Annan Report - 1977

The Annan Committee on the future of broadcasting was established in 1974. It was charged with addressing the familiar topics of: the BBC's role; the future of local radio; and broadcast funding.

In February 1977, it published its recommendations, including the continuation of the licence fee; a fourth, independent television channel (which was to come on-air as Channel 4); the establishment of Broadcasting Complaints Commission (later subsumed into the Broadcasting Standards Commission, then sucked into OFCOM). More controversially, it suggested the privatisation of local radio, rather than leave the BBC in both the national and local spheres.

Here, in a report by John Hobson on BBC Radio Nottingham, Lord Annan (who died in 2000) is interviewed.

For my part, as a 'know it all' 16 year old, I wrote an angry letter to 'Tune In' magazine, deriding the Anann suggestions. In my own short epistle, which was duly published, I suggested commercial radio be shut down. I don't still hold those views.