BBC Trust

Several participants praised the coverage of the BBC from the National Eisteddfod – on radio TV and on-line – it was considered first class – though shame that that this kind of coverage “was limited to once a year.”

One key reason for the appreciation of audiences of BBC TV was the absence of adverts, explaining it was “lovely to be able to sit and watch a whole TV programme without interruption”. A significant number of the group said that this was reason enough “to be faithful to the BBC”.

Some participants thought it disappointing that there wasn’t audio description in all programmes, for example during “good films”.

News and Current Affairs programming was enjoyed and appreciated, though several participants felt there was too little attention to Holyhead on the news.

Some people felt that there was an imbalance in the coverage of north compared to south Wales, making the point that there was a need to report not just Wales to the rest of UK but also Wales to Wales.

Some participants felt that what was needed was more coverage of l issues that really concerned locals - “Not Royalty visiting Anglesey; locals are more interested in the possible falling down of the Holyhead breakwater”. Some participants said that the local press was “very influenced by politics” and that was why the BBC’s coverage was needed – so as to have impartial coverage.

Huw Edwards was appreciated as a Network News newscaster but some participants felt that the nations and regions news bulletin after the Network Ten O’Clock news bulletin wasn’t long enough .

Others suggested having a more local news opt-out from Wales Today.

BBC News channel was considered an important service and regularly watched by a significant number of participants. One said “we watch BBC News even when we are on holidays abroad”.

The BBC’s nature programmes were considered excellent with Frozen Planet being considered a prime example. It was said that Iolo Williams was a first class presenter of both Welsh and English language nature programmes on both radio and TV.

Comedy was considered an important genre and a key part of the BBC’s output, however, some participants felt that comedians sometimes ‘went too far’ and that this was a matter of regret. Several expressed their fondness for BBC Cymru Wales’ High Hopes comedy series.

Documentaries were also central to the BBC’s provision for many of those present. Programmes such as Monty Don’s past series showing traditional crafts had been very popular and further such examples would be welcomed. Several mentioned Rhod Gilbert‘s Work Experience as having been good though some participants thought its scheduling meant that it was on rather late

Upstairs Downstairs had been an appointment to watch for many– as part of a general fondness for period dramas, though some felt that the second series had rather run out of steam. School-based drama series Waterloo Road had been appreciated in the past, but several participants considered it to have become “too violent recently”. Others perceived there to have been a general increase in violence, with one participant saying that drama was “better when the storylines are more human”. EastEnders in particular was described as being occasionally too violent when compared to Coronation Street which had more elements of humour in it. Doctor Who and Torchwood were appreciated, and because they were made in Wales both series had a greater impact in their opinion - “It makes us proud that it has been made in Wales, made in our capital city.” Many participants enjoyed watching Casualty on Saturday nights and were glad that it was now produced in Wales.

Several of the participants said that they considered S4C to be their default channel and were fans of BBC Wales productions on S4C including Newyddion and Pobol y Cwm. Pobol y Cwm was liked very much by some, while others thought it had become rather crude recently.

There was criticism from some for the number of reality TV shows being broadcast on the BBC, though others were keen viewers of both Strictly Come Dancing and The Voice.

Some participants also said how much they had enjoyed the recent factual TV programming in which individuals had swapped places with people who did the same jobs overseas. They said that it had been very important to see what individuals in other countries had to endure.

A woman involved with the church locally expressed her hope that Songs of Praise would continue but expressed regret about the demise of the Sunday morning service on TV. She also expressed disappointed at the paucity of Christian content at Easter or Christmas since “this is the main time to broadcast Christian stories”.

There was a great deal of praise for the recent factual TV series, The Story of Wales, with several participants considering it ground-breaking, and a very interesting follow-up to The Story of Welsh, broadcast some time ago.

Daytime TV was considered by many participants to have too many antiques and decorating homes type programmes – described by some as “derivative programming”.

Turning to the BBC and events of UK importance, many felt that the BBC was the default broadcaster with one participant saying - “Did I watch the Royal Wedding on BBC out of habit? I don’t know but I turned to ITV for a while but then turned back to the BBC coverage”.

Cbeebies and CBBC were both praised for their children’s output with a consensus that there were excellent programmes for children for a range of ages. S4C’s Cyw strand was also very popular. Some participants said that children like seeing other children on TV, so it was good when this happens on Cbeebies and CBBC.

Radio Wales was a popular service with several participants saying that Jason Mohammed’s phone-ins were particularly popular. Other participants said that they listened to commercial radio stations such as Heart FM in the mornings for local news and while travelling by car so as to be sure to get local travel news.

Some of the more elderly participants felt that presenters and contributors spoke too quickly.

Radio Cymru’s arts programme, Stiwdio was considered to be an interesting and informative programme and it was emphasised that people’s perceptions of the arts was now very different to how it was in the past, when the arts had been widely perceived a ‘elitist’. It was suggested that it would also be interesting to have an equivalent TV programme on the arts in Wales.

There was criticism of the Radio Cymru morning line up with some participants expressing the view that some presenters seemed to talk to each other too much thus excluding the audience. Dewi Llwyd’s programme on Sunday morning was described positively as “a tick in the box.”

One member of the group felt that Post Cyntaf was repetitive and that they could quite easily doze off in the morning and wake up later to the same piece of news.

There was praise for Radio 1 for continuing to feature Welsh in the programme after hosting the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Bangor in 2010 thus showing that it wasn’t just a ‘one-off’ event. They also felt the same about Wales Today which also had more Welsh being used recently.

Radio 5 Live was considered great for football and news. Some participants felt that Radio 6’s target audience felt somewhat unclear and that it wasn’t obvious whom the station’s music was aimed at.

Some felt that there was too much football shown by the BBC. Others greatly appreciated the BBC’s sports coverage. One view expressed was that the “BBC is losing big sports events and this is not good.” In this context the loss of horse racing was specifically mentioned.

Some participants suggested that a ‘BBC Sport’ channel should be considered so that there can be more non-sport content on the other channels.

When asked about the forthcoming coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games a number of participants were not very interested - “the Olympics are far away from us, they’re in London”.

One member of the group was particularly keen on the BBC News app for smartphones, saying she used it more than the web-site and that it was really easy to use.

Many participants said they didn’t often search for news online - “I just look at the news online if I know there is an important story”. One member said that he got to know the headlines for the day by the watching breakfast TV. Another said that the radio was her key source of news.

Turning to the Licence Fee, participants considered it – at around £3 per week – to be great value for money, though some participants also made the point that it would be good if there was some reduction for those on low incomes and a greater than 50% reduction for those who were blind.

It was agreed around the table that DAB reception was very poor in the area and one participant was disappointed that despite having bought a DAB radio several years ago, she was still unable to use it. There was some concern as to what would happen with any ‘DAB switchover’ and the impact this would have on car radios.

There was regret that the reception of Radio Wales in the area was poor.