BBC Trust

Reception

Problems with distribution were widespread according to guests and examples included the so called "black-hole of Flintshire" where Radio Wales has intermittent service on FM and people had to retune from FM to MW as they travelled. People asked whether BBC local radio from the north of England interfered with BBC Wales radio service reception. The importance of Radio Wales coverage and equality of reception across the whole of Wales was believed to be significantly important due to Wales being a political entity.

Reception concerns were also raised in relation to live cricket and parliamentary coverage on radio, particularly where DAB coverage was absent.

Some participants commented that they received both BBC Cymru Wales and BBC North West TV transmissions but tended to opt for BBC North West since it offered a smaller scale and more focused weather service than BBC Wales which had to provide a weather forecast for a larger geographical area.

TV

Some guests felt that television programmes had become too "formulaic" and that more documentary programmes, particularly related to Welsh history, would be appreciated. Other points included questioning whether BBC Wales was doing enough to attract Welsh learners to its Welsh language programmes broadcast on S4C.

It was suggested by some that the image of young people conveyed by the BBC can be overly negative and stereotypical, making the point that programmes from the USA portrayed young people in a far more positive way. Others recognised that programmes such as the recent Our War created a much more positive portrayal of young people.

In general it was considered that the BBC produced high quality drama, with bothThe Body Farm and Waking the Dead praised despite some participants considering the programmes' titles off-putting. Some also considered that some programmes were promoted excessively before broadcast. Younger people commented that they preferred American produced programmes such as Glee to the slower paced BBC dramas. There was near universal praise for Doctor Whoand Torchwood which were believed to represent quality programming whilst also showing different parts of Wales to a wider audience beyond the country. Dragon's Eye was enjoyed by some despite comments from others that the programme's style was too combative. Panorama was generally appreciated though some considered that it had embraced a too sensationalist agenda in recent years. CBBC was widely praised and considered to be worthy of world-renown for its quality and far superior to commercial children's television.

Some participants considered that too many of BBC Cymru Wales' TV programmes have an overtly south Wales focus.

Radio

Some people had read the recent report following the BBC Trust's Service Review of Radio Wales and Radio Cymru and raised points related to BBC Cymru Wales' radio services. A key point was that Radio Wales was perceived by some participants as being too dominated by voices from south east Wales and a perception that there was too little input from contributors from other parts of Wales. The paucity of Radio Wales podcasts frustrated some people.

Some participants said they preferred Radio 4 or commercial radio such as Heart and Real Radio. Nevertheless some participants expressed frustration and disappointment that DAB coverage of both stations was so poor and that there was no resolution in sight.

News

Some participants felt that there was a paucity of stories from north east Wales. In contrast, other participants recognised that every region of Wales will tend to feel under-represented but believed that north east Wales and Mold were often recognised by BBC Cymru Wales, with regular news stories about the local Airbus Company. However some raised concern that much of the coverage from north Wales tended to be negative with stories such as unemployment in Wrexham more prominent than "good" news stories.

People also questioned why BBC News "flogged some stories to death" citing examples such as MPs expenses and phone-hacking by News International journalists whilst giving insufficient coverage to more local interest news. As a result some participants asked how they could contact BBC studios to report local interest stories.

The impression that the BBC in general gave more attention to Scotland as a nation than it did to Wales was also raised.

Sport

Some participants expressed concern that the BBC had recently lost the exclusive rights to show live Formula One racing. Some also expressed concern that BBC Cymru Wales did too little to promote grass-roots sports such as boxing in Wales.

BBC online and on-demand services

Some participants raised concerns regarding BBC Cymru Wales' online coverage of north east Wales, particularly the cessation of the Where you live sites. Some participants rarely if ever used the BBC's iPlayer service to catch up on missed television programmes while other participants said it was their main way of watching BBC TV programmes.

General observations

People appreciated coverage of local events such as the recent National Eisteddfod in Wrexham. They also appreciated the appearance of Welsh people on programmes such as Russell Grant on Strictly Come Dancing.