BBC Cymru, BBC Audio partner on network radio hub
December 10, 2021
BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Audio have announced a new partnership which will bring together their network radio teams in Wales and Bristol in a single unit, led from Cardiff, working across both sites.
The new unit, will create a substantial audio hub with more than 70 posts, giving the teams across the two bases greater opportunities for collaboration, career progression, and to work on a broader range of output.
The dual site team will also incorporate the Radio Science team, currently based in London, bringing some of Radio 4’s best-loved shows to Cardiff, including The Life Scientific, All in the Mind and Inside Health. The science team will be co-located with the BBC News climate and science team at Central Square and will commence its move to Wales next year as part of the BBC’s ‘Across the UK’ plans.
The new BBC Audio hub will produce more than 30 regular titles across Radio 3, Radio 4, the World Service and BBC Sounds, including household names such as Any Questions?, Farming Today and Composer of the Week, as well as a wide range of documentaries, dramas and podcasts. The teams will continue to work with and alongside different parts of the BBC, including BBC Cymru Wales services.
The partnership was forged by BBC Cymru Wales Director of Content and Services Rhuanedd Richards and Controller of BBC Audio Graham Ellis.
Graham Ellis says: “We both have proud and distinct traditions of creative programme making but by coming together we complement and strengthen each other. This partnership gives us a network radio production base in Wales and Bristol to match our investment in Salford.”
Rhuanedd Richards says: “We’re delighted to be able to announce the creation of this new audio hub. This new partnership will lead to greater collaboration and provide further opportunities to explore new content ideas from a broad range of expertise, as well as continuing to produce much-loved BBC Radio programmes.”
The BBC Audio hub will be led by a new senior leader based in Cardiff. The unit will launch in April 2022, with the Science Unit also due to begin its move to Cardiff next year.
Earlier this year, the BBC’s Director General Tim Davie committed to moving the BBC’s creative and journalistic centre away from London as part of its Across the UK plans. For radio, this means increasing network and music spend outside London to 50%, as part of which the BBC Audio science unit will move to Cardiff, alongside other plans.
BBC Audio is the BBC’s in-house audio production team, with current teams in London, Birmingham, Bristol and Salford. They produce podcasts, radio and music programmes, deliver live events, provide creative services and forge partnerships across the BBC’s network radio stations, BBC World Service and BBC Sounds.