Commercial radio body the Radio Centre has announced that the sector is reorganising the way it produces networked programming, that is to say shows and initiatives that are shared by commercial stations that belong to competing media firms. As previously reported, the commercial radio sector is keen to collaborate on high profile events and celeb filled entertainment programmes in a bid to take on their main competitor, the BBC.
According to the Guardian, in a bid to better organise those collaborations it has been agreed that GCap, who have just taken over direct production control of commercial radio's main chart show, will look after all shared contemporary hit programming. Meanwhile the production unit at Global Radio (formerly Chrysalis) will create adult contemporary station programming, including the A-List chart show, UK Music Week and The Brit Awards, and Emap Radio will look after dancey youth type things like the Fresh 40 dance chart (though that chart show is actually made by indie production firm Somethin Else).
This is what Radio Centre chief Andrew Harrison says: "Building on the success of UK Music Week where the genre networks worked incredibly well, this is a much more coherent, nationally focused structure for our industry".