BBC Asian Network to cut regional languages

The BBC Asian Network is cutting an hour from its weekday regional language shows, to accommodate a newly extended Gagan Grewal show, from July.

Currently, the Asian Network runs language programming between 18:30 and 22:00 with the Gagan Grewal show in a hybrid of English, Hindi and Urdu. This is followed by regional language shows at 20:00 in various regional languages such as Punjabi, Mirpuri, Gujrati and Bengali.

The new schedule will extend the Gagan Grewal show by an hour to 21:00, therefore the regional languages programmes will run from 21:00 – 22:00.

A BBC spokesperson explained the reason behind the move, “Following the success of the Gagan Grewal show over the past twelve months, audiences are clearly enjoying the range of content that it offers. We are committed to delivering programming that our audiences enjoy and hope that these schedule changes will help to increase further reach amongst UK audiences.”

There are no proposed changes to the language show presenters, who will remain as Shawkat Hashmi, Neelu Kalsi, Zarina Khan, Mahesh Nathwani, Dev Parmar, Gurpreet Grewal-Santini, Jayna Shah and Sanjay Sharma.

Husain Husaini, Head of Programmes, BBC Asian Network, says, “Gagan is a popular broadcaster who, after years of presenting on the station, has built-up a dedicated audience who love his Languages show. We believe that listeners would like to hear more of the show and the variety of content that it offers, so it’s great that we can reflect this in our schedule.”

Gagan Grewal, adds, “I’m looking forward to doing what we do best for longer and really hope the audience enjoy the extended show.”

The changes come into effect on Monday 4th July.