Richard Evans wrote:

However, I'm not sure if this exactly works with the BBC, who often seem
more interested in their own agenda, rather than in doing what is best
for the listeners.

But wasn't it listenership falling away and listening to the pirates that
caused the BBC to add extra networks to appeal to the people they were losing?


Don't know about community stations. They should in theory be a lot more
listener centric than the normal commercial stations. I don't really
know if this works in practice as I don't have much experience of
community stations.

In the U.S., the non-comms are not perfect by any means. There are still
fiefdoms and the People In Power (and in the case of the Pacifica stations,
the endless breast-beating and ill-informed decisions), but given all that I'd
say that non-comms would be more likely to pay more attention to the audience
because that's directly where their money is coming from.

The ultimate in catering to the listener would have to be XM & Sirius, which
are wholly listener-supported (on their non-commercial channels anyway).