Regular listeners of BBC Radio Lancashire may have been confused this morning after changes to the regular broadcast.

Morning show hosts, Graham Liver and Leanne Bayes, had to adapt their regular show to accommodate listeners from across the UK including: Merseyside, Derby, Hereford, Worcester, Humberside, Manchester, Shropshire, Solent, Dorset, the West Midlands and York.

This is because BBC journalists have been “forced to strike” by proposed cuts to local radio, former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said.

Speaking on the radio show, Graham welcomed listeners from across the UK and said: “Because of industrial action which has been taking place across local radio, I’m with you for the breakfast show this morning until 10am

“Look upon me as your supply teacher at school.

“We’ll muddle along, try and have a giggle and I will try and keep you company.”

The 24-hour strike began yesterday (March 15) and around 1,000 journalists walked out.

The demonstrators held placards reading “stop the cuts” and “save local news”, while one homemade sign read “keep BBC radio local”.

They chanted “save local radio” and “keep local radio local”.

This action comes in response to the BBC’s proposal in October that local radio stations share more content and broadcast less programming unique to their areas.

This would see local programming restricted before 2pm and afternoon programmes across England shared between its 39 local radio stations.

The National Union of Journalists previously warned the plans would lead to a loss of posts and journalists having to re-apply for their own jobs.

Jason Horton, director of production for BBC Local, said in a blog post: “We’d like to apologise to our audience for the disruption that this action will cause to the BBC’s local TV and radio services in England.

“We will of course continue to engage with the trade union and do everything possible to minimise the impact on colleagues affected by our planned changes.

“We have assured teams working across our 39 BBC Local bases that we are maintaining overall investment and staffing levels in local services and we’re working hard to minimise the risk of compulsory redundancies.

“But change is essential. If our local services are to remain relevant in an increasingly online and on-demand world of live and increasing on-demand services, we must change.”

A BBC spokesman said the broadcaster had “tried to minimise disruption as much as possible”.

He added: “We are obviously disappointed that the strike has gone ahead. We have a plan to modernise local services across England – including more news journalists and a stronger local online service – which will see no overall reduction in staffing levels or local funding.

“Our goal is a local service across TV, radio and online that delivers even greater value to communities.

“We will continue to engage with the trade union and do everything possible to minimise the impact on staff.”