Evening all

There'll be more than one cocked eyebrow at some established radio indies today. The pleasure of running the All England Local Radio Evening Show from January 7th has gone to a brand new company, Wire Free Productions, formed by Matthew Bannister and Husain Husaini (disclosure - I worked with both of them, and enjoyed it).

The tender invited bids, for a stonking £150k a year, from "all independent production companies who can clearly demonstrate relevant experience and expertise".

Andrew Robson, on attachment as Head of Local Radio Development, managed the bid process. He joined BBC Radio Newcastle from the commercial sector in 2007. His comment ? "With the combined local radio and network experience of Husain and Matthew, I'm really looking forward to building a new show in the evening that shares some of the most compelling stories from all 39 of our radio stations". Now we await Mr Robson (and David Holdsworth) revealing their chosen presenter - a task they've reserved for themselves.