BBC Radio 4 Extra

Broadcast area	United Kingdom – national
Frequency	DAB: 12B Freeview: 708 Freesat: 708 Sky (UK only): 0131 Virgin Media: 910 TalkTalk TV: 633 UPC Ireland: 929
First air date	15 December 2002 (as BBC7) 2 April 2011 (as BBC Radio 4 Extra)
Format	Comedy, Drama, and Children's programming
Audience share	0.8% ending June Sister Stations = BBC Radio 4 (December 2009, [1])
Owner	BBC
Webcast	eAAC+ AAC
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/radio4extra

BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment. The station relaunched as BBC Radio 4 Extra on 2 April 2011 to bring the station closer to its sister station, BBC Radio 4.^[1]

The station was launched as BBC7 in December 2002 to enable the contents of the BBC Sound Archive to be broadcast. Since rebranding it also features extended versions of established programmes from Radio 4. The station was the second most listened to BBC digital radio station in the second quarter of 2010, with an audience of 949,000 and a 13.8% year-on-year rise in its audience.^[2]

The station can be heard worldwide on the Internet, across northern Europe via the Astra 2A satellite (including via Freesat and Sky), and in the UK on DAB digital radio, cable television (including Virgin Media), IPTV and Freeview digital terrestrial television.

History[link]

The station, originally codenamed "Network Z", was launched by Paul Merton at 20:00 on 15 December 2002 in a simulcast with BBC Radio 4.^[3]

As a speech network, BBC 7—as it was initially branded to reflect the fact that the station was available on the internet, digital television, and DAB radio^[4]—carried no news, with the exception of a weekday 16:55 bulletin aimed at younger listeners presented by the Newsround team. Until January 2010 each of the station's continuity announcers was associated with themed blocks of programming and were promoted as personalities and presenters in their own right; subsequently Radio 7 adopted a more traditional continuity format using one presenter to announce every programme throughout the day. As Radio 7, regular presenters included Penny Haslam, Helen Aitken, Kerry McCarthy, Wes Butters, Jim Lee, Joanna Pinnock, Alex Riley and Michaela Saunders.^[5] Because of the station's archive nature the station was scheduled, produced and researched by a team of 17 people, excluding presenters.^[3]

The station won the Sony Radio Academy Award for Station Sound in 2003, was nominated for the Promo Award in 2004, and in 2005 received a Silver for the Short-Form award, plus nominations in the Speech Award and Digital Terrestrial Station Of The Year Award.

On 4 October 2008, BBC 7 was renamed BBC Radio 7 bringing it in line with other BBC Radio branding.^[4]

In February 2010 Radio 7 was reported as one of the few digital radio stations to show consistent growth in its audience, winning an audience of 931,000 listeners, up 5.3% on the previous quarter and 9.5% year on year.^[7] The station's listening share saw 20.0% growth, year-on-year, in the 12 months to March 2010.^[8]

Rebranding to BBC Radio 4 Extra[link]

On 2 March 2010 the BBC's management announced a proposal to substantially change the station, which essentially repeated programmes drawn from the BBC Sound Archive, so that it would also provide content based on current Radio 4 shows. The station would then be renamed "Radio 4 Extra".^[9] On 3 June 2010 the BBC Trust opened a public consultation on the proposal to change the station and in February 2011 the proposed changes were approved.^[10][11] The station relaunched as BBC Radio 4 Extra on Saturday 2 April 2011.^[12]

Although the station is essentially a rebranding of Radio 7, its content has been brought further in line with its sister station, BBC Radio 4, and new additions to its schedule include extended versions of established Radio 4 programmes such as The Now Show, The News Quiz and Desert Island Discs. The archives of the last of these are also broadcast as Desert Island Discs Revisited. Another new addition is Ambridge Extra, a more youth-orientated spin-off of the long-running radio soap The Archers.^[13] However, most of the station's content remains archive material—some of it newly discovered, such as the original Dick Barton Special Agent and early episodes of The Goon Show. The hours of children's programming have been reduced, with the cancellation of the morning "CBeebies Radio" strand, replaced by extra comedy broadcasts.

Gwyneth Williams, controller of BBC Radio 4 and 7 stated in a press release that "by adding some inviting new programmes and variations of some old favourites, we will encourage more listeners to find and enjoy what this imaginative digital station has to offer."^[13] Tim Davie, Head of BBC Audio & Music, noted that "the vast majority of 4 Extra will remain archive" and suggested that the station would retain the same budget as its predecessor.^[14]

Programming[link]

Programmes previously qualified for broadcast on Radio 7 if they were either three years old or more, or if they had previously been broadcast twice on their original station. Since rebranding, the station is now broadcasting more recent Radio 4 material. However, both Radio 7 and 4 Extra have commissioned original programmes.

The schedule spans the decades, from The Goon Show (1950s) and Round the Horne (1960s), through Radio 2 favourites like The News Huddlines, Castle's On The Air and Listen to Les to recent Radio 4 shows such as Little Britain and Dead Ringers. There is also speculative fiction of various kinds, science fiction, fantasy or horror seven days a week in a regular slot called The 7th Dimension which is broadcast on twice a day, at 18:00 and midnight. This slot regularly features a series of original Doctor Who audio dramas, starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.

The station's remit requires it to carry children's programming which, since the station's launch, has come in various forms including The Little Toe Radio Show, aimed at younger children and consisting of short serials, stories and rhymes and The Big Toe Radio Show which featured phone-ins and quizzes as well as stories intended for the 8+ age group. The Little Toe was later rebranded to CBeebies Radio. The audience of children between 4 and 14 listening to these programmes was reported to be just 25,000 and in February 2011 the BBC Trust approved a reduction in annual hours dedicated to children from 1400 to 350.^[11][15]

The station has broadcast some original programming. Newsjack is a topical news sketch show in the spirit of Radio 4's late Week Ending which encourages contributions from listeners. Spanking New on Seven was a stand-up comedy programme, and they have broadcast the BBC New Comedy Competition, a competition for new stand up comedians. People who have taken part in BBC comedy competitions have gone on to have their own series on Radio 7, such as John-Luke Roberts with Spats and Miriam Elia with A Series of Psychotic Episodes. The Mitch Benn Music Show features comedy songs introduced by Mitch Benn. Colin and Fergus' Digi Radio is a comedy sketch show which ran for two series in 2005–2006. Serious About Comedy was a weekly show, now decommissioned, presented by Robin Ince where comedians and comedy critics discuss comedy television, radio, DVDs, and films from the last week. Tilt is a satirical sketch show which looks at the week's news of views other than the norm. Knocker is a sitcom about a market researcher, written by and starring Neil Edmond.

The flagship comedy section on the station is The Comedy Club. This is hosted by Arthur Smith on Radio 4 Extra, with occasional relief presenter Andi Osho. ^[14] On Radio 7 this slot was fronted by Alex Riley (Monday to Thursday) and Phil Williams (Friday and Sunday), who joined in January 2010. Pitched as "two hours of contemporary comedy", it is broadcast from 22:00 to midnight Sunday to Friday. Comedy that has previously been commercially available as CDs on the Laughing Stock label is also broadcast.

Science fiction programmes, such as Doctor Who, are broadcast during the network's 7th Dimension slot presented by Nicholas Briggs. Some programmes in this slot are from North America such as The Twilight Zone. Other North American series include Garrison Keillor's Radio Show from the U.S. and Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe from Canada.

List of original Radio 7 programmes[link]

While most of the shows on Radio 7 were repeats, original programming included:

List of original Radio 4 Extra programmes[link]

The following are original programmes made for BBC Radio 4 Extra.

See also[link]

• List of BBC radio stations

References[link]

External links[link]

• BBC Radio 4 Extra at BBC Online
• BBC Radio 7 at BBC Online

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