"I’ve looked again at the savings targets you were set as part of the local radio review. I know you’ve been kept waiting for news about this - that’s my fault, because a 10 million pounds savings proposal didn’t feel right to me.

I couldn’t see a future for local radio if we’d made cuts at that level. So we’re not going ahead with that plan."

So said DG Tony Hall at Coventry Cathedral on the 8th November. The eve of the 50th anniversary of BBC Local Radio's first station going on-air.

More here, from the BBC Media Centre and here, in "The Guardian".

"Radio Today" reports that "Perhaps the most surprising moment of his speech came when he revealed that the shared evening programme – which has been broadcast across all of the BBC’s Local Radio stations in England for the last 5 years – will end next summer and be replaced by local programming. It is currently hosted by Georgey Spanswick, and before that was fronted by Mark Forrest for four years."