Governors’ review
of services – Radio


Overview 

The radio landscape continues to change at great speed, 
with consolidation in the commercial sector, and the 
rapid spread of new ways of listening. Increasingly, younger 
audiences are listening via digital platforms, leading to 
expectations that they will be offered not just music 
but also supporting visual materials, and BBC Radio has 
begun to experiment using interactive television. It has 
also extended its podcasting trial – this will be included 
in the Public Value Test to be applied to the BBC iPlayer. 

Overall, BBC Radio continues to perform strongly – indeed 
its top performing output attracts audiences on a par with 
hit television shows. In general terms audiences are 
strong, although the picture varies across the portfolio and 
the rising popularity of downloaded music threatens reach 
to younger listeners who now have somewhere else to 
go for their music other than radio.The BBC’s digital-only 
stations are generally in good health and are beginning to 
make a contribution to the overall reach of BBC Radio. 
We agreed a new remit for BBC Asian Network to deal 
with some problems there. 

We have always regarded distinctiveness as lying at the 
heart of the remits for Radio 1 and Radio 2. Under the 
present governance system we believe we have been 
successful in ensuring that management have delivered 
distinctive output for the two networks. Using the tools 
available to the Trust we believe it will be easier both to 
maintain this – and to provide further objective measures 
of performance in this regard. 

32 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

Sunday Surgery 

Promoting safer sex: The Radio 1 Sex Tour,a 
collaboration with the Open University, travelled 
round the UK investigating sexual attitudes as part 
of Radio 1’s Sunday Surgery – here, in Londonderry, 
with Big Brother star Kemal 


Remit 
BBC Radio 1 aims to offer an exciting, 
high-quality service for young audiences. 
It is committed to playing the best new 
music and delivering a comprehensive 
range of live studio sessions, concerts 
and festival broadcasts.The network aims 
to cover all the significant youth music 
genres with a wide-ranging playlist and 
a diverse team of specialist DJs. It also 
delivers tailored speech output including 
news, documentaries and advice 
campaigns, with integrated online 
and interactive services. 

Radio 1 plays a key role in enabling the 
BBC to reach young audiences and the 
success of the station is critical to the 
success of BBC Radio as a whole.We are 
pleased that the new strategy we approved 
for Radio 1 in 2003 continues to bear fruit. 
The station has reversed the annual 
declines in audiences recorded between 
2000 and 2003. In 2005/2006, Radio 1 had 
an average 15-minute weekly reach to 
adults aged 15+ of 10.2 million people or 
20.6% (10 million/20.4% in 2004/2005)1. 

This has been achieved with no diminution 
of Radio 1’s commitment to a distinctive 
schedule with a strong commitment to 
specialist music, to UK music, to new music 
and to live music. In order to ensure that 
distinctiveness is maintained, Radio 1 carries 
out continuous monitoring of its output 
and in addition Radio 1 and Radio 2 are 
monitored by an external agency for a 
sample week twice a year to assess their 
distinctiveness – against each other and 
against key commercial stations.The 
Governance Unit has studied the external 
agency’s findings which show that Radio 1 


One Big Weekend 

Taking music to the audience: Zane Lowe, one of 
the hosts of Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Sunderland, 
taking the best new music to an area often 
overlooked by the major festivals 

retains a distinctive schedule. When 
compared with key commercial stations, 
Radio 1’s daytime output (which includes 
peak listening times) carried many more 
new songs and with less repetition of 
tracks, a higher proportion of new music 
coming from UK acts and a much greater 
commitment to live music.We are strongly 
of the view that this distinctiveness should 
be maintained, including in peak time, and 
that any overlap with Radio 2 should be 
kept to a minimum. 

The station has extended the range and 
diversity of its live events. Particularly 
noteworthy was Radio 1’s Big Weekend 
from Sunderland, bringing the best new 
music to an underserved area. 

Strong presenters are one of the keys to 
Radio I’s success and the group assembled 
in recent years underpins the station’s 
range and creative strength. Presenters 
such as Zane Lowe (recognised this year 
with a Sony Gold Award) helped to 
draw listeners to new music. However, 
there is evidence that some specialist 
programming has low awareness and we 
note management’s commitment to tackle 
this in the Statements of Programme Policy. 

Although music will always lie at the heart 
of Radio 1, a substantial proportion of the 
output is devoted to speech. Newsbeat, 
which provides UK and international news 
and analysis specially tailored for a young 
audience, continues to do an excellent 
job of bringing BBC editorial values to 
an audience the BBC finds hard to reach 
via other channels. During the General 
Election, Newsbeat ran three extended 
specials with party leaders. 

The station also continues to run effective 
social action campaigns. The Radio 1 Sex 
Tour was an ambitious attempt to tackle 
ignorance among young people on sexual 

356 

new sessions and Live Lounge performances 
broadcast on Radio 1 in 2005/2006 

health. It broadcast live from Wrexham, 
Glasgow, Sunderland and Londonderry, and 
included live audiences, celebrity guests, 
contributions from listeners via texts, emails 
and phone calls, and a live online chat-
room debate.The Open University 
supported the tour with short online 
courses. Don’t Panic was a three-week 
campaign run during the exam results 
season offering expert help and advice. 
The campaign was run in conjunction with 
the Department for Education and Skills 
(DfES) helpline.The DfES received almost 
12,000 calls, with Radio 1 given as the main 
reason for calling. 

A key challenge for Radio 1 is the 
increasing popularity of downloaded music 
which gives fans a destination other than 
radio for the music they want.The station 
is experimenting with its own digital 
offerings as part of the BBC’s podcast trial. 
For the first time content has been made 
available via mobile phones and there have 
been experiments with visual material to 
support the on-air offer. 

1The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 33 

Governors’ review 
of services – Radio



Remit 
BBC Radio 2 aims to bring listeners a
broad range of popular and specialist
music, with particular support for new 
and established British artists; live music,
through concerts and studio sessions; and
songwriting.The network also offers news,
current affairs, documentaries, comedy,
readings, religious output and social action,
designed to appeal to a broad audience.


Radio 2’s audience has fallen a little, but 
it remains the UK’s most listened-to radio 
station with average 15-minute weekly 
reach to adults aged 15+ of 13.1 million 
people or 26.5% in 2005/2006 

(13.3 million/27.2% in 2004/2005)2. 
We note management’s commitment 
in the Statements of Programme Policy to 
continue to seek a more ethnically diverse 
audience for the station through the choice 
of topics, contributors and interviewees. 
As with Radio 1, we are strongly committed 
to maintaining the distinctiveness of Radio 2, 
including in peak time. As far as the station’s 
music output goes, its distinctiveness lies 
largely in the breadth of music played – 
more than 20 genres of music are offered, 
including rock, pop, soul, country, jazz, folk, 
brass band and musical theatre – and in 
its commitment to live, mostly UK, music 
throughout the schedule.To ensure that 
this distinctiveness is maintained, Radio 2 
is monitored by an external agency for 
a sample week twice a year to assess 
distinctiveness against Radio 1 and against 
key commercial stations.The Governance 
Unit has studied the external agency’s 
findings which show that Radio 2’s daytime 
ouput (which includes peak listening times) 
carried many more individual tracks than any 


Live and Exclusive 

Showcasing the best international talent: the 
great Motown singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder 
performing at the Abbey Road Studios for 
Radio 2’s Live and Exclusive series 

other station sampled, had a much lower 
repetition rate, and played a very high 
proportion of tracks not played on any 
other station.The overlap of tracks with 
Radio 1 was very small. More than 50 live 
tracks were played – the non-BBC stations 
sampled played little or no live music.The 
introduction of Service Licences will provide 
a further assurance that the distinctiveness 
of the station will be maintained. 

Notable music output included Stevie Wonder 
Live and Exclusive and Paul McCartney Sold 
on Song – both recorded live at Abbey Road 
Studios.The McCartney session was part 
of Radio 2’s impressive Sold on Song initiative 
to encourage the art of songwriting, which 
includes a rich website offering advice and 
guidance for budding songwriters. Another 
specially recorded session, David Gilmour 
Live and Exclusive, drew 400,000 online 
downloads. Radio Ballads – a powerful blend 
of memory, speech and music – revived a 
form pioneered by the BBC Home Service 
in the 1950s and used to it to bring to life 
social issues including HIV/Aids, the decline 
of the steel industry, and the sectarian 
struggle in Northern Ireland. 

A high proportion of Radio 2’s output is 
speech and this also seeks to be distinctive, 
including documentaries, arts programming, 
comedy and high-quality news, current 
affairs and discussion. Notable speech 
output included Amadeus, one of Radio 2’s 
wide-ranging contributions to the 250th 
anniversary of the birth of Mozart. Peter 
Shaffer’s play was adapted into a powerful 
eight-part dramatic reading narrated 
by F Murray Abraham, recreating his 
Oscar-winning film role as Salieri. Malcolm 
McLaren’s Musical Map of London was a 
surprising and atmospheric portrait of 
the capital from the godfather of punk. 

2The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
50 

the average age of listeners to Radio 2 


Remit 
BBC Radio 3 is centred on classical 
music, and also aims to provide a broad 
spectrum of jazz, world music, drama 
and arts programmes. It focuses on 
presenting live and specially recorded 
music from across the UK and beyond, 
including contributions from the BBC 
performing groups. 

Radio 3’s audience is broadly stable: average 
15-minute weekly reach to adults aged 15+ 
was 2 million people or 4.1% in 2005/2006 
(2 million/4.2% in 2004/2005)3. 

Editorially, Radio 3 has had a year full of 
innovation, ambition and achievement.Two 
of the highlights of its year – indeed two 
of the highlights of the BBC’s year – were 
The Beethoven Experience (all the music 
over seven days) and the Bach Christmas 
(all the surviving music over ten days). 

The Beethoven Experience caused some 
controversy.The nine symphonies, played 
by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, were 
made available for free downloading for 
a limited period and resulted in 1.4 million 
downloads – far more than had been 
predicted. As a result, some in the record 
industry complained that the BBC was 
unfairly damaging their business by giving 
away what they were in business to sell. 
Management accepted that while some 
stakeholders in the industry had been told 
of the plan and had not expressed any 
reservations, there had been no formal 
consultation – which there would have 
been had the scale of take-up been 
correctly anticipated.The download 
experiment was not repeated during 
Bach Christmas. 

34 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

Pitch Perfect 

Breaking new ground: schoolchildren taking part 
in a new choral and instrumental work 
commissioned by Radio 3 in collaboration 
with BBC Sport as a celebration of football 

This controversy – from which important 
lessons were learnt – should not be 
allowed to overshadow the astonishing 
ambition of the two projects themselves. 
The performances – a mixture of historic 
recordings and specially commissioned 
concerts – were supported by thought-
provoking commentaries from a wide 
range of speakers, both musicians and 
non-musicians. For the Bach Christmas, 
Radio 3 invited organists throughout the 
UK to play the Toccata and Fugue in 
D Minor on 18 December, and more than 
500 did so.There was also a memorable 
and moving concert from Brixton Prison 
with prisoners singing the chorale from 
a Bach Cantata to mark the composer’s 
own brief spell in jail. 

The playwright Harold Pinter and the 
composer James Clarke collaborated on 
Voices, a piece commissioned by Radio 3. 
The cast included Pinter himself.This dark 
and disturbing piece – the words of 
torturers and the tortured set to a 
haunting radiophonic score – was as 
compelling as it was uncompromising. 

In sharp contrast, Pitch Perfect was a new 
choral and instrumental work involving a 
large number of schools and two football 
clubs, commissioned as a celebration of 
soccer in partnership with BBC Sport. 
The BBC Singers and the BBC Concert 
Orchestra rehearsed with the school 
students – including two mammoth 
sessions at Highbury Stadium and Stamford 
Bridge – for a performance on 18 
November as part of Children in Need night. 

The BBC Proms had another strong year, 
despite the London bombings. Highlights 
included the Proms debuts of Placido 
Domingo and Ravi Shankar. 

3The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
321 

hours 

of original comedy broadcast on Radio 4 
in 2005/2006 


Remit 
BBC Radio 4’s remit is to use the power 
of the spoken word to offer programmes 
of depth which are surprising, searching, 
revelatory and entertaining.The network 
aims to offer in-depth and thoughtful 
news and current affairs and seeks to 
engage and inspire its audience with a 
unique mix of factual programmes, drama, 
readings and comedy. 

Audiences to Radio 4 are broadly stable. In 
2005/2006, average 15-minute weekly reach 
to adults aged 15+ was 9.5 million people 
or 19.2% (9.4 million/19.3% in 2004/2005)4. 

The loyalty of Radio 4 listeners is legendary 

– and so is their determination to make 
their views known when changes are 
proposed to parts of the schedule that 
some listeners particularly value.When 
management announced that the ‘UK 
Theme’ (a medley of folk tunes played at 
5.30am each day) was to be axed to make 
way for a news briefing, it provoked many 
newspaper editorials, a vociferous campaign 
to keep the music, and even questions in 
Parliament.We did not believe this was a 
matter of sufficient significance to justify 
intervention by the Governors. However, 
this intense sense of ownership by its 
listeners means that modernising urges for 
the network have to be handled with 
particular care and tact. 
However, no schedule is incapable of further 
development and refreshment, and this is as 
true of Radio 4 as it is of any other part of 
the BBC. Innovations such as the weekly 
obituaries programme Last Word and the 
introduction of a Profile slot are part of 
an overall move to make the station 


The Raj Quartet 

Making classic radio drama: Prasanna Puwanarajah, 
Mark Bazely and Anna Maxwell Martin in Radio 4’s 
dramatisation of Paul Scott’s novel, The Raj Quartet 

more responsive to events.The same 
desire can be seen in the move towards 
fast-turnaround topical drama and a greater 
sense of timeliness in features. 

At the same time, however, many of the 
familiar landmarks of the schedule are 
still in place and still performing strongly. 
The Archers – the world’s longest-running 
radio drama – marked its 55th anniversary 
in January 2006. 

Journalism – both mainstream and specialist – 
continues to provide the spine of the 
schedule. In Coming Home, part of the BBC’s 
output marking the 60th anniversary of the 
end of World War Two, Charles Wheeler 
presented five personal interpretations of 
what the moment meant. In The Race is On, 
Peter White told the story behind the 
successful London Olympics bid, gaining 
remarkable access to the decision makers. 

Outside journalism, the range of the 
Radio 4 schedule remains one of its 
great strengths.This year, for example, saw 
Melvyn Bragg attract much attention for 
his In Our Time listeners’ poll to find the 
greatest philosopher (the unexpected 
victor being Karl Marx). Strong new 
comedy included Ed Reardon’s Week, the 
diaries of a failed but admirably undefeated 
writer; memorable classic serials included 
a fine dramatisation of Paul Scott’s novel 
about India in the 1940s, The Raj Quartet; 
and the network began an ambitious and 
engagingly narrated 90-part history of the 
British empire, This Sceptred Isle: Empire. 
The latter series is supported by a 
richly detailed website which includes 
a valuable archive of listeners’ personal 
Empire histories. 

4The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 35 

Governors’ review 
of services – Radio



Remit 
BBC Radio Five Live broadcasts live 
news and sport 24 hours a day, aiming 
to present events as they happen in a 
modern, dynamic and accessible style. 
It sets out to cover national and 
international subjects in depth, using 
wide-ranging analysis and debate to 
inform, entertain and involve news and 
sports fans of all ages, with particular 
emphasis on 25 to 44 year olds. 
The network also provides extensive 
live events coverage, supported by the 
BBC’s global newsgathering operations 
and portfolio of sports rights. 

Audiences to Radio Five Live have slipped. 
Average 15-minute weekly reach to adults 
aged 15+ was 5.9 million people or 12.0% 
in 2005/2006 (6.2 million/12.7% 
in 2004/2005)5. 

Radio Five Live has had a good year 
editorially, in both its sports coverage and its 
news and current affairs output. Its coverage 
of the July bombings in London was 
particularly strong.The station was in the 
middle of its weekday morning phone-in 
when the news broke.The presenter, 
Matthew Bannister, reacted with calm 
authority and intelligence as he led the 
output into a rolling news format lasting 
many hours.All broadcasting is a team effort, 
but Bannister’s performance gave the Five 
Live team a real edge that day.The strength 
of the network is demonstrated by the 
fact that on only the previous day it had 
broadcast a day of memorably ambitious 
and vivid multi-location coverage of the 
announcement in Singapore of the winner of 
the competition to stage the 2012 Olympics. 


Olympic victory 

Being where the story is: Radio Five Live gave 
extensive coverage to the competing bids to stage 
the 2012 Olympics – and was there in Trafalgar 
Square when London’s victory was announced 

The station also carried strong General 
Election campaign reporting, collaborating 
usefully with 1Xtra and the Asian Network. 
Weekend Business, presented by Jeff Randall, 
scored a notable coup with its interview 
with Rupert Murdoch.The FIFA President 
Sepp Blatter, who rarely gives long, live, 
wide-ranging interviews, gave one to Brian 
Alexander on Sport on Five – and the 
contents made headlines. 

Notable sports event coverage included 
Wimbledon, the Champions League, and 
Five Live’s commentary on the Oval Test – 
the decider in the gripping Ashes series. 
All the station’s daytime programmes came 
live from the Oval and the coverage, which 
encouraged strong interaction with the 
audience through text messages and emails, 
complemented to good effect the more 
traditional coverage on Radio 4’s Test Match 
Special. Fighting Talk continues to build its 
reputation for lively and engaging discussion 
of sports issues and events. 

The main issue for Radio Five Live is its 
dependence on medium wave where 
reception is poor in some parts of the UK. 
We note management’s commitment in 
the Statements of Programme Policy to 
put greater effort into encouraging the 
audience to listen via digital platforms. 

5The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
Weekend Business 
Making news: international media tycoon Rupert 
Murdoch gives a rare full length interview to Five 
Live’s weekly business show Weekend Business 
Remit 
BBC Five Live Sports Extra is a part-time 
extension of BBC Radio Five Live, aimed 
at bringing a greater choice of action to 
sports fans. It extracts more value for 
licence fee payers from sports rights 
already owned by the BBC by offering 
alternative commentaries to those 
provided on Five Live. 

Five Live Sports Extra has established 
itself as a valued sister station to Five Live, 
delivering extra value to licence fee payers 
from existing BBC sports rights.The BBC 
does not buy additional sports rights solely 
for use on Five Live Sports Extra. Its 
audiences are rising: in 2005/2006, average 
15-minute weekly reach to adults aged 
15+ was 0.47 million people or 1.0% 

(0.41 million/0.8% in 2004/2005)6. 
The service has enabled the BBC to 
widen choice for listeners, for example 
by continuing to broadcast sports 
commentaries when sports coverage on 
Five Live is curtailed to enable full coverage 
of breaking news. It also enables the BBC 
to offer sports fans a greater choice of 
matches and events, for example an 
alternative Premiership match to the one 
broadcast on Five Live on most weekends. 
It has also offered uninterrupted coverage 
of Test Match cricket and of the qualifying 
rounds of Formula One. 

6The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
36 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

Carnival coverage 

Extending the experience: 1Xtra extended 
its reporting of the Notting Hill Carnival by 
experimenting with interactive television coverage 
available via the red button 


Remit 
1Xtra aims to play the best of 
contemporary black music, with a strong 
emphasis on delivering high-quality live 
music and supporting new British artists. 
1Xtra also brings listeners a bespoke 
news service, regular discussion 
programmes and specially commissioned 
documentaries, plus information and 
advice relevant to the young target 
audience, particularly – although not 
exclusively – those from ethnic minorities. 

1Xtra’s audiences are rising: in 2005/2006, 
average 15-minute weekly reach to adults 
aged 15+ was 0.36 million people or 0.7% 

(0.31 million/0.6% in 2004/2005)7. 
1Xtra has continued to build its confidence, 
ambition and reputation – and to reach 
audiences the BBC has traditionally found 
it very hard to attract. It plays a wide range 
of contemporary black music, the great 
majority new (ie less than a month from 
release) and a high proportion of it UK 
music. Its live music coverage is a notably 
strong element of the schedule, ranging 
from small club nights to stadium tours by 
international stars and events such as the 
Notting Hill Carnival. Specialist music is well 
covered, including extended output such as 
Hip Hop Weekend. 

In our last two Annual Reports we raised 
concerns about the quality of some of 
1Xtra’s speech output.We are encouraged 
by the good progress made over the 
course of the year under review and 
note management’s commitment in the 
Statements of Programme Policy to continue 
to enhance the depth and range of speech 

Weekly reach of BBC Radio services 2005/2006 (% adults age 15+) 

2006 2005 
2005/ 2004/ 
66.5 66.6 
BBC Radio 3 
BBC Radio 2 
BBC Radio 1 
BBC Radio 
BBC Radio 4 
4.1 4.2 
20.6 20.4 
26.5 27.2 
19.2 19.3 
12.0 12.7 
BBC Five Live Sports Extra 
BBC Radio Five Live 
BBC National/Local Radio 
1.0 0.8 
20.5 20.8 
1Xtra 0.7 0.6 
6 Music 0.6 0.5 
BBC 7 1.2 0.9 
BBC Asian Network 
BBC World Service 
0.9 1.0 
2.6 2.6 

Source: RAJAR, age 15+, average 15-minute weekly reach for 2005/2006 

programming. In particular, the 
documentary strand in the weekday 
current affairs programme, TX Unlimited, 
has broadcast some distinctive journalism 
on a range of sensitive subjects including 
anorexia, child soldiers in Africa, and death 
row in the US.The station did useful work 
in its first ever full social action campaign, 
Between the Sheets, a month-long series 
of programmes, interviews, features and 
documentaries examining all aspects of 
sexual health. 

The station’s contribution to the BBC’s 
Africa season was admirably ambitious, 
broadcasting live from South Africa, Kenya 
and Ghana, and using music as a way into 
other subjects. 

1Xtra has made good use of its website, 
which is the most popular of those of the 
BBC’s digital stations. It hosts all the BBC’s 
black music message boards – a new project 
aimed at bringing musical communities 
together. Taggerz, an innovative online 
animated drama about a gang of graffiti 
artists, attracted 200,000 unique users over 
six months. 1Xtra has also experimented 
with interactive TV – coverage of the 
Notting Hill Carnival was available via the 
red button on digital television. 

7The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 37 

Governors’ review 
of services – Radio



Remit 
BBC 6 Music aims to engage with lovers 
of popular music, offering them current 
releases outside the mainstream, 
new concert and session tracks, and 
music from the BBC sound archive. 
It concentrates on music and artists that 
are not well supported by other radio 
stations, and is committed to providing 
context for the music it plays, through 
music news, documentaries, debate and 
stimulating interactive content. 

Audiences to BBC 6 Music are rising. 
In 2005/2006, average 15-minute weekly 
reach to adults aged 15+ was 0.32 million 
people or 0.6% (0.25 million/0.5% in 
2004/2005)8. 

The growth of 6 Music’s audience 
confirms its place in the BBC Radio 
portfolio as a distinctive service highly 
valued by its listeners. Its standing in the 
wider music business is demonstrated by 
its ability to attract big names. Both Franz 
Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs agreed to 
curate the station for a day – choosing 
the album of the day, selecting sessions 
and concert tracks from the BBC archive, 
and playing music that had influenced 
them.The station’s strong roster of 
presenters – including Phill Jupitus, Steve 
Lamacq and Tom Robinson – adds to its 
authority. Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone, 
catering to more experimental tastes, 
brings a knowledgeably eclectic flavour 
to Sunday output. 

The station has done well with anniversary 
specials, among them four days of output 
marking 30 years of punk, and a day 
marking the 25th anniversary of the murder 


Curator of the day 

Giving talent free rein: Franz Ferdinand singer Alex 
Kapranos with BBC 6 Music DJ Nemone. Franz 
Ferdinand members curated the station for a day, 
choosing music of special significance to the band 

of John Lennon – including an exclusive 
interview with his widow,Yoko Ono, and 
a showing of Lennon archive material on 
the BBC’s Big Screen in Liverpool. 

One issue of concern is the strong 
gender imbalance in the audience, which 
is approximately 70% male.The station 
aims to appeal to all music lovers, and we 
note management’s commitment in the 
Statements of Programme Policy to broaden 
the appeal of the network, particularly 
in respect of the male/female balance 
of listeners. 

8The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
510 

hours 

of current affairs programming broadcast 
on 1Xtra in 2005/2006 


Remit 
BBC 7 is a speech-based digital radio 
service offering comedy, drama and 
readings, mainly from the BBC archive. 
The network is zoned around types 
of programmes so people know that 
at a certain time of day a particular 
type of output will always be available. 
BBC 7 also aims to be the home of 
children’s speech radio, with regular 
live programming for children. 

Audiences to BBC 7 are rising and it is the 
most listened to of the BBC’s digital-only 
stations. In 2005/2006, BBC 7 had an 
average 15-minute weekly reach to adults 
aged 15+ of 0.59 million or 1.2% (0.44 
million/0.9% in 2004/2005)9. 

The bedrock of the output remains the 
BBC archive and the station has found 
imaginative ways of scheduling this to gain 
maximum impact. An Oscar Wilde season 
mined a rich seam of work including 
drama, fiction and letters; an Alan Bennett 
season included 40 Years On, Kafka’s Dick 
and An Englishman Abroad; the actor 
Bill Nighy introduced a selection from 
his impressive range of radio work; and 
the station broadcast the entire canon 
of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s work. 

In addition to archive-based output, BBC 7 
is tasked with commissioning some original 
output. New comedy is a specialisation. 
The BBC New Comedy Awards included a 
search for new stand-up talent throughout 
the UK, with the winners given the chance 
to write for a radio comedy show. 
A discussion programme, Serious About 
Comedy, was also launched. Science fiction 
and fantasy is an area where BBC 7 aims 

38 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

BBC Comedy Award 

Searching out new talent:Tom Allen, chosen from 
400 contestants as BBC New Talent Stand Up 
Comedian of 2005. He and five finalists won the 
chance to write for a BBC Radio comedy show 

to provide for an underserved audience 
and, working with the BBC writersroom 
initiative, the station broadcast ten original 
15-minute dramas from UK writers new to 
national network radio. More than 20 new 
readings were broadcast, and Boxing Day 
became Narnia Day, with an eight-hour 
dramatisation of the first four of C S Lewis’ 
Chronicles of Narnia. Its star cast included 
Paul Scofield and David Suchet. 

The children’s service has continued to 
develop well, with new opportunities for 
children to write for radio and appear on 
air.A Storyteller competition drew 2,000 
entries and the winners came into the 
radio studio to help produce the readings 
of their stories. 

9The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
The Hype Show 

Making distinctive music: DJ Kayper, one of the 
UK leading female DJs, has a regular weekly slot, 
The Hype Show, on BBC Asian Network. Changes 
have been made to increase its appeal to young 
British Asians 


Remit 
BBC Asian Network aims to entertain 
and inform young British Asians with a 
contemporary mix of music and speech. 
While the primary target audience is 
British Asians under 35, the network 
strives to have a broader appeal amongst 
all who share an interest in British Asian 
issues,music and culture.The network is 
committed to being the definitive forum 
for informed debate about news and 
issues related to British Asians. It plays 
a broad range of South Asian-influenced 
music, with a particular emphasis on 
live performance and new British Asian 
artists. Programming is provided in 
a range of South Asian languages, to 
reflect the linguistic influences on young 
British Asians. 

In 2005/2006, BBC Asian Network had an 
average 15-minute weekly reach to adults 
aged 15+ of 0.44 million people or 0.9% 

(0.5 million/1.0% in 2004/2005)10. 
Some criticisms of the Asian Network were 
made in the Government’s independent 
review of the BBC’s digital services, and 
during this year BBC management have 
developed a series of programme changes 
that took effect in April 2006.The remit 
of the service has been changed to take 
account of this (the new remit is at the 
head of this section). 

The main thrust of the changes is to clarify 
the primary target audience (British Asians 
under 35) and to establish three areas 
where performance must improve: editorial 
ambition, the level of innovation, and 
ensuring distinctiveness from commercial 
Asian radio stations. 

37% 

of adults have listened to the radio via 
digital television (Q1 2006) 

Key initiatives include measures to increase 
the distinctiveness of the music output, 
particularly in daytime programming, 
including investing in live music and 
developing new talent; transforming the 
level of journalism by building strong links 
with BBC News and emphasising original 
stories and investigative journalism; and 
repositioning the tone and style of the 
language programmes to increase their 
appeal to the target audience. 

We have welcomed these changes, which 
were the result of widespread consultation 
with audiences and staff. 

There is already some evidence of the 
journalism becoming more ambitious – for 
example, the Asian Network sent its own 
reporters to cover the Pakistan earthquake. 
Other parts of the output also continue to 
do well, including the innovative daily soap 
Silver Street.We will keep the progress of 
the Asian Network towards its new remit 
under review during the coming year. 

10The number of adults 15+ rose by 0.5 million to 

49.4 million between 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 
BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 39