Why the BBC is cutting off Wales and the Welsh language to the wider world

Andy Bell

A week ago, the increasingly digitally motivated BBC announced “an all-new listening experience” for fans of its podcasts.

But buried in the middle of that media release was this disturbing nugget: “the BBC will also be making BBC Sounds available exclusively to UK audiences and ending access to the service for international users beginning Spring 2025.”

And while the new regime will maintain the availability of BBC Radio 4 and the World Service radio stations, it appears the days of Radio Cymru and Radio Wales being heard worldwide are numbered.

The Radio Today website reported “no other national or local radio stations will officially be available due to rights reasons.”

That would mean no more “Dros Ginio” or “Sunday Supplement” for the Welsh diaspora. And much more besides.

I am a daily listener to Radio Cymru, either live or in delay, and “Sunday Supplement” on Radio Wales is a must listen.

And there are a lot of folk like me sprinkled around the globe and in various time-zones.

I am also a content producer in Welsh, with a weekly podcast on broadcasting issues.

So, when I saw the news about BBC Sounds, I scrambled to produce an emergency episode of “Rhaglen Cymru” including reaction from a Melburnian on his way to a St David’s Day Cymanfa Ganu.

And there’s another episode on the way with many more interviews! (https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-ydgfu-182844b)

In response to my questions about the decision to remove access to Welsh content, a statement from the BBC repeated the talking points from the original BBC release.

It added: The changes to BBC Sounds beyond the UK will not affect the ability to listen to Radio Cymru on any alternative platforms (third party)”.
(Ni fydd newidiadau i BBC Sounds y tu hwnt i’r Deyrnas Unedig yn effeithio ar y gallu i wrando ar Radio Cymru ar unrhyw lwyfannau amgen (trydydd parti” – as sent in Welsh)

Whether that softens the blow currently felt by the diaspora remains to be seen.

Some will try their luck with an “alternative platform”, others may embrace a VPN, whilst many might just drift away.

The fact that the first reporting on the BBC Sounds proposal and its impact on Radio Cymru and Radio Wales came from me in Australia tells quite the tale.

It shows vividly how the digital revolution has changed life and connection for the diaspora.

Sat in a Canberra suburb, one with the tuneful name of Melba, I have been putting together a weekly podcast with a particular and very specialised target audience for six months.

It’s a mixture of interviews with broadcasters and broadcast historians spiced up by the occasional documentary feature and an increasing amount of original reporting.

And it, hopefully, adds to the conversation.

You see things differently after years away and from the other side of the world.

Awkward questions can be asked from 10,000 miles away with little fear that the interviewee will remember them if, and when, you bump into each other at the Eisteddfod in three-years time.

And guests back in Wales can “put you right” when you’ve formed erroneous opinions or misunderstood the context of events by not ‘being there’.

Getting it done can be challenging because of the time difference, but people are remarkably willing to indulge me and project.

Zoom is my friend, the free-editing program Audacity my mainstay as I go about interviewing and producing the pod.

Even if BBC Sounds disappears, there will still be a decent amount of S4C content available without a geo-block.

And, presumably, BBC Cymru/Wales will increase their podcast offerings, while maybe some other expats will join me in producing content.

“Mae darlledu Cymraeg wedi bod yn fwy na sain a sgrin erioed” – “Welsh-language broadcasting has always been more than sound and pictures” – was the opening line of my first promo for the podcast.

It’s always involved a fight, a dollop of bloody-mindedness and some creative passion.

In his book “Broadcasting and the BBC in Wales”, Dr John Davies posited that the corporation on “was instrumental in the creation of Wales as an entity… you could argue that Wales is an artefact created by Broadcasting.”

BBC Sounds brought a new element to that artefact in its availability to connect with the Welsh living far, far away.

It was certainly more meaningful than the dodgy VHS tapes or DVDs of S4C highlights sent at Christmas time!

Maybe we were spoilt by the easy accessibility of Radio Cymru across the world.

And maybe the diaspora needs to tell its own stories back to Wales using digital platforms.

Losing BBC Sounds is a blow, but it pales in comparison to the other major broadcasting industry story involving the Welsh language in 2025.

The people of Arfon and Môn lost their local radio station last month. Capital Cymru and its seventy-plus hours of Welsh-language programming of Welsh and English music is no more.

That was a real crisis in Welsh media, and it barely raised a whimper of protest.

Capital Cymru’s demise and its impact was, of course, covered by ‘Rhaglen Cymru’ from its suburban base in the Australian capital.

That’s an indication of the world and the Wales we inhabit as digital citizens.

Andy Bell has lived in Australia since 1988. He’s worked for the BBC, Swansea Sound, Cardifff Broadcasting, Reuters, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Channel 9 and Network 10. He produces a weekly podcast on broadcasting and media, ‘Rhaglen Cymru’. (https://ypod.cymru/podlediadau/rhaglencymru?id=rhaglencymru)