Singer will be interviewed THREE times before he plays his new songs live on air
- Mr Barlow’s new album, Since I Saw You Last, came out in November
- Extensive on-air coverage is planned for Wednesday December 11
- BBC guidelines warn against promoting products ‘unfairly’
- Commercial radio rivals, whose ad revenues could be hit, say they will be listening carefully
The BBC has been attacked over plans to give Gary Barlow wall-to-wall radio coverage of his latest album.
Shortly after Mr Barlow’s new album, Since I Saw You Last, launched last week, he will be interviewed three separate times on December 11 before being allowed to play live to millions of listeners.
The Corporation – which has been warned after plugging album and film launches in the past – describes the former Take That singer as a ‘bona fide national treasure’ on its website before listing his four separate appearances that day.
The BBC will kick off its day of Gary Barlow coverage with a morning interview with presenter Ken Bruce. He will then speak again to Steve Wright in the afternoon, before immediately beginning an ‘Ask Gary’ video Q&A session online.
An alliance of commercial radio stations has voiced concern over the extensive coverage.
The BBC’s decision to give Mr Barlow so much opportunity, funded by the licence fee, to sell his album to listeners could end up depriving other stations of advertising revenue.
Matt Payton, director of external affairs at RadioCentre, told The Times: ‘The BBC overstepped the mark previously, with its promotion of acts like Coldplay and U2.
‘We hope that the BBC Trust will be watching closely to ensure that this sort of undue prominence doesn’t occur again.’
The BBC has used a similar format for other prominent artists, including Sir Elton John, Bon Jovi and Rod Stewart..
BBC Radio 2 is listened to by some 14.9million people per week, and its most popular shows draw in audiences as large as 9.35million.
BBC guidelines editorial guidelines includes a section which makes clear that the Corporation must no ‘unfairly promote any commercial organisations’.
They say: ‘Consideration must be given to the potential cumulative effect when planning to feature a specific product, brand or service numerous times on our output over a limited period.
‘The terms “brand” and “product” may also include an artist, performer, or an artistic work such as a film or record, particularly around the time of a new release.’
The singer has already made numerous appearances on BBC programmes, including Chris Evans’s and Simon Mayo’s BBC Radio 2 shows, and one the televised One Show, where a presenter told Mr Barlow he ‘was in tears’ listening to his music.
A spokesman for the BBC said: ‘It is not unusual for an artist of Gary Barlow’s stature and broad appeal to appear on a range of programmes that reach different audiences, and is entirely in keeping with our editorial guidelines (They’ll move the goalposts when needed).
‘However, we are careful to make sure the amount of coverage given to any artist is appropriate and, whilst Gary’s forthcoming performance on Radio 2 follows a well-established pattern for major acts, we will always monitor our plans to ensure this remains the case.’