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BBC Asian Network is a

British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Brit ...

radio station owned and operated by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has production centres at

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

The Mailbox Mailbox Birmingham (also known as The Mailbox) is a mixed-use development located within the city centre of Birmingham, England. It houses British luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols, and the BBC Birmingham studios. The scheme compr ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. The station broadcasts mainly in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, but has retained Sunday evening shows in South Asian languages. The Asian Network covers only the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

, with the rest of the continent – such as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

– not covered by the station. The station's output consists largely of music and talk programmes. On Fridays at 4:00 p.m., the station broadcasts ''The Official Asian Music Chart'', compiled by the

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

and based on sales and streams across a seven-day period. According to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was calle ...

, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 476,000 with a listening share of 0.3% as of September 2022.

History

Origins as a regional programme/station

By 1949, the BBC had introduced their first weekly

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

programme, ''Anjuman'', through the efforts of Nazir Ahmed and

Nurul Momen Nurul Momen (25 November 1908 – 16 February 1990) was a Bangladeshi playwright, educator, director, broadcast personality, academician, satirist, essayist, translator and poet.Bangla Natyashahitter Itihash, the most authoritative reference boo ...

. Momen also conducted a children's programme titled ''Kakoli''. The BBC was later joined by more

Bengalis Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the ...

such as

Fateh Lohani Fateh Lohani (1920 – 12 April 1975) was a Bangladeshi actor, film director, writer and journalist. Education Lohani passed Matriculation examination from St Mary's Cathedral Mission High School in Calcutta. He completed his IA and BA degrees f ...

and

Fazle Lohani Fazle Lohani (12 March 1929 – 30 October 1985) was a Bangladeshi journalist, television host, songwriter and film producer. He was best known for his popular Bengali-language TV news magazine show Jodi Kichhu Mone Na Koren, which aired on Bang ...

. BBC television had also broadcast an Asian news programme, ''

Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan ''Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan'' (''New Life'' (Urdu) ''New Life'' (Hindi)The title was often incorrectly translated as 'New Way, New Life') was a BBC television programme broadcast from 1968 until 1982. It was the first major programme for Hindi a ...

'', since 1968 from its studios in Birmingham; this series followed a traditional news and current affairs format. In 1976

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...

, responding to the growth of the size of the South Asian population and rising racial tension in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, introduced a daily community show called ''Six Fifteen'', aimed primarily at that community in the city. By 1977, CRE research showed that the programme regularly reached 67% of the South Asian community in Leicester. BBC Radio Leicester dominated the provision of Asian programming on BBC local radio and by 1990 was producing one third of the output. In 1989, BBC WM, the BBC radio station for the Midlands, followed Radio Leicester's lead and introduced a similar daily show as part of a new Midlands Asian Network. On 30 October 1989, The Asian Network was launched on the MW transmitters of BBC WM and

, with a combined output of 57 hours per week. This was extended to 86 hours a week in 1995 and on 4 November 1996 the station became a full-time service, on air for eighteen hours a day in Leicester and Birmingham, and was relaunched as the BBC Asian Network with programming also broadcast on the MW transmitters of stations with large Asian communities (with the exception of

BBC GLR BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the London ...

which was an FM-only station).

Station goes national

BBC Asian Network Studio The Mailbox Birmingham 20041228

In November 1999, as part of the addition of a suite of BBC and commercial radio services to the Sky Digital

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

platform, BBC Asian Network was made available to Sky viewers alongside

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales br ...

and

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

. On Monday 28 October 2002, it was relaunched for the DAB Digital Radio system, now broadcasting nationwide. In January 2006, the BBC announced that they were investing an extra £1m in the BBC Asian Network, and increasing the number of full-time staff by 30% in a bid to make British South Asian interests "a mainstream part of the corporation's output".

2006 branding and schedule changes

In April 2006, the first wave of schedule changes were introduced with further changes coming into effect on 14 May and 21 May, with weekend changes occurring from 17 June. In August 2007, the Asian Network received a new logo as part of a general re-brand of all national BBC stations. In 2009, this was re-branded again to add prominence to the Asian aspect of the logo.

Drama output until 2010

One of the most significant programmes in the Asian Network line-up was an ongoing Asian soap opera ''

Silver Street ''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community, Broadcast history It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...

'', which was first broadcast in 2004. Storylines focused on the lives of a British South Asian community in an unnamed English town, with themes that generally related to issues that affect the daily lives of British South Asians and their neighbours. Following the reduction of episode lengths to five minutes per day and continued falling listenership, on 16 November 2009 the BBC announced they would be cancelling ''Silver Street''. The last episode was broadcast in March 2010. The cancellation grew out of many criticisms of the Asian Network in the BBC Trust's Annual Report.Changes to drama on BBC Asian Network BBC Press Release
16 November 2009. ''Silver Street'' was replaced by monthly half-hour dramas and in August 2010, BBC Asian Network announced it would be launching a new drama season from 1 September 2010.

2020s

In March 2022, ''BBC Introducing on Asian Network'' with Jasmine Takhar was nominated for Best Radio Show at the Music Week Awards. The show is the first from the Asian Network to be nominated by the Music Week Awards.

Threat of closure, performance and controversies

Threat of closure

On 26 February 2010 ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' reported that Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, proposed closing the station in a bid to scale back BBC operations and allow commercial rivals more room. The proposal of closure – along with

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

– was later confirmed on 2 March. A letter was written to the BBC Trust and signed by various people – although the actual number of signatories was artificially boosted with many signing their name more than once (as both a single name and as part of different collectives). On the official Asian Network message boards, listeners advocated keeping their station at the expense of 6 Music, although the BBC Trust later rejected plans to close 6 Music and also rejected the plans to close the Asian Network. On 14 March 2011, the BBC announced it was reconsidering its plan to close the station in favour of reducing its budget by 50%.

Sliding audiences and increasing costs

In July 2009 it was revealed that the Asian Network had lost over 20% of its listeners in a single year and, per listener, was the most costly and expensive BBC radio station to operate. In 2011, the BBC ruled there would be a 46% reduction in the Asian Network's budget and a declared target of 600,000 listeners a week; with actual audience numbers only peaking at 507,000. In 2012, audience numbers fell even further; peaking at only 453,000. Even with the budget reductions, in 2013 the Asian Network had the largest budget of the BBC's digital-only radio stations at £13m; despite having the lowest audience figures by far.

's figures in 2014 showed that the Asian Network had at last briefly met the target set four years earlier, finally peaking at 619,000 listeners in Q4. However, the Asian Network was noted as being the BBC's only station – across both television and radio – whose

Appreciation Index The Audience Appreciation Index (AI) is an indicator measured from 0 to 100 of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by the B ...

measurably fell in 2014. By May 2015, the Asian Network had once again lost a substantial number of listeners, with the RAJAR reporting a peak of just 562,000 listeners – a loss of 57,000 from the previous quarter. In 2016–17, the Asian Network had the second highest cost-per-user of all the BBC's radio stations, at 3.4p per hour, the second highest budget of the BBC's digital-only radio stations at £7.5m and by far the lowest audience figures of all the BBC's stations. In 2017/18, it was noted the station not only remained as having the highest cost-per-user of all the BBC radio output, but whose costs also increased – rising from 3.4p per hour the previous year to 3.7p per hour. The audience Appreciation Index figure did not increase, remaining at 80.3; and the average length of time spent on the channel dramatically fell from 06:11 to 05:19 – the biggest fall of all of the BBC's radio stations. In 2018/19, the Asian Network's annual budget increased from £7m to £8m, but the station continued to perform poorly: population reach was down again to 1.1%, time spent on the channel per week fell again to 5:12 and an increase in cost per user per hour (up to 5p). The station's poor performance continued into 2019/20, where it was noted time spent on the channel fell dramatically again by 20% to just 4:07, while the cost per use per hour had increased up to 6p, remaining the BBC's most expensive-per-listener station. Peak audience figures plunged down to 519,000 listeners, losing 13.8% and in 2021/22, the stations audience reach fell to just 1% – the station continues to have by far the lowest audience figures and highest cost-per-user figures of all the BBC's stations.

Rotherham sex abuse scandal controversy

In 2018, the station's Head of News Arif Ansari was charged under the

Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 The Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act provides for the lifelong anonymity of the victims and alleged victims of sexual offences, by prohibiting the publishing or broadcast of ...

after a reporter named a victim of the

Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consisted of the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England from the late 1980s until the 2010s and the failure of local authorities to a ...

during a live news bulletin. In January 2019, he was cleared when a judge ruled that Ansari was not at fault and had been incorrectly told the name of the victim was a pseudonym. He was the first BBC editor to be tried under the legislation.

Notable presenters

Jassa Ahluwalia Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (born 12 September 1990) is a British actor, director and radio presenter. He acted in the BBC television series ''Some Girls'', the film ''The Whale'' and presented the Disney Junior TV show ''Art Attack''. Early life ...

* Nadia Ali *

Bobby Friction Paramdeep Sehdev () (born 21 August 1971, in Hammersmith) better known as Bobby Friction, is a DJ, television presenter and radio presenter from west London. Early life After studying Contemporary Arts at Nottingham Trent University, Friction's ...

Panjabi Hit Squad Panjabi Hit Squad are British DJs, producers and radio broadcasters for BBC Asian Network and formerly BBC 1Xtra. The group recorded several albums, including ''Desi Beats Vol 1'' with Def Jam. They have won the UK Asian Music Awards three times, ...

* Nayha *

Nikita Kanda Nikita Kanda (born 29 July 1995) is an English radio presenter and broadcaster. After joining the BBC Asian Network in 2021, she became the presenter of the ''Asian Network Breakfast'' in July 2022. In 2023, she competed in the twenty-first se ...

* Mistah Islah *

Jasmine Takhar Jasmine ( taxonomic name: ''Jasminum''; , ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are widely cultiva ...

Noreen Khan Noreen, or BID 590, was an off-line one-time tape cipher machine of British origin. Usage As well as being used by the United Kingdom, Noreen was used by Canada. It was widely used in diplomatic stations. According to the display note on a s ...

* Islah Abdur-Rahman

Former presenters

Yasser Yasser (also spelled Yaser, Yasir, or Yassir; ar, ياسر, ''Yāsir'') is an Arabic male name. Notable people with this given name * Yasir ibn Amir (died 615 C.E.) is known in the Islamic traditions as the second person in history to be martyr ...

Aasmah Mir Aasmah Saira Mir (; born 7 October 1971) is a Scottish television and radio broadcaster and journalist who currently copresents the Monday-Thursday breakfast show on Times Radio. Early life Mir was born to first-generation Pakistani immigrants ...

* Adil Ray *

Ameet Chana Ameet Chana (born 12 September 1975 in Epsom, Surrey, England) is a British-Indian actor. His most notable role is Adi Ferreira in ''EastEnders''. In May 2006 he took over presenting the Breakdown Show (Bhangra Music) on BBC Asian Network (a N ...

Anita Rani Anita Rani Nazran (born 25 October 1977), better known as Anita Rani, is an English radio and television presenter. Early life Rani was born and brought up in Bradford, West Yorkshire to a Hindu father and a Sikh mother. In an episode of ' ...

*Harpz Kaur *

DJ Kayper Kaajal Bakrania, better known by her stage name Kayper, is a Disc jockey, DJ, Record producer, producer and radio presenter from the United Kingdom. 2011–present In 2011, Kayper won "Best Club DJ" at the Brit Asia TV Music Awards. On 30 Dec ...

* Nikki Bedi *Pathaan * Murtz *

Nerm Born in Birmingham, Nerm is a DJ, music broadcaster and film fixer, a term given to someone who helps arrange everything involved in film production, from pre-production and scheduling through to editing and marketing. Nerm made first "mixes" at ...

Sonia Deol Sonia Deol is an English radio and television presenter of Indian descent. Background Deol's media career began before she left school, when at the age of 14 she presented a oneoff programme to raise money for Comic Relief on the BBC Local Radi ...

Tommy Sandhu Tommy Sandhu (born 24 November 1976) is an English disc jockey remixer, record producer and television presenter. Career Sandhu's first presenting job was with Tess Daly on ''Smash Hits TV'' for Sky One. He was also the announcer – replac ...

Nihal Arthanayake Nihal Arthanayake (born 1 June 1971) is a Sri Lankan radio and TV presenter who broadcasts on BBC Radio 5 Live. Early life Nihal Arthanayake was born on 1 June 1971, to Theravada Buddhist, Sri Lankan parents. Nihal began his involvement in ...

* Rozina Sini * Sunny and Shay *

Preeya Kalidas Preeya Kalidas (born 21 June 1980) is a British singer and actress. She played Amira Masood in the soap opera ''EastEnders'', from 2009 to 2012. She released the single "Shimmy" in July 2010, taken from her proposed debut album ''(I'm Over It) ...

*Raj and Pablo *Ashanti Omkar

References

External links

*
Origins of BBC Asian Network

BBC Asian Network relaunched on DAB
at

bbc.co.uk BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

{{Navboxes, list1= {{BBC Radio {{West Midlands radio {{Media in the United Kingdom, radio {{Freeview Asian Network Asian mass media in the United Kingdom Asian-British culture British Indian mass media British Pakistani mass media British Bangladeshi mass media World music radio stations Radio stations established in 1988 1988 establishments in the United Kingdom Radio stations in the United Kingdom