We have to keep in tune with creativity

As a result, the familiar can become a source of comfort. Which is why we tend to struggle with change when it comes along.

The recent news that Ken Bruce is to leave Radio 2 for Greatest Hits Radio is a case in point. Hard on the heels of the departure of Steve Wright, the announcement led to furious social media denunciations of the news and Radio 2’s controller Helen Thomas (often both in the same tweet), even though in his statement Bruce said that the decision had been made by him not for him.

The reaction is a marker of just how embedded radio voices become in our everyday existence (Bruce has been at the BBC for 45 years, after all). But change is as inevitable in radio life as much as real life. And in this case Radio 2’s loss is Greatest Hits Radio gain (and it is very aware of the fact; just take a look at the GHR website).

That doesn’t necessarily mean change is always a good idea though.

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Take Radio Scotland’s decision to axe Classics Unwrapped, Jazz Nights and Pipeline, dedicated to traditional piping. The news has been greeted with dismay by both musicians and listeners. It’s quite something to manage to rile up Nicola Benedetti, Sir James MacMillan, Tommy Smith and Malinky’s Steve Byrne all at the same time.

Byrne has argued that if the programmes do disappear it will be a “dereliction of duty” on the BBC’s part: “If we can’t hear the sound of ourselves, our own creativity, on our own national radio where can we hear it?”

The concern Byrne, Benedetti et al have is that Radio Scotland’s decision will impact not just on its coverage of their specialist fields but will damage the wider musical ecology for classical, jazz and trad musicians. Throw in fears that the Radio Scotland programme that is part of the BBC Introducing initiative dedicated to discovering new artists is also under threat and there is a dark shadow hanging over specialist music programming across the board.

Radio Scotland itself has been at pains to emphasise that it will continue to cover jazz, classical and piping in its programming, but that hasn’t stopped dark mutterings about cutbacks and fears of the end of live sessions and a reduction of outside broadcasts.

To be fair to the station, its commitment to the arts is reasonably sturdy (certainly when you compare it to its televisual equivalent), but recent decisions do seem to be sending out mixed messages.

As ever the corporation is trying – some might say, failing – to balance its public service obligations and its diminishing budgets. It is also attempting to engage new audiences who don’t listen to radio.

But something, something, baby, bathwater and all that.

Nicola Benedetti is among those to have criticised Radio Scotland's plans (Image: Newsquest)

It should be remembered that the reason some of us haven’t retuned to Greatest Hits Radio yet is not because we don’t want to hear Kenny Loggins singing Footloose ever again (although, yes, in my case that is a factor). It’s that the familiar is fine up to a point, but we do want to be surprised now and then. We want to hear music, ideas, conversation, anything really, that is not the same as what we heard yesterday.

In some ways this situation is emblematic of a wider crisis in the arts as budget cuts bite and cultural output is threatened as a result. Yet the arts are as much a part of culture as sport, say. You wouldn’t necessarily know that from listening to the radio or watching TV though.

Scotland is a country that is not lacking in creativity. It is the nation’s artists – its actors, painters, musicians, writers and comedians – who export a notion of Scotland around the world. That creativity needs nurturing. Because neglect can become a habit too.