BBC Radio 1 and 2 too mainstream, according to UK commercial radio industry

Commercial radio stations in the UK have one major complaint against BBC Radio: It's too successful. Radiocentre, an industry body representing corporate radio stations in the UK has brought a complaint to the Department of Media, Culture and Sport arguing that BBC are "neglecting their public service obligations in pursuit of higher ratings."

It might seem like simple envy, but the BBC's big numbers actually create major losses for commercial stations. BBC Radio 1 and 2 operate much like the American National Public Radio, a government subsidized network that provides service without advertisements. Commercial radio of course relies on advertisements to stay afloat, and the more listeners it has, the more it can charge for those advertisements.

The problem is, BBC Radio 1 and 2 have started to take a significant number of listeners. Radio 2 has the largest listening base in the UK, with around 14.94 million users a week. Radio 1 isn't far behind, bringing in around 11 million listeners a week. Radiocentre believes that those stations' successes have cost commercial radio companies £50 million (about $83 million) a year in lost advertising revenue.

Radiocentre argues that BBC stations should be putting more emphasis on smaller performers that otherwise wouldn't get coverage from mainstream radio. BBC will likely counter by suggesting its rise in success has nothing to do with giving coverage to popular artists, but history is against them: Radiocentre called out Radio 2 in November for its coverage of Gary Barlow's new album, which forced the latter to scale back its reporting on the subject.