Changes to BBC Radio Cymru's daily schedule come into force on Monday. In this post, BBC Radio Cymru editor Betsan Powys introduces those changes to listeners of the station. An English translation appears at the end of this post.
Wrth i BBC Radio Cymru lansio amserlen newydd fore Llun, Mawrth 10, dyma'r Golygydd Rhaglenni, Betsan Powys yn edrych ymlaen at bennod newydd.
Pan ddaw bore Llun, fe fydd pethau’n newid ar Radio Cymru. Fe fydd rhai lleisiau’n mynd, eraill yn dod ac ambell lais cyfarwydd iawn yn trio rhywbeth newydd sbon.
I ddechrau felly, diolch. Diolch i’r lleisiau sydd wedi bod yn gwmni i fi ac i chi dros y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Diolch i Dafydd a Caryl, i Iola a Nia am bopeth maen nhw wedi’i roi i Radio Cymru, am eu holl raglenni a chyfraniadau. Mae’r gwrandawyr wedi cael cyfle i ddweud diolch o galon, a dyma nghyfle i felly i wneud yr un peth. Diolch - a diolch am bob cyfraniad eto i ddod yn y dyfodol.
Diolch hefyd i Heledd Cynwal a John Hardy sydd wedi camu i’r orsaf dros dro - gyda steil. Fyddan nhw’n sicir ddim yn ddieithr.
Y sylw dwi wedi’i glywed amlaf am Radio Cymru yw un sy’n swnio’n llawn cydymdeimlad. “Does dim modd i chi fod yn bopeth i bawb” ac eto, dyna beth y’n ni’r Cymry’n ei ddisgwyl gan Radio Cymru. “Allwch chi ddim ennill,” meddai sawl un. Ond y feirniadaeth oedd ein bod ni’n dal i drio bod yn bopeth i bawb trwy’r amser ac felly’n cynnig gormod o’r un peth i’r un gynulleidfa, yr un math o sgyrsiau, yr un math o gerddoriaeth, yn anelu gormod i gyfeiriad un math o wrandawr.
O ddydd Llun ymlaen fydd hynny ddim yn wir. Y nod fydd peidio bod yn bopeth i bawb ond i gynnig rhywbeth i bawb ryw ben bob dydd. Fe fydd rhai’n ffafrio rhaglen lawn dop Dylan Jones ar ôl y Post Cyntaf yn y bore, eraill yn edrych ymlaen i ymuno’n y sgwrs a chân ar Bore Cothi gyda Shân Cothi, eraill yn mwynhau dadl ddifyr, bigog weithiau ac ymateb bywiog ar ein rhaglenni newydd sbon ni amser cinio ac ar Taro’r Post fydd yn fyw am un. Ddaw eraill ddim at Radio Cymru tan bod Tommo o ddydd Llun i ddydd Iau a Tudur Owen ar ddydd Gwener yn rhoi tan ’dani yn y pnawn falle.
Ond mi fydd pawb sydd ar yr orsaf yn hoff lais i rywun, gobeithio, a’r gwir yw bod lle iddyn nhw i gyd ar orsaf sy’n falch o gael bod yn Llais Cymru.
Fe fydd un llais newydd iawn i’w glywed. Guto Rhun, o Fachynlleth yn wreiddiol, yw’r cyntaf o’r criw talentog a brwdfrydig ddaeth i’r golwg drwy’n hymgyrch ‘Cais am Lais’ i gael ei glywed yn gyson ar yr awyr. Os ydych chi’n un o’r criw sy’n dod ar draws Radio Cymru ar y daith ysgolion ac yn barod i roi cynnig ar wrando mwy, yna mi fydd Guto ar yr awyr am awr bob nos Lun a nos Wener am 9.
Gobeithio byddwch chi i’ch clywed ar yr orsaf yn gyson hefyd. Ry’n ni’n anelu i siarad am y pethau sy’n berthnasol i chi, dathlu penblwyddi, genedigaethau a llwyddiannau gyda chi - a bob nos am 6, fe fydd un o’n gwrandawyr ni’n dethol Fy Rhaglen I. Nhw fydd yn dewis eu hoff bytiau o sgyrsiau, straeon a chaneuon i’w rhannu â chi.
Mi fyddwn ni’n darlledu bob dydd yn ystod yr wythnos o Fangor, Aberystwyth, Caerfyrddin, Abertawe a Chaerdydd - dipyn o gamp. Mi fyddwn ni’n ymdrechu i ymweld â’ch ardal chi’n amlach. A byddwn, mi fyddwn ni’n ceisio ehangu apêl Radio Cymru, yn ceisio denu pobol sy’n osgoi gwrando ar y radio’n Gymraeg, sy’n clywed nemor ddim cerddoriaeth Gymraeg o gwbwl, i wrando arnon ni. Ond roedd eich neges chi’n glir: gorsaf ddylai chwarae cerddoriaeth Gymraeg yn bennaf yw Radio Cymru. A dweud y gwir, fe fyddai croeso mawr i fwy o gerddoriaeth Gymraeg, hen a newydd a gwirioneddol amrywiol arni. Falle bod lle i beth cerddoriaeth Saesneg hwnt ac yma, meddech chi, ond dim gormod. Felly bydd hi.
Pan ddaw bore Llun, pob hwyl i’r criw i gyd fydd yn rhan o Radio Cymru - i bob un llais fydd arni, i bob un fydd y tu ôl i’r gwydyr yn trefnu a hybu - a diolch i chi, bob un, fydd yn gwrando. Ac unwaith eto, falle bod y Sgwrs ffurfiol ar ben bellach ac amserlen newydd yn ei lle, ond fe fydd Radio Cymru'n parhau i wrando, ac fe fydda i'n parhau i drafod gofidiau - a chanmoliaeth, gobeithio - gyda'r criw i gyd.
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When Monday morning comes, things will have changed on Radio Cymru. Some voices will have gone, there will be some new ones and some very familiar voices will be trying something completely new.
So - thanks. Thank you to the voices that have kept me and the listeners company over the past few years. Thanks to Dafydd and Caryl. To Iola and Nia for everything they’ve given to Radio Cymru, for all their programmes and contributions to programmes. The listeners have had a chance to say a big thank you, and here’s my chance to do the same. Thank you - and thanks, too for all the content still to come in the future.
Thanks also to Heledd Cynwal and John Hardy who filled in for us temporarily - and did so with style. Certainly they won’t be strangers in the future.
The comment I’ve heard most often about Radio Cymru is one that is full of sympathy. “You can’t possibly be all things to all people”, and yet that is what we expect from the station. “It’s a no-win situation,” some have said. But the criticism was that we were still trying to be everything to everyone all the time and therefore offering too much of the same content for the same audience, the same kind of conversations, the same kind of music, aiming too much towards one sort of listener.
From Monday that will not be the case. The aim is not to be everything to everyone but to offer something for everyone at some point every day. Some will favour Dylan Jones’s packed programme after Post Cyntaf in the morning, others are looking forward to joining in with the conversation with Shân Cothi on Bore Cothi, some will enjoy the entertaining, sometimes prickly debate and lively responses on our brand new lunchtime programmes and then on Taro’r Post, which will be live at 1pm. Others will not come to Radio Cymru perhaps until Tommo is on from Mondays to Thursdays and also perhaps Tudur Owen on Fridays - both dedicated to ‘giving it some welly’ in the afternoons.
But we hope everyone on the station will be someone’s favourite - and the truth is, there’s room for them all on a station that’s proud to call itself “Llais Cymru” - the Voice of Wales.
There will also be a chance to hear a very new voice. Guto Rhun, from Machynlleth originally, is the first of a bunch of talented and enthusiastic new presenters to come through our ‘Cais am Lais’ campaign for new voices. If you're one of those who have encountered Radio Cymru on our schools tour and are willing to give us a try then Guto will be on air for an hour every Monday and Friday at 9pm.
I hope listeners will also be regularly heard on the station. Our aim is to talk about the things that matter to you, to celebrate birthdays, births and successes with you - and every night at 6pm one of our listeners will choose their favourite snippets from the day’s conversations, stories and songs to share with you.
We’ll be broadcasting every single weekday from Bangor, Aberystwyth, Carmarthen, Swansea and Cardiff - quite an achievement. We’ll endeavour to come to your part of the country more often. And yes, we're seeking to broaden the appeal of Radio Cymru, trying to attract people who avoid listening to the radio in Welsh, who hear almost no Welsh music at all, to listen to us. But your message was clear: Radio Cymru is mainly for Welsh music. In fact, many would welcome more Welsh music, old and new, and a truly diverse selection on the station. Perhaps there’s room for some English music here and there, you may say, but not too much. And so it will be.
So when Monday morning comes, good luck to everyone who’s part of Radio Cymru - to each and every voice we’ll hear, to those behind the glass organising and promoting - and thanks to all who’ll be listening. And even though the formal consultation is over and a new schedule is in place, Radio Cymru will continue to listen, and I will continue to discuss people’s anxieties - and praise, I hope - with the whole team.
Betsan Powys is Editor, BBC Radio Cymru
- Learn more about how audience research shaped plans for BBC Radio Cymru's new schedule in a post written by Betsan in November 2013.
- Read the press release from November 2013 in which Betsan first announced the new vision for the station
- Listen live to BBC Radio Cymru via BBC iPlayer Radio
- Follow @BBCCymru on Twitter
