LONDON, England — The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is cutting 44 jobs in its audio division and ending several long-running Radio 4 programs as it redirects speech-radio investment toward shows designed to work both on the air and as podcasts.

The changes include the end of the consumer-affairs program You and Yours after more than 50 years, along with Thinking Allowed, Free Thinking, The Artificial Human and Open Country. The World Tonight is also scheduled to close next spring. The Guardian reported Thursday, October 8, that BBC audio employees were told division income would fall by about £5.5 million next year and that compulsory redundancies would be required because too few workers volunteered to leave.

The programming changes are expected to begin in spring 2027. Radio 4 plans two new year-round weekly programs—one focused on major ideas and another on technology and artificial intelligence—while Start the Week and In Our Time will expand to one hour. BBC Radio 5 Live will reduce spending on sports podcasts to make room for new programs.

The BBC said the You and Yours team is developing a refreshed consumer program intended to work both on-air and on-demand. BBC Sounds director Jonathan Wall said commissioning fewer programs would allow the broadcaster to concentrate investment on priority shows and distribute them across broadcast, on-demand and other formats.

The cuts are part of the BBC’s broader effort to find £500 million in savings while accelerating its digital strategy. They also illustrate a larger pressure confronting speech radio: distinctive linear programs are increasingly being judged on whether they can attract audiences across podcast and digital platforms.

Still unresolved are which specific positions will be eliminated, how many departures will be compulsory, the names and staffing of the replacement programs, and how much of the affected journalism will survive in new formats.

Radio News Now question: When a public broadcaster redesigns radio for podcast distribution, how should it protect distinctive journalism that may not produce mass on-demand audiences?

Sources: The Guardian; RadioToday.