BBC Four & CBBC to close

[Inspector Sands]

I, of course, appreciate that radio is overall a cheaper medium, but I think that Radio still gets off proportionately lightly with cuts - especially considering that all those radio stations do add up in monetary terms.

They do, but what's the better option for the BBC, which looks best for them - keep services on air, on the station list/EPG or trim the budget of a TV channel and lose a few episodes of a drama series? 

Its not a TV versus radio thing, it's not a punishment that must be equally given

Entire BBC TV services and now channels have been axed, while the question of axing or merging Radio stations, particularly local radio, doesn't seem to be seriously asked.
And I think there are cuts that can clearly be made - a rationalisation of Radios 3, 4 and 5 and a 50% reduction in the number of English local radio stations would save in the region of £70-90m (equivalent to the combined current budgets of BBC News and BBC Four).

The problem is that such things have been proposed in the past and rejected because they either don't make any sense in terms of public service or are just so unpopular. Look at when they wanted to close 6Music for example. 

Radio is not TV, to a certain extent they can move programmes between BBC1,2,3,4 fairly easily, but each radio station has a unique genre and has done since the 60s, its less of an option. You may say that there's news programmes on Radio 4 and Radio 5 so why not put them together, but they're different things for different audiences - PM and Five Live Drive aren't the same thing. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and The Proms aren't the same thing 

Local radio has been cut to the bone, both in previous cuts and by stealth over covid. Halving their number by merging stations is something that helps no-one, you get a station that's equally irrelevant in both areas. Also it's one of the few things that the BBC does that no one else does, with a few exception. Destroying a popular local radio station for the saving equivalent to a few episodes of Casualty isn't the way to go 

There's also the political pressure, any Radios 3,4 are very controversial, they appeal to a certain section of society that wouldn't let them change substantially. Equally politicians appear in Radio 4, 5 and local stations and are able to address different audiences through them.