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BBC Asian Network
Broadcast area	UK - National
First air date	1976 BBC Radio Leicester show 1988 as The Asian Network - BBC Radio Leicester & BBC WM 1996 as separate channel on AM 2002 Nationally on DAB
Frequency	MW: Various (Restricted Coverage) DAB: 12B Freeview: 709 Virgin Media: 912 Live Stream Real/WM
Format	South Asian orientated
Owner	BBC
Website	www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork

The BBC Asian Network is a BBC national radio station orientated towards British Asian life, culture and music in the UK and other topics from a British Asian perspective aimed at the under 35's from that community but aiming for a broader appeal among all interested in British Asian life whether Asian or not regardless of age.

Based in St Nicholas Place, Leicester, England with programmes also coming from Mailbox studios at BBC Birmingham and occasionally BBC Television Centre, London; it broadcasts nationally on DAB and digital TV via satellite, cable and Freeview; locally on AM in parts of the Midlands 24 hours a day and sometimes in some other parts of England locally: How to Listen.

In more recent years online streaming and Listen Again options have been introduced on the main site for many of the station's programmes, however due to the music content of shows on the BBC Asian Network podcasting programmes has so far not been a viable option for copyright reasons.

The BBC Asian Life website has developed as an online extension of the BBC Asian Network providing links to TV & radio programmes and web content relating to matters of interest to British South Asian communities.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 BBC Asian Network goes national 1.3 2006 schedule changes 2 Programmes and presenters 2.1 Current programmes sharing presenter names 2.2 Other programmes 2.3 Current programme staff 2.3.1 Presenters 2.3.2 Reporters 2.4 Former presenters 3 External links

In 1977 BBC Radio Leicester, in recognition of the growth of the importance and size of the South Asian population in Leicester, introduced a daily show aimed primarily at that community in the city; its popularity was remarkable, beyond anything anticipated, at one point the audience consisted of 67 per cent of the South Asian community in Leicester. In 1979, BBC WM, the BBC radio station for the Midlands, followed Leicester's lead and introduced a similar daily show.

By 1988, plans had been laid for shared South Asian programmes across the Midlands, on the AM frequencies of Radio Leicester and BBC WM, and on 30 October 1988 The Asian Network was launched on BBC WM and BBC Radio Leicester with a combined output of 70 hours per week.

In 1996 the station was relaunched as The BBC Asian Network with its own AM Frequencies in the Midlands.

By 2000, the station's output had shifted focus from the Midlands to the UK as a whole, and the station became a truly national network on Monday 28 October 2002 when it was relaunched for the DAB Digital Radio system.

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' .

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 as outlined in the following BBC Press Office Links and also see Schedules link . Markie Mark became Head of Music at the BBC Asian Network:

• The New Schedule

The BBC Asian Network features a generally regular schedule of programming in English and South Asian Languages. Many Programmes are named after the usual presenter, programmes are presented in English except where noted otherwise.

• Nikki Bedi
• Sonia Deol
• Anita Rani
• Adil Ray

• Film Cafe every Saturday which consist of Film News presented by Raj & Pablo.
• Music Programmes on the BBC Asian Network - Music in various styles and in English and in various South Asian Languages
• Regional Language Programmes on the BBC Asian Network in Mirpuri, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and in Hindi and Urdu
• Devotional Music\Sounds on the BBC Asian Network - Devotional Music in various languages on weekdays and Devotional Sounds - Islam/Hindu/Sikh on weekends in various languages.
• Saturday Sport presented by Roann Ghosh
• Silver Street
• Amanda Hussein consisting of News, Music and Entertainment presented by Amanda Hussein, which replaced Weekend Breakfast which she had also been one of the presenters on (Initially called Hot Breakfast that had been presented by successively by Nikki Bedi, Anita Rani and finally Tazeen Ahmad).
• BBC Asian Network - Special News Reports

• Adil Ray
• Amanda Hussain
• Ameet Chana
• Anita Rani
• Anwarul Hoque
• Ashwini Malhi
• Bobby Friction
• Changis Raja
• Dev Parmar
• Dipps Bhamrah
• DJ Kayper
• Foreign Beggars
• Gagan Grewal
• Kanwal Qazi
• Mentor Kolektiv
• Neelu Kalsi
• Nerm
• Nihal
• Nikki Bedi
• Pathaan
• Raj & Pablo
• Ravi Sagoo
• Ravinder Kundra
• Rozina Sini
• Sanjay Sharma
• Shawkat Hashmi
• Sonia Deol
• Zarina Khan
• Zeb Qureshi

• Mayur Bhanji
• Konnie Huq

• Navinder Bhogal
• Ray Khan
• Daljit Neer
• Anjum Rafiq - left the station on 25 February 2005 after being arrested for possession of stolen goods, subsequently convicted and sentenced.
• Aasmah Mir - more noted as a BBC Radio 5 Live Live News Reader and presenter and columnist covered one fortnight in April 2006 on what had been the Sonia Deol show from 09:00 to 12:00 during schedule changes. See Sunday Herald article on being a 2nd generation Asian.
• Sanjeet Saund
• Meera Trevedi
• Mike Allbut - former T20 presenter
• DJ Stin - former The Mix presenter

• BBC Asian Network at bbc.co.uk
• Origins of BBC Asian Network
• BBC Asian Network relaunched on DAB at bbc.co.uk