The fact that Britain’s favourite broadcaster, the 71 year old Terry Wogan, is to retire from B.B.C. Radio 2’s ‘Breakfast Show’ to be replaced 43 year old Chris Evans, has caused a bit of a stir, with the Beeb being accused of neglecting the older audience.
Wogan, has hosted the show for the past 16 years and during that time has amassed an audience of 7,930,000 listeners including his dedicated following of TOGs - 'Terry's Old Geezers' or 'Gals' or as referred to by Ian Burrell in the Independent Newspaper on Monday, Terry’s 'Old Gits'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NgIgIDLujo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3DTerry%2520wogan%26rls%3Dcom%2Emicrosoft%3Aen%2Dgb%3AIE%2DSearchBox%26oe%3DUTF%2D8%26sourceid%3Die7%26rlz%3D1I7GGLD%5Fen%26um&feature=player_embedded
Over 2,500 people felt strongly enough to post a comment on the B.B.C's 'Have Your Say' website:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6968&edition=1&ttl=20090909090240
Even the broadcaster, Dame Joan Bakewell, who was appointed by the Government as a 'Voice of Older People', has got involved .
She said: “As the younger people push the oldies off their perches there’s a sense that the target audience is getting younger. Who is catering for the TOGs? My heart sinks for the Terry fans who would like to have something in his tone – his lilting, comforting style – rather than what might be the more abrasive style of Chris Evans.”
The row comes at a time when the service licence for Radio 2 is being reviewed by the BBC Trust, the body which oversees the Corporation. In its defence, RadioCentre has told the Review that, the average age of a Radio 2 listener has fallen in the past decade from 53 to 50, despite the fact that average age of the population in the over 35 sector has increased from 53 to 54 and is set to grow further.
Bring back Terry....us young people need you!
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