Commissioning Brief - BBC

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