio station, Real Radio Scotland, is facing the prospect of being reduced as part of a reorganisation being undertaken by its owners.
A third of the posts across GMG Radio’s five newsrooms in the UK – in Glasgow, Manchester, Gateshead, Leeds and Cardiff – are understood to be at risk of redundancy, with the reorganisation expected to be completed by March, following a consultation period.
The newsroom at Real Radio Scotland is nine strong, with GMG Radio’s total newsroom complement comprising 39 staff and contracted freelance posts.
The story was reported by STV yesterday and in a statement issued by GMG Radio, chief executive, Stuart Taylor, is quoted, as saying: “GMG Radio’s award-winning news team has set new standards in commercial radio journalism during the last ten years and our stations will continue to provide a high calibre of news programming that is relevant to the listener.
“The decision to reduce what has been an extremely well-staffed team has been an incredibly difficult one but if we are to remain commercially competitive during these tough economic times then we have to ensure that we are operating as efficiently as possible.
“We don’t anticipate that the planned staffing changes will impact materially on the overall listener experience.”
The statement adds: “All stations will continue to produce appropriate national and regionally-produced news programming during peak hours and each of GMG Radio’s sites across the UK will remain staffed with a sufficient number of trained senior and broadcast journalists.”
It goes on to say: “Outside of peak programming hours, stations will utilise an external news provision service where appropriate.”
