| Broadcast area | United Kingdom - national |
|---|---|
| Frequency | MW: Various (Restricted Coverage) DAB: 12B Freeview: 709 Freesat: 709 Sky: 0119 Virgin Media: 912 TalkTalk TV: 820 |
| First air date | 1976 BBC Radio Leicester show 1988 as The Asian Network - BBC Radio Leicester & BBC WM 1996 as separate channel on AM 2002 Nationally on DAB [1] |
| Format | Music, News & Entertainment |
| Audience share | 0.3% (March 2011, [2]) |
| Owner | BBC |
| Webcast | WMA |
| Website | bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork |
BBC Asian Network is a British radio station serving those originating from and around the Indian subcontinent. The music and news comes out of the main urban areas where there are significant communities with these backgrounds. The station has production centres in Birmingham, Leicester and London (Television Centre & Western House). Its 'parent' station is BBC Radio 2 at Western House and it is part of the BBC Audio and Music division.
BBC Asian Network broadcasts mainly in English, but also have programmes in five south Asian languages – Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujurati and the Mirpuri dialect of the Potwari language. The station's output consists largely of music and talk programmes, although there is a daily documentary series Asian Network Reports and a now-discontinued daily soap opera Silver Street.[3] Over mid-2009, the Asian network provided coverage at melas across the UK as part of the 'Summer Of Melas'.[4]
In March 2010 the station, which has the highest per-listener budget of all UK radio stations, was threatened with closure, along with BBC 6 Music.[5] A year later, following consultation the BBC Trust announced it was reconsidering its plan to close the station in favour of reducing its budget, although it stressed no final decision had been made.[6]
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BBC television had broadcast an Asian news programme, Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan, since 1968 from its studios in Birmingham. Whilst pioneering, this series followed a traditional news and current affairs format.
In 1977 BBC Radio Leicester, in recognition of the growth of the importance and size of the South Asian population in Leicester, introduced a daily show aimed primarily at that community in the city. At one point the audience consisted of 67 per cent of the South Asian community in Leicester. In 1979, BBC WM, the BBC radio station for the Midlands, followed Leicester's lead and introduced a similar daily show.
By 1988, plans had been laid for shared South Asian programmes across the Midlands, on the AM frequencies of Radio Leicester and BBC WM, and on 30 October 1988 The Asian Network was launched on BBC WM and BBC Radio Leicester with a combined output of 70 hours per week.
In 1996 the station was relaunched as 'The BBC Asian Network with its own AM frequencies in the Midlands. It was led by founder member Vijay Sharma from Leicester.
In 1998, the station got its own newsroom and reporters in a project led by Mike Curtis, the news editor at BBC Radio Lincolnshire who had also worked at Radios Cornwall and Oxford and as a senior journalism trainer for local radio in London.
By 2000, the station's output had shifted focus from the Midlands to the UK as a whole, and the station became a truly national network on Monday 28 October 2002 when it was relaunched for the DAB Digital Radio system.
In January 2006, the BBC announced that they were investing an extra £1m in the BBC Asian Network, and increasing the number of full-time staff by 30% in a bid to make British South Asian interests 'a mainstream part of the corporation's output' . The internal management structure of the station changed with Bob Shennan, then Controller of BBC Radio 5Live, taking over as controller, with a new Head of News, Husain Husaini (a senior editor in BBC Five Live), a Head of Music Mark Strippel Markie Mark – a music DJ and former member of Punjabi Hit Squad – and a Network Manager, Mike Curtis (previously Asian Network's News and Sports Editor).
In April 2006 the first wave of schedule changes were introduced with further changes coming into effect on 14 May and 21 May with weekend changes occurring from 17 June.[7] In August 2007, the Asian Network received a new logo as part of a general re-brand of all national BBC stations. In 2009, this was re-branded again to add prominence to the Asian aspect of the logo.
From 2010, another change to the schedule took place. Sonia Deol fronts the 10.00am to 12.30pm, Monday to Friday show on BBC Asian Network. Sonia, who previously presented a Friday afternoon show on the station, will move to the new weekday slot from Monday 8 February. Former weekend presenter Tommy Sandhu hosts the Breakfast show from 7am till 10am (replacing Adil Ray). Nihal, who was on afternoons from Monday to Thursday (1.00-3.00pm), added Fridays to his schedule.
As a result of the changes, morning presenters Adil Ray and Nikki Bedi left the station after nearly six years. station controller Andy Parfitt says: "I thank Nikki for her excellent contribution to the station over many years. I wish her well for the future and will be helping her develop her BBC radio career. "Jas Rao, who currently presents drivetime, will continue to work on projects for the network."
The changes came into effect on 8 February 2010.[8]Later in 2010, Tommy Sandhu moved from drivetime to Breakfast, Noreen Khan - who had replaced Sandhu at weekend breakfast following the earlier changes - took over drivetime, and Sunny and Shay from Channel 4 programme `The Family` took over the helm of the weekend breakfast show.
One of the most significant programmes in the Asian Network lineup was an ongoing Asian soap opera Silver Street which was first broadcast in 2004. Storylines focused on the lives of a primarily British South Asian community in an English town of unspecified name and location, with themes that generally related to issues that affect the daily lives of British South Asians and their neighbours
Following a cutting of episode lengths to five minutes per day and falling listenership, on 16 November 2009 the BBC announced that they would be cancelling Silver Street.[9] The last episode was broadcast in March 2010.
The cancellation grew out of criticisms of the Asian Network in the BBC Trust's annual report. In July 2009 it was revealed that the Asian Network had lost over 20% of its listeners in a single year and, per listener, was the most costly and expensive BBC radio station to run.[10]
Silver Street was replaced by monthly half hour dramas and in August 2010, BBC Asian Network announced it would be launching a new drama season from 1st September 2010. According to a BBC Press Release "Titled BBC Asian Network Presents... the new drama strand is committed to providing distinctive, original and impactful content, all relevant to the target audience."[11]
On 26 February 2010 The Times reported that Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, proposed closing the station in a bid to scale back BBC operations and allow commercial rivals more room.[12] The proposal of closure – along with BBC 6 Music – was later confirmed on 2 March.[13] A letter was written to the BBC Trust and signed by various people – although the number of signatories also included a number signing their name at least more than once; as both a single name and as part of a collective,[14] with many AN listeners advocating keeping their station at the expense of the more popular 6 Music,[15] although the BBC Trust later rejected plans to close 6 Music and approved the plans to close AN.[16] On 14 March 2011, the BBC announced it was reconsidering its plan to close the station in favour of reducing its budget in half, although it emphasised no final decision had been made.[17]
With the departure of Andy Parfitt in the summer of 2011, the decision was taken to place the Asian Network under Bob Shennan, Controller of Radio 2. Shennan was in charge of the network when he was Controller of Five Live and knew the station and its management team well. Shennan will now oversee the possibly drastic changes to the schedule and staffing of the radio station which will follow from the wider BBC`s cuts plans.
The BBC Asian Network features a generally regular schedule of programming in English and South Asian Languages. Many programmes are named after the usual presenter. Programmes are presented in English except where noted otherwise.
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