{"id":1692,"date":"2024-10-14T08:56:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T08:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/?p=1692"},"modified":"2024-10-14T08:56:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T08:56:48","slug":"the-trusted-face-of-regional-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/highlights\/the-trusted-face-of-regional-news\/10-2024","title":{"rendered":"The Trusted Face of Regional News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the most popular and well-respected broadcasters in the region, Peter Levy was awarded with a Doctorate from Bishop Grosseteste University this summer. As he approaches 50 years in broadcasting \u2013 including more than two decades presenting the area\u2019s flagship evening news programme \u2013 Peter tells us why a new generation of broadcasting talent and the loyalty of viewers are two reasons why the BBC\u2019s local coverage is stronger than ever<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\ufeffIn 2022 the BBC celebrated its centenary, and over the years the organisation has seen off \u2013 or learned to coexist with \u2013 cinema newsreels, print, radio, multi-channel TV, the internet, social media and, latterly, streaming services. Undoubtedly more media content is available to us than ever before, and yet the BBC remains not just an important broadcaster in Britain, but the most well-respected and most-trustworthy source of news, anywhere in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The corporation has over 21,000 employees, and achieves revenues of \u00a35.3bn with interests in TV, radio, online media and print, operating 24-hours a day across the world, but also right here in Lincolnshire as a trusted source of local news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underwriting that trust in Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire is broadcaster Peter Levy who, in the run-up to his 50th year as a broadcaster and approaching his 70th birthday year, says that the past couple of decades working on the area\u2019s flagship evening news broadcast, Look North, have been the most enjoyable of his career\u2026 which is surprising consider it was radio, rather than TV, that was Peter\u2019s first love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was born in Farnborough and spent most of my childhood in Cornwall, but moved to London when I finished secondary school,\u201d says Peter. \u201cIt was then I fell in love with radio and really wanted to be a part of it. The BBC\u2019s local radio stations were on air and already well-established, Radio Caroline had begun broadcasting about <\/p>\n\n\n\n

five years earlier and commercial radio was providing something different, something that could sit alongside the BBC\u2019s content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCommercial stations were playing music, running competitions, being silly but offering great entertainment, whilst the BBC was playing music but also offering news and information about your local area. There was a lot to listen to, it was all very good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, I was about 19 when I found myself moving to Bradford and beginning a long, happy association with Pennine Radio first, then with Liverpool\u2019s Radio City before joining BBC Radio Leeds in 1987\u2026 again with no ambitions towards a career in television.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t been there very long but one day they were short of somebody to read the news on TV. Judith Stamper was presenting the news that day. She was talking to the programme\u2019s editor and said she knew someone at the BBC who worked in radio \u2018but always wore a tie,\u2019 so I presented the news for the first time that day… and rather enjoyed it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom that point on I would broadcast on TV or radio, but radio remained the first love. Lately, being able to feature in the afternoon on Richard Stead\u2019s BBC Lincolnshire radio show has been great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s a brilliant broadcaster, really clever, and he really makes the relationship between broadcaster and audience work\u2026 he\u2019s a pleasure to listen to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat started off as a way of promoting that night\u2019s Look North has become a way of going back to what I love and being part of that radio experience. Radio is instant, and you can do so much with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s a common quality of TV and radio it\u2019s the fact that you\u2019re only ever talking to one person, you never address an \u2018audience,\u2019 only with one person in mind, listening or watching in their place of work or in front of the TV.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTV demands a bit more attention but radio in particular is the thing that people tend to have on in the background all day, every day. As a listener you form a really strong bond with a good presenter and it becomes a really intimate, friendly medium.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re also there to reflect the listener or the viewer too. Being asked to represent a new BBC region in 2002 was a big honour. There have been so many stories from the challenging to the joyful. The whole experience is a privilege and a responsibility, especially in the respect of holding people to account for that viewer who may feel very strongly about the item you\u2019re covering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInterviewing Lincoln\u2019s MP Hamish Falconer recently about changes to the winter fuel allowance for pensioners was of huge interest. The letters came in not just from pensioners but from their families too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHamish was good enough to agree to be interviewed, whereas a lot of MPs would have run for the hills, but he put himself up there even though he knew he was going to be presented with difficult questions. The questions had to be the same questions that someone sitting at home would want to ask him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDepending on your agreement or disagreement with the position of the person you\u2019re interviewing you can come across as rude or unwilling to give somebody a chance to speak, but as a broadcaster you\u2019ve got to ask the questions, control the interview and play devil\u2019s advocate when necessary, often with tight time constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBroadcasting is a very good device for holding those in power to account when necessary, and the ability to question and debate is an essential freedom that people in other countries aren\u2019t afforded. The BBC has always been able to do that, and it does it very well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut the more light-hearted stories are an important part of the programme too. Viewers have often been at work all day and they want that sense that we\u2019re a team and we do relax. The \u2018Peter and Paul\u2019 dynamic was never forced or engineered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve known each other for nearly 30 years now and he is genuinely my best mate, so we enjoy banter just like any other workplace. We\u2019ve never had a cross word, and people really do tune in from elsewhere in the country for that dynamic. People like the fun and the \u2018man in suit lets his hair down,\u2019 element of the programme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a juxtaposition against more sober stories, which was proven during Covid when we were having to report every night that people had passed away due to the virus. It was draining for us, and I think it was draining for the viewer, especially if they were isolating, so that bit of normality was valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Her Majesty the Queen died, we were very keen not to be seen to be joking or messing around. But our viewers soon wrote in telling us that whilst they knew why we were being more low-key, and acknowledging the sadness, they wanted us to be \u2018normal\u2019 again. It was really poignant, the viewers\u2019 way of telling us that they were OK.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnother point about Paul is that he\u2019s not just a good presenter, he\u2019s a brilliant climatologist and so knowledgeable. He has to look at the data, interpret it and compose the forecast as well as presenting it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAn enjoyable part of being a broadcaster today is that you\u2019re connected to your viewer or your listener in an unprecedented way. The world has become a smaller place thanks to technology and for us, that means I can now interview someone \u2013 by Zoom or Skype or whatever \u2013 as they sit in their front room with no more elaborate technology than their computer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt means I can read an email from a viewer and know first-hand why a story is important to them. It means that a breaking news story will be captured on somebody\u2019s smartphone. And it means we can hear from our viewers about what stories they\u2019d like us to cover and channel our efforts accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a lot more agile now as a result, able to edit stories and send them back to the studio from a laptop. And though viewing figures are going down regionally, nationally and internationally as a result of YouTube or Netflix or people watching on iPlayer rather than live, the technology we have means we can provide a better experience than ever across different media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve new and brilliant journalists like Sarah-May Buccieri who are TV, radio and website literate, and who don\u2019t necessarily need a dedicated camera operator and don\u2019t need to specify a preference for, say, TV or radio. They can go out to cover a story, and present that for broadcast across all of our channels whilst being totally across the story. They\u2019re super-talented, young and enthusiastic, but also rooted in the fundamentals of good journalism: knowing what makes a good story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn addition we have new leadership like BBC Radio Lincolnshire\u2019s super Executive Editor Maggie Curtis, who is keen to nurture talent within her teams and continue to provide world-class broadcasting that\u2019s fundamentally grounded in the place we live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter\u2019s position as the area\u2019s most trusted broadcaster was affirmed this year with the awarding of a Doctorate from Lincoln\u2019s Bishop Grosseteste University which, he says, was a complete surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a huge shock. I found out about it five months before the ceremony but I\u2008didn\u2019t tell a soul. It was this summer in the middle of July and I found myself sitting on the stage watching the ceremony. I was deeply honoured!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOften it\u2019s easy to look back on how things were with a sense of nostalgia but honestly, I think the BBC \u2013 and particularly the BBC in our area \u2013 is firing on all cylinders right now and it has many more years of success ahead of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The History of the BBC…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Founded on 18th October 1922 as statutory corporation with a royal charter. First broadcast was made from the Marconi factory in June 1920, it was sponsored by Viscount Northcliffe of the Daily Mail, and the broadcast featured Australian soprano Dame Nellie Melba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The BBC\u2019s first audio broadcast was from London on 14th November; then from Birmingham and Manchester 15th November; from Newcastle 24th December 1922; from Hull on 15th August 1923. TV\u2008service began in 1936, and reached Lincolnshire in December 1949. Reception was improved with the creation of the Belmont Transmitter in Christmas 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 BBC Lincolnshire was founded at Stamp End 8th March 1951, BBC Radio Lincolnshire began broadcasting 11th November 1980. BBC Look North was established 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Today, the BBC has 21,000 staff and generates revenues of \u00a35.3bn. The BBC\u2019s World Service reaches a weekly audience of around 318 million people and operates in 42 languages, reaching over 200 countries\/territories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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