The BBC expects Radio 4’s Today programme “to run on a tank that’s on always full”, according to its presenter James Naughtie.
In an interview with BBC in-house magazine Ariel, Naughtie said that the Today programme was “a tight ship and couldn’t be any tighter”.
“In some ways it’s rather bizarre that the BBC boasts of Today without always recognising that it asks the programme to run on a tank that’s not always full. It’s tough on the overnight producers. They work very, very long shifts.
“What happens on Today matters because it reflects on the BBC. The accuracy of the research matters. The producers do an extraordinary job.”
Naughtie also said that when Today moved out of Broadcasting House, the number of politicans that came into the studio dropped dramatically.
“It’s been one of the huge losses for BBC radio in the last 10 years, because you lose that sense of engagement – being able to judge body language, when to interrupt and so on, when you talk to them in person.”
The BBC news teams including the Today programme are set to return to Broadcasting House when Television Centre is sold in the next few years.
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