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- The Guardian, Monday 17 January 2000
James Boyle always said he was a revolutionary. Once he had completely challenged, overhauled and changed Radio Scotland in the mid-90s he immediately started looking for his next challenge. He was rewarded with the controller's job at Radio 4.
Now, three years on, he has challenged, overhauled and changed that station as well. Last year, with the appointment of Jenny Abramsky as director of radio (a job he wanted) already in place, Boyle started talking privately about the need to move on.
Maybe Boyle had reached his ceiling at the corporation. What other big jobs were there for him to do? The man of revolution was left looking at a job at Radio 4 that was now about refining his own changes. And Boyle has never been a tweaker.
He admitted yesterday that the rumours of a desire to become chief executive of the British Library were true. He has written to the library board expressing an interest in becoming Brian Lang's replacement when the present chief executive retires in May.
Thoughts immediately turn to the huge changes in radio that now face the BBC and Abramsky. Roger Mosey's move to become the head of television news means there is a gap at Radio 5 Live. That, along with Boyle's departure and the fact that Jim Moir, the head of Radio 2, is likely to move on in the near future, mean that Abramsky, and Greg Dyke, have a chance to make a BBC radio after their own image.
Boyle was often known as McBirt - a man who put in place formalised processes to make Radio 4 run more efficiently. He was liked and highly rated by the outgoing director general, who appreciated his adherence to the twin tenets of "necessary change" and "strategic management".
Throughout the battering Boyle took over the changes to Radio 4, much couched in the same language as the attacks on Birt, he stuck steadfastly to his cause, citing copious audience research to show that his Radio 4 was the Radio 4 the listeners wanted. He was finally rewarded with higher listening figures and the radio holy grail - people listening for longer.
Now that Boyle-Birt legacy will be tested by Abramsky and Dyke. The new appointment at Radio 4 will certainly be the most high-profile of the changes to come, and the one that will be most scrutinised and commented on by the British establishment. The person who gets the job is charged with tending one of the commanding heights of middle-class existence.
Although the news that Boyle was stepping down took no one by surprise, it is immediately clear that there is no obvious successor in the wings - no one standing head and shoulders above other wannabes. For much of the previous two years, the BBC has been distracted by the prolonged handover to Dyke.
"There are four or five possible names that have been drawn up. But the post is certain to be advertised," says one key insider. "It may well be genuinely open to an outsider."
Of course, the name that springs to everyone's lips when talking of a big cultural figure who would send out all the right signals about the intellectual future of Radio 4 is a certain Lord Bragg. But given the difficulties of his peerage (look what happened to Birt) such a move would surely be impossible.
What is certain is that the appointee to the £100,000-plus post will be someone in the mould of Abramsky, who is highly rated by Dyke and key governors, including the vice-chairwoman of the BBC, Baroness Young.
A highly creative if mercurial character, driven by a passion for BBC Radio, above all Radio 4, Abramsky surprised herself by landing the prestigious post of director of radio. Never a strong Birtist, she remains touchingly thrilled with her lot and her desire to put creativity at the heart of her tenure has been welcomed by often demoralised staff.
On her appointment, rumours spread about the relationship with Boyle, a touchy but brave man. Such factors can tell us much about who Boyle's successor may be. "Things were never warm and loving [between the two], but the crockery didn't fly," said a senior source. "You could just tell from the body language that they were not close." Crucially, Boyle was seen as driving out a generation of experienced, older radio hands.
At the time of Abramsky's appointment, Boyle's controversial revamp of Radio 4, introduced in April 1998, was under question. "The level of corporate support was not as strong as he might have hoped," said an insider. There was a sense that by annoying everyone from politicians (who forced the restoration of Yesterday in Parliament) to the disability lobby (with the axing of Does He Take Sugar?), Boyle had cooked his goose and with it hopes for further promotion. Very quickly Abramsky, former editor of the Today programme, ex-controller of Radio 5 Live and the driving force behind the launch of BBC Online, set up a special study of radio commissioning, under a former trusted deputy, Martin Cox.
It was an implicit criticism of the way Boyle had reordered Radio 4. He had chosen an inner group of five thirtysomethings as "day-part" editors (commissioning for sectors of the day rather than by genre), some without relevant radio experience, and had skipped a whole generation of older experienced hands, such as Sally Feldman, former editor of Woman's Hour.
Abramsky's aim, as radio's champion, was to restore, in part, Radio 4's structure of commissioning by genre and to hand back as much responsibility as possible to experienced people. Boyle's successor will continue those changes.
The moves were cemented late last year with the appointment of a trusted radio production figure, Graham Ellis - the man who sorted out the Vanessa Feltz crisis for the BBC - as head of radio production.
Ellis is certain to be a front-runner for Boyle's job. So are several women: Helen Boaden, the head of BBC current affairs and a former editor of Radio 4's File on Four; Anne Morrison, head of features and events within BBC Production and a well-qualified administrator; and Anna Carragher, head of broadcasting at BBC Northern Ireland, who also has plenty of experience. Crucially, Carragher remains very close to Abramsky.
Importantly, Abramsky praises the way Moir, the former head of BBC television comedy, has run Radio 2. Although Moir's name is not in the frame - his health has been poor - Abramsky's praise tells us that the trawl will be wide and will certainly include executives with a television background.
Boyle's departure does allow for a new, post-Birtist, era. Birt was often attacked for giving television the whip hand over radio. Whoever gets Boyle's job, and the one running Radio 5 Live, will be scrutinised closely.
