You may remember I wrote a post last week about rumoured changes for BBC Radio 2, and now I have received more information which answers some of my questions.
As I posted originally, Mo Dutta announced that 30 May would be his last Saturday show on Radio 2: being the hopeful person I am, I refused to believe that this meant he is leving the station.
Whilst looking through the BBC Radio 2 shedules on the Radio Times website, I found that Richard Allinson now has 2 new shows – Saturday 3-6am and Sunday 2-5am. This is good news since Richard Allinson is a very popular broadcaster who shows good knowledge of the music he plays. Not so good news though, since it appears that Mo Dutta has left the station completely.
On Saturday mornings, a new Saturday Breakfast Show hosted by Zoe Ball will be launched (6-8am). Zoe has previously presented an early morning show on BBC Radio 1, being the first female breakfast presenter on the network in 1998. She has since broadcast on BBC Radio 2, and in 2008 and 2009 has sat in for both Ken Bruce and Dermot O` Leary. Zoe’s show’s format will include music, chat, news and reviews before Zoe hands over the reins to Brian Matthew.
As revealed in the Radio Times a couple of weeks ago, Emma Forbes also gets a new slot on Radio 2: Sundays 5-7am. However unlike the published schedule, the show starts on Sunday 7 June, not Sunday 31 May.
So: the changes are looking good, there’s nothing bad in them that I can see. The new Radio 2 controller appears to be favouring female presenters, which is a good thing because the station is very male dominated at the moment. Its just a shame Mo Dutta and Pete Mitchell have been dropped from Radio 2.
I guess Mo Dutta has left because its not practical to travel from Birmingham (where he lives and runs his own businesses) to London (where the Radio 2 studio is). Not sure why Pete Mitchell is leaving – maybe he has a show on another station?
Update 27/05/09: The official BBC confirmation on the new schedules is now available via the BBC Press Office. It has also been releaved on RadioToday.co.uk that Pete Mitchell has a new show on XFM in Manchester.
New Weekend Schedules
- Saturday 0000: Mark Lamarr
- 0300: Richard Allinson
- 0600: Zoe Ball
- 0800: Sounds of the ’60s
- 1000: Jonathan Ross
- 1300: Pick of the Pops
- 1500: Dermot O` Leary
- 1800: Going Out with Alan Carr
- 2000: Paul Gambaccini
- 2200: [DOCUMENTARY]
- 2300: Bob Harris
- Sunday 0200: Richard Allinson
- 0500: Emma Forbes
- 0700: Good Morning Sunday with Aled Jones
- 0900: Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs
- 1100: Michael Ball’s Sunday Brunch
- 1300: Elaine Paige on Sunday
- 1500: Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the ’70s
- 1700: Paul O` Grady
- 1900: Melodies for You
- 2030: Sunday Half Hour
- 2100: Russell Davies
- 2200: Malcolm Laycock
- 2300: The David Jacobs Collection
You forgot to link every single DJs name to their page!!
Standards are slipping, Fred.
You did the first Mo Dutta, and the Zoe Ball, but then you lost it.
To quote you: “the site needs consitency”.
Fix this please.
Good point, I will link to other presenter pages. Richard Allinson doesn’t have one yet, so I can’t put him in.
Yup. Mo is leaving Radio 2. I’ve had it confirmed by someone who works for them.
I’m quite saddened by it actually. His was the show I looked forward to most out of the ones I listen to. And I never got to have my tracks on ‘Auto Reverse’. Very sad news indeed.