Letter: Local stations merged by BBC

Local stations merged by BBC

Sir: The BBC, says Nigel Chapman, Controller English Regions (Letters, 22 January), "has committed itself to expanding its broadcasting presence into more communities across the land". Is this the same Nigel Chapman who, as head of BBC in the Midlands, last year killed BBC Coventry and Warwickshire and tucked it into the armpit of a station serving three million people in Birmingham and the Black Country? The BBC did away with Radio Oxford at the same time.

Two of BBC CWR's blind listeners challenged the BBC to defend before the High Court its right, in face of public outrage, to write a city and a county off the local radio map. The judgment was rueful but correct: the BBC charter requires no consultation of the customer.

STEPHEN WRIGHT

Ilmington, Warwickshire