BBC Radio Merseyside has announced a number of programming changes as the station plans how best it should approach the Capital of Culture year.
The station is keen to play a central role in the anticipated year-long celebrations and intends to give more prominence to the various cultural activities that will be taking place throughout the city next year.
BBC Merseyside, with over 341,000 listeners and a local market share of 15.9% is one of the Beeb’s biggest local radio success stories.
Station bosses say the programme changes reflect the views of listeners after an open forum was held to ask listeners how they thought the station could best ‘capture the essence’ of Capital of Culture 2008.
Claire Hamilton, who currently presents a two hour arts and culture show on Sunday afternoons, will host a new drive time show starting at the end of September. The new daily programme, from 5 to 7pm, will highlight Capital of Culture events taking place as well as news. The show will also start with a dedicated 5pm news round-up with the day’s top cultural news stories, along with interviews and features with the personalities involved. Hamilton began presenting Merseyside Tonight in 2004.
McDermott
The current drive time presenter Linda McDermott will, from 1 October, be presenting a new late night lifestyle and entertainment programme from 10 pm to 1am each week night. As part of the programme, McDermott will host a green room event once a month at the station’s live performance space in Hanover St.
In other separate changes, the station's news editor, Andy Ball, takes over as the permanent host of the Saturday morning breakfast programme from 1 September while Tony Snell and Sean Styles start their respective new breakfast and mid-morning shows today.
Acting managing editor of BBC Radio Merseyside, Phil Roberts, said: "The team here at BBC Radio Merseyside is well prepared for the Capital of Culture. These schedule changes put us in the best position to cover the main events next year as well as giving our listeners an interesting insight into the heart of what will be going on in and around the city.”
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