Stephen McKenna has called on the BBC to abandon plans to close Radio 4 Extra, describing the station's archive as a vital part of the nation's cultural heritage. His appeal follows the announcement that the station, along with BBC Three and BBC Scotland TV channels, is set to be shut down next year as part of cost-cutting measures.
A personal connection to the archive
McKenna's father was the actor TP McKenna, who died in 2011. He said that a benefit of his father's years working in radio is the regular messages he receives from friends who have heard him recently on BBC Radio 4 Extra in programmes such as Ballylenon and Baldi. He added that tuning in himself makes it feel as if his father is in the room with him.
While acknowledging that this personal connection is hardly a reason on its own to save the channel, McKenna argued that it is nonetheless significant. He pointed to the many British actors featured on the station, including Paul Daneman, John Moffatt, Robert Hardy, Robert Lang, Richard Pasco, Norman Rodway, Anna Massey, Stephanie Cole, Elizabeth Spriggs, Joanna David, Maggie Steed, Melinda Walker and Geraldine McEwan, as well as the words of writers from Alan Ayckbourn to George Bernard Shaw.
Cultural heritage at risk
McKenna compared the BBC's radio archive to the National Trust, saying it is to our ears what the National Trust is to Sunday afternoon excursions. He described it as a major part of cultural heritage that is too important to be relegated to a corner of BBC Sounds. He also noted that there are few people remaining in BBC management who were part of its former culture.
