BBC Asian Network

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BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network logo
Broadcast area Flag of the United Kingdom UK - National
Frequency MW: Various (Restricted Coverage)
DAB: 12B
Sky: 0119
Freeview: 709
Virgin Media: 912
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 South Asian orientated
Audience share 0.3% (September 2007, [2])
Owner BBC
Webcast Live Stream Real/WM
Podcast: mp3
Website www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork

BBC Asian Network is a BBC national radio station orientated towards British Asian life, culture and music in the UK and other topics from a British Asian perspective targeting British Asians aged under 35, while also aspiring towards a broader appeal among all interested in British Asian life whether Asian or not, regardless of age.

Based in St Nicholas Place, Leicester, England with programmes also coming from Mailbox studios at BBC Birmingham and BBC Television Centre, London; it broadcasts nationally on DAB and digital TV via satellite, cable and Freeview; locally on AM in parts of the English Midlands 24 hours a day and sometimes in some parts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, South East England and Hertfordshire locally: How to Listen.

In more recent years online streaming, Listen Again and podcast [3] options have been introduced on the main site for many of the station's programmes.

Contents

[edit] History

BBC Asian Network studio at The Mailbox shopping centre, Birmingham.
BBC Asian Network studio at The Mailbox shopping centre, Birmingham.

[edit] Origins

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; its popularity was remarkable, beyond anything anticipated, 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.

[edit] BBC Asian Network goes national

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' .

[edit] 2006 schedule changes

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 as outlined in the following BBC Press Office Links. Markie Mark became Head of Music at the BBC Asian Network:

[edit] Symbol change

In August 2007, the Asian Network received a new logo as part of a general re-brand of all national BBC stations.[citation needed]

[edit] Competition Voting Irregularities

In 2007 a number of irregularities in competitions on British television and radio programmes were the subject of intense press and parliamentary discussion, in the Autumn of 2007 it was discovered that some breaches of editorial guidelines on voting had occurred on some competitions on the Film Cafe programme on 17 February 2007 in which audience voting decisions had been overruled by an undisclosed member of the production staff, one time by mistake, and another time because the winner was not available to appear on the show. The BBC announced that appropriate measures to deal with such issues had since been taken.

[edit] Programmes and presenters

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.

[edit] Current programmes sharing presenter names

  • Nikki Bedi
  • Sonia Deol - currently being presented by Jas Rao, Sonia Deol officially finished on the programme on 6 February 2008 and had been on holiday for a few months previously.[4]
  • Nihal (The morning phone in programme formerly presented by Anita Rani and before that by Sonia Deol).
  • Adil Ray
  • Bobby Friction (The Station 'Flagship' music show).

[edit] Other programmes

[edit] Current programme staff

[edit] Presenters

[edit] Reporters

[edit] Former presenters

[edit] Former Programmes

  • Film Cafe every Saturday which consisted of Film News presented by Raj & Pablo, both Film Cafe and Amanda Hussein were replaced by the new four hour programme Love Bollywood in Spring 2007.
  • Amanda Hussein which consisted of News, Music and Entertainment presented by Amanda Hussein, which replaced Weekend Breakfast which she had also been one of the presenters on (Initially called Hot Breakfast that had been presented by successively by Nikki Bedi, Anita Rani and finally Tazeen Ahmad).

[edit] External links

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BBC Radio
v • d • e
Radio stations in the West Midlands of England
FM Stations 88.3 • 89.1 • 90.5 • 92.7 • 93.5 • 95.6 • 96.4 • 97.9 • 98.7 • 100.1 • 100.7 • 102.2 • 105.2 • 105.7
LW & MW Stations 198 • 252 • 693 • 1053 • 1152 • 1215 • 1296 • 1458

United Kingdom Radio Markets: London • Manchester • West Midlands

See also: List of radio stations in the United Kingdom
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Asian_Network"
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