House star and former BBC Radio 1 breakfast host to present new shows as Lamacq's Saturday night show axed in shakeup
Hugh Laurie and former BBC Radio 1 breakfast host Sara Cox will present new shows on BBC Radio 2 – but another former Radio 1 DJ, Steve Lamacq, has been dropped.
Cox, a symbol of the so-called "ladette" culture when she presented the Radio 1 breakfast show in the 1990s, will present a Saturday night series about the 1980s, beginning next month.
Laurie, the former House star who has recorded two blues albums, will front a six-part series on the blues.
Lamacq's Saturday night show, Rock College, has been axed as part of the new-look schedule on the station, which recently surged to its biggest ever audience of more than 15 million listeners.
The DJ, who presented the Evening Session on Radio 1 for nearly a decade, moved to Radio 2 in 2007 and will present a series about Britpop on the station next year. He remains on its digital sister station, 6 Music.
In other changes, Russell Davies's Sunday night show moves to Monday nights and will run for the first six months of next year (rather than all year round) and the station's two big band shows will become one, on Monday nights, with fewer new big band recordings.
Jo Whiley's weekday show, which runs from Monday to Thursday, has been extended by 30 minutes to two hours.
Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan said "difficult decisions" had to be made because of budget cuts on the station as part of the corporation's £700m initiative to find cost savings across the BBC.
"Although we have had to make difficult decisions in order to make savings in line with the rest of the BBC, I've taken this opportunity to create some new programmes and make changes to reinvigorate the Radio 2 schedule," he said.
Cox has filled in as a guest presenter on Radio 2 but it is her first regular presenting gig on the station. She joins a long list of former Radio 1 breakfast presenters on the station, including Chris Evans, Zoe Ball, Simon Mayo and Mark Radcliffe.
Cox said: "I'm completely over the moon to be hosting an 80s shindig every Saturday night on Radio 2. Dig out your lace gloves and ra-ra skirts and join me for the best music from the best decade."
Shennan added: "Sounds Of The 80s was a show waiting to happen and I'm happy to be welcoming Sara to Radio 2.
"Sara has been a regular holiday cover presenter on the network for 18 months and we know the audience have really taken to her. The show will perfectly complement two of the network's best-loved programmes, Sounds of the 60s, presented by Brian Matthew, and Sounds of the 70s, hosted by Johnnie Walker."
The Monday night big bands show has been dropped, replaced by a single two-hour show on Sunday nights.
Radio 2 head of programmes Lewis Carnie said: "I wanted to expand our big band programming but, with reduced funds across the BBC, we could no longer afford to commit to regular big band recordings.
"However, we are aware that our listeners love this kind of music, so we are giving our Sunday night audience an extended two hour session of the tunes they love from the broadest range of big band music."
Radio 2 will also mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy with a minute-by-minute three-hour reconstruction, presented by Jeremy Vine and Dermot O'Leary.
Vine said: "This will be a gripping way of following one of the last century's most cataclysmic events as it happened. I am delighted to be hosting this programme with Dermot.
"We are both fascinated with the story, and delighted to be working with the same producers who gave us the award-winning Titanic: Minute by Minute and the Dambusters anniversary programmes."
The station will also join in the BBC's 50th anniversary celebrations for Doctor Who, although details of the programmes are yet to be confirmed.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.
Hugh Laurie and former BBC Radio 1 breakfast host Sara Cox will present new shows on BBC Radio 2 – but another former Radio 1 DJ, Steve Lamacq, has been dropped.
Cox, a symbol of the so-called "ladette" culture when she presented the Radio 1 breakfast show in the 1990s, will present a Saturday night series about the 1980s, beginning next month.
Laurie, the former House star who has recorded two blues albums, will front a six-part series on the blues.
Lamacq's Saturday night show, Rock College, has been axed as part of the new-look schedule on the station, which recently surged to its biggest ever audience of more than 15 million listeners.
The DJ, who presented the Evening Session on Radio 1 for nearly a decade, moved to Radio 2 in 2007 and will present a series about Britpop on the station next year. He remains on its digital sister station, 6 Music.
In other changes, Russell Davies's Sunday night show moves to Monday nights and will run for the first six months of next year (rather than all year round) and the station's two big band shows will become one, on Monday nights, with fewer new big band recordings.
Jo Whiley's weekday show, which runs from Monday to Thursday, has been extended by 30 minutes to two hours.
Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan said "difficult decisions" had to be made because of budget cuts on the station as part of the corporation's £700m initiative to find cost savings across the BBC.
"Although we have had to make difficult decisions in order to make savings in line with the rest of the BBC, I've taken this opportunity to create some new programmes and make changes to reinvigorate the Radio 2 schedule," he said.
Cox has filled in as a guest presenter on Radio 2 but it is her first regular presenting gig on the station. She joins a long list of former Radio 1 breakfast presenters on the station, including Chris Evans, Zoe Ball, Simon Mayo and Mark Radcliffe.
Cox said: "I'm completely over the moon to be hosting an 80s shindig every Saturday night on Radio 2. Dig out your lace gloves and ra-ra skirts and join me for the best music from the best decade."
Shennan added: "Sounds Of The 80s was a show waiting to happen and I'm happy to be welcoming Sara to Radio 2.
"Sara has been a regular holiday cover presenter on the network for 18 months and we know the audience have really taken to her. The show will perfectly complement two of the network's best-loved programmes, Sounds of the 60s, presented by Brian Matthew, and Sounds of the 70s, hosted by Johnnie Walker."
The Monday night big bands show has been dropped, replaced by a single two-hour show on Sunday nights.
Radio 2 head of programmes Lewis Carnie said: "I wanted to expand our big band programming but, with reduced funds across the BBC, we could no longer afford to commit to regular big band recordings.
"However, we are aware that our listeners love this kind of music, so we are giving our Sunday night audience an extended two hour session of the tunes they love from the broadest range of big band music."
Radio 2 will also mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F Kennedy with a minute-by-minute three-hour reconstruction, presented by Jeremy Vine and Dermot O'Leary.
Vine said: "This will be a gripping way of following one of the last century's most cataclysmic events as it happened. I am delighted to be hosting this programme with Dermot.
"We are both fascinated with the story, and delighted to be working with the same producers who gave us the award-winning Titanic: Minute by Minute and the Dambusters anniversary programmes."
The station will also join in the BBC's 50th anniversary celebrations for Doctor Who, although details of the programmes are yet to be confirmed.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook Reported by guardian.co.uk 17 hours ago.