The acting Managing Editor of B.B.C.Radio Newcastle has decided that the angling programme which is broadcast every week is to end. The show has been going out weekly for almost 35 years, For the first 4 years I put the programme together and presented it myself, covering freshwater and sea. The programme was then extended to a half hour show and Railton Howes became the producer. Matthew Barraclough the acting managing editor is to "pull the plug" on the show from the end of December. His reason is that Railton Howes is retiring at the end of December.
B.B.C. rules are that when you retire you are still allowed to work for the "Beeb" as a freelance but there must be a three month gap between leaving and starting again. Mr.Barraclough in his wisdom has decided that a three month gap is no good even though Railton has offered to still produce the show for that period.
The loss of the show means no more news on competitions, club results, interviews etc,. etc. By the way none of us involved in the programme get paid for our contributions apart from Railton who is a B.B.C. employee, we do it because we enjoy doing it.
A letter to Mathew Barraclough, Acting Managing Editor, B.B.C. Radio Newcastle, Barrack Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne,NE2 4NS, Telephone 0191 2324141. might help to try and change his mind if you want the progamme to continue.
A qoute from his letter to those of us involved in the show says "Angling is still a hugely popular pastime but anglers now have an abundance of media to cater for their needs", "It's difficult to justify serving a single community of interest at a time when we face tough decisions about how we spend our budget".
For his information angling is NOT a pastime it's a SPORT. Sea anglers alone generate over one billion pounds for the British economy each year, that's not counting the freshwater side of our sport.
We have England lady's, youth and senior teams representing this country in competitions all over the world, surely that's not a "pastime".
Some years ago the Angling Times carried out a survey to see which area of the country had the biggest concentration of anglers, both fresh and sea, guess which it was, that's right the North East of England. We have some of the best shore anglers up here than anywhere else in this country, many of them have represented England in international competitions.
Sorry to go on lads but I'm a little annoyed.
Sam.
B.B.C. rules are that when you retire you are still allowed to work for the "Beeb" as a freelance but there must be a three month gap between leaving and starting again. Mr.Barraclough in his wisdom has decided that a three month gap is no good even though Railton has offered to still produce the show for that period.
The loss of the show means no more news on competitions, club results, interviews etc,. etc. By the way none of us involved in the programme get paid for our contributions apart from Railton who is a B.B.C. employee, we do it because we enjoy doing it.
A letter to Mathew Barraclough, Acting Managing Editor, B.B.C. Radio Newcastle, Barrack Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne,NE2 4NS, Telephone 0191 2324141. might help to try and change his mind if you want the progamme to continue.
A qoute from his letter to those of us involved in the show says "Angling is still a hugely popular pastime but anglers now have an abundance of media to cater for their needs", "It's difficult to justify serving a single community of interest at a time when we face tough decisions about how we spend our budget".
For his information angling is NOT a pastime it's a SPORT. Sea anglers alone generate over one billion pounds for the British economy each year, that's not counting the freshwater side of our sport.
We have England lady's, youth and senior teams representing this country in competitions all over the world, surely that's not a "pastime".
Some years ago the Angling Times carried out a survey to see which area of the country had the biggest concentration of anglers, both fresh and sea, guess which it was, that's right the North East of England. We have some of the best shore anglers up here than anywhere else in this country, many of them have represented England in international competitions.
Sorry to go on lads but I'm a little annoyed.
Sam.
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