SIR - What an excellent article about the radio by Jim Greenhalf (T&A, November 3).

I too object to the obscene amounts we, the licence payers, hand out to the like of Jonathon Ross, above, and Graham Norton, left.

The BBC bosses, who are also paid handsomely, say they have to pay the going price for star' personalities to compete with independent stations.

Why? They are virtually assured of their income and do not need to cater to the likes of those who can't do without their virtual reality programmes, which are the pits.

BBC wireless must be the best in the world and provides really entertaining programmes, which inform and amuse.

However, why the BBC needs a 24-hour rolling news channel is a mystery, since my experience is that it is not changing its stories every minute of the day, as it states in its publicity.

Radio 4, 3 and 2, have news every hour - I don't know about Radio 1, I never listen to it - and they all have the same news but different announcers.

Why? And why are two presenters needed on Look North? There are many ways to economise without dumbing down the overall service.

Philip Bird, Nab Wood Terrace, Shipley