BBC Radio Scotland should be revamped, with its head being replaced, according to the prominent Scots historian, Professor Tom Devine.
Writing on the website ScottishReview.net, he continues an attack on BBC Radio Scotland that he made last year at a debate on Scots independence, organised by the Sunday Herald newspaper.
Claiming that standards have mostly fallen, with only pockets of excellence remaining that “are now unrepresentative of the whole”, he calls for four changes to be made, including more resources to be made available and “a new head of Radio Scotland appointed with leadership qualities and a commitment to defending the station against cuts demanded from south of the border”.
He makes his claims based on, among other things, a survey published three years ago of attitudes in Scotland towards broadcasting and while noting that “only one in ten of the sample of the public interviewed were ‘very satisfied’ by the service provided by Radio Scotland”, he omits accompanying information that no more than 11 per cent were either fairly or very dissatisfied with BBC Radio Scotland’s output, as defined by the likes of its coverage of arts, Scotland’s ‘character’ and local areas.
