BBC children's classics could return on commercial radio station

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Children's classics such as Listen With Mother could return to the airwaves under a proposed and unprecedented tie-up between commercial radio and the BBC.

The commercial radio trade body, the Radio Centre, has called on the corporation to open up its archive of children's programming so that it can be broadcast on digital station, Fun Kids.

Radio Centre is hoping the BBC would give up the content for free, which Fun Kids would broadcast in a dedicated, advertising-free slot.

The BBC has indicated that it is keen to utilise its huge archive of TV and radio programmes and build partnerships with commercial broadcasters and public service organisations.

Andrew Harrison, the chief executive of the Radio Centre, said the BBC was "woefully under-serving younger listeners and failing to deliver public value".

"We believe that the BBC should give greater consideration to children's radio in future, but also we give our full support to Fun Kids' pioneering proposal and urge BBC management to progress discussions without further delay," he added.

Campaigners have long petitioned the BBC to carry more children's programming. Despite having 10 national radio stations, including five on digital radio, none of them is a dedicated children's service.

The BBC's children's radio programmes are confined to its digital speech station, BBC7, which broadcasts a three-hour block between 5am and 8am every day, with an hour-long programme on weekday afternoons. But it is unclear how much children's programming will remain under plans to rebrand it BBC Radio 4 Extra. BBC Radio 4 axed its only children's show, Go4it, last year.

Caroline Thomson, the BBC's chief operating officer, last year admitted the BBC may have made a mistake by failing to launch a radio station aimed at children.

Fun Kids, which is owned by London-based digital media company Folder Media, launched five years ago and broadcasts on digital audio broadcasting (DAB) in London and online.

Gregory Watson, the Fun Kids managing director, said: "Fun Kids and the current CBeebies Radio content on BBC Radio 7 complement each other.

"Partnership would enable the BBC and Fun Kids to provide a wider choice of programming to children of all ages, across the UK, and help encourage more children to make radio part of their everyday lives."

Watson added there was a precedent for a BBC-commercial tie-up in television, where the corporation's commercial arm BBC Worldwide is joint owner, with Virgin Media, of Dave parent company UKTV. He said the BBC would be free to oversee its own programming on Fun Kids, using either current CBeebies shows or older archive material.

The BBC Trust is currently overseeing a service review of three of the BBC's national radio networks, Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio 7.

By John Plunkett

Source:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/16/childrens-radio-bbc-fun-kids