BBC Asian Network
Template:Infobox Radio Station
BBC Asian Network è un'emittente radiofonica pubblica britannica dedicata alla trasmissione di musica, notizie, intrattenimeto e programmi culturali dedicati all'Asia. La musica e le notizie sono pensate per le comunità del Sud-Est asiatico presenti nelle principali città del Paese.
I centri di produzione sono a Birmingham, Leicester e Londra (Television Centre & Yalding House). La radio "genitrice" è BBC Radio 1 at Yalding House; essa è parte della divisione BBC Audio and Music.
BBC Asian Network trasmette principalmente in inglese, but vi sono programmi anche in Hindi/Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Gujurati e Mirpuri.
Tra i programmi autoprodotti sono noti la commedia `Silver Street` ed i documentari `Asian Network Reports`[1].
Durante l'estate 2009, sono stati dedicati programmi parte integrante di 'Summer Of Melas' [2].
Il 26 febbraio 2010 è stata proposta la chiusura del canale in nome del risparmio[1], proposta confermata il 2 marzo dello stesso anno[2].
History
Medium Wave 1458
Origini
L'ente televisivo della BBC ha trasmesso un programma di news asiatiche, Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan, dal 1968 dai suoi studi di Birmingham. Sin dagli albori, il programma ha seguito una linea che prevedeva l'accostamento di notizie d'attualità a quelle più di stampo tradizionalistico e folkloristico.
Nel 1977 BBC Radio Leicester, in risposta all'aumento della popolazione d'origine sud-est asiatica a Leicester, inizia a trasmettere uno show quotidiano pensato principalmente alla comunità cittadina. La sua popolarità è stata notevole, oltre ogni pronostico; s'è arrivato al picco del 67% della comuntà sud-est asiatica di Leicester che ascoltava il programma. Nel 1979, BBC WM, la radio BBC per le Midlands, hanno seguito l'esempio di Leicester ed hanno inserito nel palinsesto un programma similare.
Nel 1988 è stato deciso di trasmettere programmi dedicati alla popolazione del Sud-Est asiatico in comune nelle Midlands, sulle frequenze AM di Radio Leicester e BBC WM, ed il 30 ottobre 1988 è stato lanciato il programma The Asian Network su BBC WM e BBC Radio Leicester con trasmissioni complessivi di 70 ore per settimana.
Nel 1996 l'emittente è stata rilanciata con il nome di 'The BBC Asian Network con una propria frequenza in AM nelle Midlands.
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' . 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 much respected Asian music DJ and former member of Punjabi Hit Squad) and a Network Manager, Mike Curtis (previously Asian Network's News and Sports Editor).
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. *The New Schedule
Symbol change
In August 2007, the Asian Network received a new logo as part of a general re-brand of all national BBC stations. [senza fonte]
In 2009, this was re-branded again to add prominence to the Asian aspect of the logo.
Management 2009
- Controller of Radio 1, 1Xtra, Asian Network and BBC Switch; Andy Parfitt.
- Head of Asian Network: Vijay Sharma
- Head of Programmes: Husain Husaini
- Network Manager: Mike Curtis.
- Head of Music: Mark Strippel.
- Head of News; Kevin Silverton
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.
Current programmes sharing presenter names
- Nikki Bedi (Weekday mid-mornings).
- Jas Rao – (Weekday Drive)
- Nihal (The lunchtime phone in programme)
- Adil Ray (Breakfast).
- Friction (The Station 'Flagship' music show)
- Tommy Sandhu (Weekend Breakfast Show).
- Murtz (The Request Show)
- Panjabi Hit Squad (A mix of Hip-Hop, R'n'B, House, Bhangra and Bollywood on Saturdays from 5pm)
- Noreen Khan with The Chart Show (A weekly run down of the top Asian tunes as decided by the Asian Network Playlist team)
- Waqas Saeed (Early Breakfast every weekday morning from 5–6am)
Other programmes
- Love Bollywood* every Saturday and Sunday with Raj & Pablo consisting of News, Entertainment & Gossip about Bollywood
- Music Programmes on the BBC Asian Network – Music in various styles and in English and in various South Asian Languages
- Regional Language Programmes on the BBC Asian Network in Mirpuri, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and in Hindi and Urdu
- Devotional Music in various languages on weekdays and Devotional Sounds – Islam/Hindu/Sikh on weekends in various languages.
- Silver Street
- BBC Asian Network - Special News Reports
- Electro East with Nerm – Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Electro & Breaks with an Asian tinge every Saturday night from Midnight-2am
- Pathaan's Musical Rickshaw – World Electronica, Classical Asian and Global Basslines every Sunday morning from 2 to 4 am
- Mic Check with Kan D Man & Limelight*- Grime, Funky House, Hip-Hop and providing a platform for fresh new Asian mc's! Every Saturday night from 10 pm – midnight
- DJ Kayper – Hip-Hop, Desi Beats and Big Guests! Every Friday night from 10–1 am
Current programme staff
Presenters
- Adil Ray
- Ameet Chana
- Anwarul Hoque
- Ashwini Malhi
- Bobby Friction
- Changis Raja
- Dev Parmar
- Dipps Bhamrah
- DJ Kayper
- Gagan Grewal
- Kanwal Qazi
- Neelu Kalsi
- Nerm
- Nihal
- Nikki Bedi
- Noreen Khan
- Pathaan
- Panjabi Hit Squad
- Raj & Pablo
- Jas Rao
- Ravinder Kundra
- Rozina Sini
- Sanjay Sharma
- Shawkat Hashmi
- Sonia Deol
- Tommy Sandhu
- Zarina Khan
Reporters
- Sanjiv Buttoo
- Deepak Patel
- Nikesh Rughani
- Gurvinder Aujla
- Audrey Dias
- Nasser Hanif
- Rahila Bano
- Maimuna Kazi
- Sabina Alderwish
- Suki Padda
- Rahul Tandon
- Adam Pasternicki
- Ben Marshall
- Mayur Bhanji
Former presenters
- Sameena Ali-Khan
- Mike Allbut – former T20 presenter and prior to that of the Saturday mid-morning show.
- Navinder Bhogal
- Amanda Hussain
- Aasmah Mir – more noted as a BBC Radio 5 Live Live News Reader and presenter and columnist in the Sunday Herald covered one fortnight in April 2006 on what had been the Sonia Deol show from 09:00 to 12:00 during schedule changes and has also presented the BBC Asian Network Report in the past.
- Meera Trevedi
- Anita Rani
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).
Note
- ^ (EN) Articolo del Times
- ^ (EN) Articolo di The Guardian