‘I know that Man United and Arsenal get bigger (listener) numbers than Man City and Chelsea’: BBC Radio 5 Live Controller Heidi Dawson speaks to The Boar

How do you go about covering the UK’s crucial sporting moments? I think back to the summer of 2019- where the Cricket World Cup final, Wimbledon final and British Grand Prix all took place on the same day. Sometimes we are spoilt and simply don’t know what to choose. In an office in Greater Manchester, at the heart of the BBC’s sports coverage, Heidi Dawson and her 5 Live team must make these decisions every single day.

Heidi is nonchalant about the undertaking. ‘‘I think I know that I’m not making the right decision if I struggle to explain it’, she says. Her calmness is justified, as we enter a period where 5 Live’s dominion is such that it can make room for almost any sporting moment. That’s down to the introduction of two new digital streams, exclusive to BBC Sounds: Sports Extra 2 and Sports Extra 3. Nonetheless, it is still crucial to identify the flagship fixtures.

Presenters on the main station are tasked with striking a balance between football, politics and even, on certain segments, financial advice

In a country where we pledge allegiance to sports themselves as much as we do to their clubs or players, the only real uniting factor can be our common nationality. This is very much the stance of 5 Live, the self-described ‘voice of the UK’, with Heidi ensuring “national moments”, such as England, Scotland and Wales in world cups, are the priority.

Of course, as per the BBC’s mantra, each of its radio stations must keep their listeners informed and educated about national developments. Hard though it may be for certain fanatics to understand, these can transcend sport. Presenters on the main station are tasked with striking a balance between football, politics and even, on certain segments, financial advice. Ultimately though, 5 Live never loses sight of that most primal, unpredictable form of entertainment: live sport. Heidi often has to drill this into her presenters, explaining that “even If you’re on a News programme, you have to understand the audience’s passion for sports almost as a sports presenter [would]”.

As for the woman calling the shots, her loyalties have always been to the art of radio. After majoring in the subject, she found a job at BBC Radio Solent. “I tried a bit of everything,” she tells me, although her brief time reading the news on air still brings back painful memories. “I didn’t want to be a journalist, I wanted to make programmes. It wasn’t really until I got my first job that I realised, in making these programmes, I am a journalist.”

She found the perfect compromise between the regional and the worldwide by joining 5 Live in 2001

Heidi knew fairly quickly that she had a responsibility to this small South West community. She points out that, for many up and down the country, local radio and the stories of their
neighbourhood are just as, if not more, important than the wider trials facing the planet: “As the offer of what’s there for you on digital media widens, feeling connected to your local community becomes even more important. In lots of ways, audiences are hyper-local, but also international”.

It wasn’t long before Heidi’s career got a more global flavour, moving to work on Radio 4’s The World at One: “Not necessarily deliberately, but I found myself in News”. The change was unforeseen yet welcome; Heidi’s growing political knowledge spurring her towards the upper echelons of BBC journalism. Ultimately though, she found the perfect compromise between the regional and the worldwide, helping the nation get its sporting fix by joining 5 Live in 2001, taking over as Controller 18 years later.

So what happens behind the scenes, and how does she keep everything running smoothly? What keeps 5 Live’s 5.4 million listeners- as of February this year- coming back? Firstly,
there’s the team of data analysts, studying listener habits and how to reach as many corners of the UK population as possible. “I can see exactly how many people were listening to a particular Premier League match,” says Heidi, cooly, “so I know that Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal get bigger numbers than Man City and Chelsea”.

Heidi has one main piece of advice: “Be open to different paths.”

However, not all demographics will be satisfied with pure Premier League. Heidi highlights the regional reach that sports such as Rugby League can have, and the need to treat all sports
fans as equals: “It’s really important that the coverage we deliver [for sports with more niche fanbases] is as great a quality as for the bigger sports”. When I ask her if there are any sports she’d rather not cover, she diplomatically responds with “my job is to feel excited about all of the commentary and also, you’re not making content for yourself, you’re making content for your audience”.

Heidi is conscious to always maintain a people-first, respectful environment, both with how 5 Live treats its audiences, and with how it operates internally. When we consider the sporting giants who commentate or appear on 5 Live features, it must take some restraint not to be completely starstruck by their presence. Heidi is unfazed and is more than comfortable reiterating that “it’s really important… there doesn’t become a hierarchy… There shouldn’t be any sort of special treatment for somebody because they’re in front of a microphone or camera”.

As for those hoping to get a role in an institution like the BBC, be it addressing the nation on air or poring through statistics, Heidi has one main piece of advice: “Be open to different paths.” Her own career has taken her down avenues she would never have expected, allowing her to find her niche over a long and prosperous BBC journey. “Sometimes we think we can shape our future and career and maybe that we should have a specific path to follow, but life doesn’t really work like that.” She would encourage young writers to develop “a basic
skillset” that they can apply to all forms of journalism, however set they may be on a particular career within the industry.

What struck me from speaking to Heidi was how she treats the opportunity to communicate with vast numbers of ordinary British strangers not as a burden, but as a privilege. She acts as an important reminder that, whether reporting via radio or in a student newspaper, a journalist’s true nourishment should always be their audience.