BBC to launch Radio 2 spin-off with older music

The BBC has announced plans to launch a new Radio 2 spin-off station focusing on music from the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

It is one of four new radio stations the corporation intends to launch on DAB and online via BBC Sounds in an effort to attract new audiences.

Radio 1 will get a new sister station targeted at young listeners, which will play music from the last two decades.

The BBC said the stations would give people "more choice and value from the licence fee".

They will "delve deeper into specific genres and periods of music with context, curation and storytelling done in a way only the BBC can do", it added.

The stations have not yet been given names. They will be the first full BBC stations to be launched on the digital DAB network since 1Xtra, 6Music and the Asian Network in 2002.

The move risks angering commercial rivals such as Absolute, Smooth, Virgin and Heart, which already have spin-off stations focusing on specific genres or decades.

The popularity of those commercial stations in recent years reflects the splintering of the public's media habits, and listeners' desire to find a station more suited to their musical tastes.

The BBC said the cost of launching the stations would be relatively low, partly because schedules would include "existing content from BBC Sounds and our archives".

The Radio 1 spin-off will focus on music from the 2000s and 2010s, catering to the appetite from young audiences for recent nostalgia.

The station will feature "lesser heard gems" from high-profile artists alongside their more well-known tracks, and will also be used to develop new on-air and production talent, the corporation said.

The Radio 2 spin-off will provide "a distinctive take on pop nostalgia" from the 50s, 60s and 70s, the BBC said, and will feature "some of the people who shaped the cultural landscape at the time" as well as some of the station's current presenters.

It will "bring heritage artist catalogues and stories to life in a much deeper and more richly textured manner than the main mixed-genre Radio 2 schedule can allow", the corporation said.

Bosses will hope it will entice some of Radio 2's former listeners back.

Ken Bruce, Graham Norton, Chris Evans and Simon Mayo are among the presenters who have left the station in recent years, as DJs such as Vernon Kay, Scott Mills and Zoe Ball have joined.

In 2021, a new station targeted at the baby boomer generation, Boom Radio, was set up to cater to older audiences who felt increasingly turned off by the newer music and DJs.

Radio 3 will also get a new station to focus on calming classical music, aimed at helping listeners "unwind, de-stress and escape the pressures of daily life".

It will feature newly-released pieces and new compositions alongside performances of classic works. The BBC said the station would champion music by living composers including a new generation of artist-composers who receive a limited amount of airplay on other UK stations.

It will support the BBC Proms and feature content from the BBC orchestras and choirs as well as BBC Introducing acts.

Finally, the existing Radio 1 Dance station, currently available as a stream on BBC Sounds, will launch on DAB with new and enhanced content.

The expanded station will feature new commissions including programmes that develop young talent, alongside existing content.

The BBC has been sharing its plans with the audio sector and will soon open a public consultation as part of the regulatory process.

The plans will be subject to regulatory approvals, including a Public Interest Test (PIT) for the proposal to launch the DAB+ stations, a process which the BBC said it would start in the coming weeks

Lorna Clarke, director of BBC Music, said: "Our stations have captured the history of music in the UK during the past six decades for our audiences, and we now want to give them more choice from the BBC as listening habits are changing.

"Our extensions for Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 3 will allow listeners to deep-dive into more pop and classical genres and periods of music they love the most, uniquely created by the BBC."

Separately, the BBC also said it would ask for regulatory approval to tweak BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra to allow existing sports content from the BBC to be played on the station during times when there is no live sport being broadcast, instead of a short marketing trail on loop as is currently the case.