DAN WOOTTON: After an ageist and anti-male purge that saw Ken Bruce, Steve Wright, Paul O’Grady and Simon Mayo exit, the woke and diversity obsessed BBC is slowly killing the nation’s favourite station Radio 2

Imagine being Paul O’Grady, one of the country’s preeminent entertainers, flying high at 67 with a loyal audience of millions every Sunday afternoon on the wireless, only to be told he was going to have to give up half his shows every year to accommodate a much younger and less accomplished DJ.

That replacement, an omnipresent and inoffensive comedian called Rob Beckett, was three decades younger, you see.

No wonder O’Grady, never one to mince his words or give in to the corporate mumbo jumbo of the BBC, told the woke bosses where to shove their degrading proposal.

But for the management of the British Bashing Corporation, a presenter’s age, along with their ethnicity and sex, is the only thing that now seems to matter.

It’s why the superb Simon Mayo was forced to host his then hit show with Jo Whiley, a disastrous chemistry-free experiment that saw him pitch off.

‘The superb Simon Mayo was forced to host his then hit show with Jo Whiley, a disastrous chemistry-free experiment that saw him pitch off’

It’s why Steve Wright, 68, was brutally axed from the afternoon slot he owned for 23 years to be replaced by Scott Mills, 49.

And, seeing the writing on the wall, it’s no doubt why Ken Bruce will next month join his fellow so-called ‘Radio 2 refugees’ in the commercial sector, jumping before he too was inevitably traded in for a younger, higher pitched model.

It’s been obvious for the past decade that the BBC has a disdain for its heartland audience, especially anyone old, white and male.

But the conscious decision to kill off the nation’s favourite station Radio 2 – once the jewel in the Beeb’s crown – with a blatantly ageist policy approach is still astonishing nonetheless.

Because, make no mistake, that’s exactly what the BBC has spent the past five years doing.

Dan Wootton

Today, that obsession with youth and diversity resulted in an almighty Radio 2 switch off.

Figures from Rajar show that last year more than half a million listeners walked away, with the station falling from 14.87 million in the last quarter of 2021 to 14.29 million in the last quarter of 2022.

Zoe Ball’s breakfast show lost a whopping 350,000 listeners alone.

No surprises that they’re going to the commercial sector, including Greatest Hits Radio – already home to Mayo who is soon to be joined by Bruce and his iconic Popmaster quiz – that skyrocketed by over a million listeners in the same period to 4.36 million.

This is a station that was only created four years ago.

An even fresher entrant, Boom Radio, an independent station featuring legendary DJs from yesteryear like David ‘Diddy’ Hamilton, has shot up more than half a million listeners.

No wonder when they managed to secure the services of O’Grady for a special Christmas Day show last year.

In the commercial world, the Radio 2 turn off would be considered a disaster and the offending executives would be told to sling their hooks.

But at the BBC they will likely be celebrated for turning away a demographic they no longer give a damn about.

The Corporation has a disdain for the older listener, you see.

That’s ironic given their recent disgraceful decision to force those over-75 to start paying the extortionate licence fee.

However, the clear goal is to attract younger folk who, ironically, can’t think of anything more preposterous than listening to a regular radio show and DJ, when they are the generation of streaming and self-curation through services like Spotify.

In this futile bid, Radio 2 has also thrown out its formula of largely classic hits from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s for an updated ‘edgier’ playlist that would have previously been consigned to the youth station Radio 1.

For example, analysis by the Daily Mail revealed Wright played half of tunes from those decades, compared to just one in five on the replacement show hosted by Mills, who spun a majority of songs from the 2000s.

In fairness, it’s not just the station’s blokes being hit by the purge.

Even Radio 2’s female stars have felt the pinch by not drinking from the fountain of youth.

‘The sad and totally unnecessary demise of Radio 2 shames the BBC and emboldens the case of those like me who campaign to decriminalise or ideally end the licence fee’

Hardworking early morning presenter Vanessa Feltz said she felt past her used by date having hit 60 last year, a damning indictment on a station loved by millions of older folk.

Tellingly, she was replaced by 38-year-old Welsh broadcaster Owain Wyn Evans.

Having signed for a new job on Talk TV, Vanessa conceded recently that older presenters are ‘not valued in the same way’.

She said: ‘Think of all of the people who have left. Paul O’Grady’s gone. I’ve gone. Steve Wright’s there, but not much. Chris Evans has left. Graham Norton, too.

‘The music isn’t as appealing because they’ve changed it to appeal to a younger crowd they’re so desperate to get.’

There, in two paragraphs, Vanessa has summed up everything that disgusts me about the BBC.

They are not an organisation aiming to represent all Brits, but rather a narrow subset of the metropolitan elite.

That’s why I have been advocating for the BBC to be forced to sell off its biggest stations, including Radio 1 and Radio 2, for some time.

There is absolutely no need for them to remain subsidised by the licence fee payer as the corporation’s hapless management destroys these former national institutions bit by bit.

The sad and totally unnecessary demise of Radio 2 shames the BBC and emboldens the case of those like me who campaign to decriminalise or ideally end the licence fee.