Latest news about BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 to find the Ultimate 80s Album

BBC Radio 2’s Sounds Of The 80s has launched an audience vote to discover the Ultimate 80s Album. It comes in preparation for this year’s National Album Day on Saturday 10 October when iconic albums of the 80s will be celebrated. The Top 50 has already been selected by a Radio 2 panel of music experts and is based on the best-selling albums of the decade, along with those that have endured to this day, as well as some slow-burners that are now considered classics of the era. Listeners are being asked to vote for their favourite album from the list of 50 and Gary Davies will reveal the results in a Sounds Of The 80s Ultimate 80s Albums countdown special, from 8pm on Friday 9 October on BBC Radio 2...

Acts announced for BBC Radio 2 Live at Home

BBC Radio 2’s replacement for Proms in the Park and Live in Hyde Park this year will take place online and the line-up has just been announced by Zoe Ball. Sheryl Crow, Craig David, Erasure, Sir Tom Jones, The Killers, John Legend, McFly, Gregory Porter, The Pretenders and Nile Rodgers & CHIC feat. Rebecca Ferguson will perform exclusively for Radio 2 Live at Home which will be broadcast on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September across radio, TV and online. On Saturday 12 September, Jo Whiley will host Radio 2 Live at Home on Radio 2 and BBC Sounds from 7-8pm, Rylan Clark-Neal will host from 8-9pm and Fearne Cotton from 9-10pm. Saturday’s show will...

BBC Radio 2 reveals Wonderwall by Oasis is the UK’s official best-selling Britpop song

Oasis were crowned the Kings of Britpop on Bank Holiday Monday on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds as Britpop Top 50 with Jo Whiley counted down the UK’s 50 best-selling Britpop songs of the 90s. Using exclusive data from Official Charts Company, Wonderwall by Oasis topped the chart at number one with sales of 1.4 million, followed by Don’t Look Back In Anger by Oasis in second place, with The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony taking the bronze medal. Jo Whiley says: “This chart has taken me back to the glory days of the Evening Session and a time when Britpop ruled the airwaves. It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years! Wonderwall has always been"...

Simon Mayo joins Greatest Hits Radio line-up

Scala Radio presenter Simon Mayo will do a Sunday afternoon album show on Greatest Hits Radio from next month. The former BBC Radio 2 host will be on 1-4pm on Sundays from 6th September as the brand is rolled out to local radio stations across the country. It’s addition to his six shows a week for Bauer’s sister station Scala. The station says he will be ‘indulging his passion for the finest albums, and their greatest hits, of the 70s, 80s and 90s’. ‘The Album Show with Simon Mayo’ will celebrate and explore listeners’ record collections along with a weekly Classic Album Countdown...

Scott Mills to cover the big show on BBC Radio 2

Scott Mills will be covering for Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2 when he takes a week off later this month. Scott has been on the station in the past hosting specials, and has also covered Rylan and Claudia Winkleman but this will be his first stint covering weekday afternoons. Steve’s regular stand-in, Craig Charles is busy filming new ITV series, Don’t Rock The Boat. Jordan North will cover the BBC Radio 1 afternoon show while Scott sits-in for Steve Wright...

Fifty years of Bob Harris on air to be marked at Radio 2

Greg James will interview radio legend Bob Harris about his 50 years in broadcasting as part of the BBC Radio 2 summer schedules. The programme called ‘Bob And Greg’ airs on Saturday 22nd August at 9pm. The Radio 1 Breakfast presenter grew up with Bob’s famous whispering voice coming out of the radios at home as his father, Alan, has been a fan since Bob’s first broadcast on Radio 1 in August 1970. Greg will talk in depth to Bob about his life – including writing sleeve notes for an unknown Elton John, watching Bob Marley play, and touring with bands like Led Zeppelin; his influences and his constant search for the next big thing...

What does the BBC’s Annual Plan say about Radio?

OPINION: The BBC is required to publish its annual plan each year. Just as with every broadcaster, however – and every industry – this year’s is atypical. Even when the COVID crisis abates, life will never be the same again. My notes here focus largely on radio, but it is worth citing the general headlines from the report, which bear out Ofcom’s latest research published yesterday: “As social distancing began in the UK in the third week of March, pan-BBC reach among adults peaked at 94%. That is: 94% of the British public used the BBC that week. 86% of young adults aged 16-34 used the BBC that week, up from 77% the week before”...

Zoe Ball's BBC Radio 2 show loses a million listeners

Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 show has lost 1 million weekly listeners since she replaced Chris Evans as presenter of the UK’s most popular breakfast show. Ball, who admitted in a recent interview that losing listeners is something she “takes completely to heart”, has seen her audience decline dramatically since Evans’ departure. He broadcast his final show on Christmas Eve 2018, and is now at Virgin Radio. Ball drew an average of 8.1 million weekly listeners to her breakfast show in the first quarter of this year, compared with the 9.1 million listeners Evans attracted in the final quarter of 2018. In an interview with Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in February, Ball admitted that...

RAJAR Q1 2020: London and national brands roundup

BBC Radio 2 has lost almost a million listeners in the last year, according to the Q1/2020 audience research from RAJAR. The reach of the UK’s biggest radio station fell from 15.356m at the start of 2019 to 14.362m over the first three months of this year. The two biggest commercial radio networks – Heart and Capital – both lost significant reach over the 12 months too. The Heart network lost 787,000 listeners to leave a reach of 7.737m, while Capital dropped 815,000 to 6.386m. When you add in the other Heart and Capital branded stations – 70s, 80s, 90s, Dance, Xtra and Xtra Reloaded – the Heart brand reaches 9.365m and the Capital brand 7.502m...

Radio presenter special version of PopMaster planned

BBC Radio 2 has announced a special radio presenter version of PopMaster, which will air on the station on Bank Holiday Monday at the end of this month. Instead of just being in its usual 10.30am slot, the feature will run through the day on 25th May, with separate rounds taking place from 7.35am to 5.30pm. Presenters taking part in the quiz will include Zoe Ball, Greg James, Dotun Adebayo and Magic’s Ronan Keating – as well as other as-yet-announced BBC and commercial radio hosts. Ken Bruce will be quizmaster for hourly heats through the day, starting on the breakfast show with Dermot O’Leary, running through...