Commissioning Brief - BBC
Commissioning Brief - BBC
Commissioning Brief - BBC
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The following day Radio 2 commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters Raid. Chris<br />
Evans broadcast his Breakfast show live from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, and then flew in one<br />
of the last remaining serviceable Lancaster Bombers to Biggin Hill in Kent, where Jeremy Vine was<br />
broadcasting his show from. The day culminated in a special Friday Night Is Music Night, live from<br />
Biggin Hill airport. Jeremy and Dermot O’Leary retold the story of the Dambusters Raid in a<br />
documentary-drama, with a musical soundtrack played by the <strong>BBC</strong> Concert Orchestra and the<br />
Central Band of the RAF.<br />
Our specialist music offering is key to our broad and distinctive schedule. Over the first May Bank<br />
Holiday we broadcast live from the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Friday Night Is Music Night<br />
celebrated 70 years of jazz and blues legend Georgie Fame where he performed alongside a<br />
number of special guests. On the Bank Holiday Monday, we had a special concert from<br />
Madeleine Peyroux, while Jamie Cullum also featured highlights from the festival in his jazz show.<br />
We may no longer have a weekly slot for half-hour comedy commissions, but we recognise that<br />
comedy is still very important to Radio 2. We continue to support <strong>BBC</strong> Radio’s New Comedy<br />
Award, with its home on Radio 2 within Steve Wright In The Afternoon. Also this year we have<br />
teamed up with our colleagues at <strong>BBC</strong> Radio 4 Extra. Both networks have aired the launch of the<br />
competition, while 4 Extra will broadcast the regional heats, and Radio 2 the semi-finals and final<br />
in December.<br />
Incredibly all of this content – from the final of 500 Words to the launch of the New Comedy<br />
Award, from In Concert to Friday Night Is Music Night, from our documentary content to specialist<br />
music events – was broadcast in May this year!<br />
With continued pressures on budgets, we need to be cleverer with ad-hoc commissioning for<br />
Radio 2 – fewer, bigger, better – there will be fewer commissions, but we want to buy more<br />
ambitious programming that has a bigger and better cut-through, with impact right across our<br />
schedule, and across different digital platforms. And looking ahead to the period of this<br />
commissioning round – we have obviously already commissioned programming around The<br />
Guitar, The Commonwealth Games and World War I, so many of our available slot are already<br />
covered, but please feel free to suggest any complimentary ideas you may have on these, or for<br />
other themes and projects that you think may work well for Radio 2.<br />
But as always I would encourage you to talk to Robert about your proposals before you formally<br />
submit them. These Pre-Offers Meets will give you a steer on focus and content, and how your<br />
ideas might work within the context of the schedule. And please contact Julian with any<br />
questions you may have regarding the processes, commissioning or the schedule. And please<br />
feel free to feedback any ways in which we could improve the way we work with you.<br />
For the really big ideas you should think about the possibility of partnerships, inside and outside<br />
the <strong>BBC</strong>, and you should also be aware the <strong>BBC</strong> Learning are willing to help fund ideas that have<br />
educational angle to them.<br />
Thank you for continuing to engage with Radio 2.<br />
Bob Shennan<br />
Controller, <strong>BBC</strong> Radio 2, <strong>BBC</strong> Radio 6 Music & Asian Network<br />
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