RADIO 1, which has lost 3.4 million listeners in the past year, has hired a public relations
firm to improve its image. Lynne Franks PR is to establish a "listening panel" made up of loyal members of Radio 1 audience. They will be regularly consulted on their views about the network's new direction.
Though all the BBC's national networks have an advertising and promotion budget, Radio 1 is the first to employ a PR consultant in this way. Yesterday a spokesman said the details were still being finalised.
Last month Radio 1's listening figures hit a record low of 12.1 million, down 3.4 million from the same time last year. In 12 months it has lost more listeners than Radio 3's entire audience, but Ms Liz Forgan, head of network radio, welcomed signs that with just 876,000 switching off in the last three months the decline was slowing.
The changes stem from an overhaul last autumn in which long-running disc jockeys like Dave Lee Travis and Simon Bates were dropped and the range of Radio 1 widened, introducing more poetry and comedy.
A spokesman for Lynne Franks PR, which also represents Coca-Cola, Sega, Lloyds Bank and Absolut Vodka, said: "Essentially we've been taken on as an additional resource. We believe there are a lot of people who think Radio 1 is the bee's knees and we think we can give them a voice."
* Film-maker David Puttnam and the BBC's Janet Street-Porter are among the members of a Government think-tank on entertainment and education technologies of the future, announced yesterday.
The Technology Foresight Panel on Leisure and Learning will be chaired by Mr Peter Wallis, marketing guru and co-author of the Sloane Ranger's Handbook under the pen-name Peter York.
The intention is to advise the Government on technologies that could revolutionise entertainment and education.
