Broadcasting survivor Tony Blackburn has reached his golden years, but he reckons his prime-time Golden Hour on Radio 2 has fallen victim to BBC’s rampant ageism.
He even described the decision to demote his show from a Friday to a Sunday as “strange”.
The 79-year-old DJ tweeted: “Doesn’t anyone value experience any more?
“I hate ageism and there’s a lot of it about.”
Even the ever youthful ex Corrie star Craig Charles – who’s 20 years younger than Tony – has had his popular House Party show axed.
And Liz Kershaw has claimed she was sacked from BBC 6 Music “because they don’t want women over 60”.
Liz said this to campaigners who want a Parliamentary debate on the way “women are being erased from public services and institutions”.
And what about Sue Barker? Remember her? Paddy McGuinness got his feet under the table while her ‘elderly’ seat was still warm.
The average BBC2 viewing age is 62 and over at BBC1 it’s 61. One in 20 viewers aged 18 to 30 watch BBC shows as they go out.
The channel is hosting new shows from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK judge Michelle Visage, Waterloo Road actress Angela Griffin and DJ Spoony. An insider said there were ‘a lot of unhappy DJs at the moment as a result’.
So, why is the jolly purple nosed and bleary old Beeb still insisting on putting out tawdry, middle-class pointless rubbish like The Archers, a show that lost its way the first time the cows lay down in the rain?
And why did they make such a big deal of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Diane Ross at Glastonbury… between them they managed to be wrinkly and grinny, nostalgic and a bit sick-making (for me anyway).
But didn’t you notice Aunty? While you might be mistreating the elderly by changing their show ‘bedtimes’ – you are still extolling the virtues of the world’s worst soap by a country mile and promoting three singers with a combined age of well over 200!
Of course the BBC must move on and get down with the kids, yehhhh, — but why do they think talent flops like an empty colostomy bag after you reach your half century?
#tonyblackburn #craigcharles #bbc #glastonbury #paulbeatles #springsteen
Chris Payne
I don’t understand it, they know it’s us “oldies” who pay our license tax. But we have to listen to all the rubbish they dish out now.
So well written Leigh, unfortunately everything you say is very much a sad fact of modern life now.
I’ve experienced it from the age of 57 and it’s not a nice feeling to feel past my sell by date, particularly when I know I have more to give along with my vast life experience.
The crazy thing about this is that the workplace in general sees those who are nearer to 60 as past it whilst the government tells us oldies that we aren’t past it and must continue working until the pension age which for the likes of me is 66, the whole thing is backward thinking because the two practices (of being seen as too old for the job whilst being too young to retire) do not go together.
Us “so called” dinosaurs must stick together and show the BBC and other employers that we still have plenty to offer.
Excellent piece Leigh 👌🏼
Lynn Diane Barber
We have tuned into Greatest Hits or Boom Radio, and only turn Radio 2 on for the Golden Hour and SOTS! That’s us done with the Beeb!
Terry Kevin Charles
So well written Leigh, unfortunately everything you say is very much a sad fact of modern life now.
I too have experienced it and it’s not a nice feeling to feel past my sell by date, particularly when I know I have more to give along with my vast life experience.
The crazy thing about this is that the workplace in general sees those who are nearer to 60 as past it whilst the government tells us oldies that we aren’t past it and must continue working until the pension age which for the likes of me is 66, the whole thing is backward thinking because the two practices (of being seen as too old for the job whilst being too young to retire) do not go together.
Us “so called” dinosaurs must stick together and show the BBC and other employers that we still have plenty to offer.
Excellent piece Leigh
Clueless BBC yet again. Ageist through and through. About time the government did something and investigate just who’s running the show there and consider abolishing the licence fee, if they dare!