Mayo with strings

The news that Bauer are creating a new classical (but fun) radio station, to be called Scala, built around Simon Mayo, was a well-kept secret.

It's going to replace pop station Heat in the Bauer DAB portfolio. Heat was launched in 2003, and currently attracts 638,000 listeners a week - down from a peak close to 1m. You may not have heard of its jocks - Emily Segal, Alex Duffy and Jordan Lee - who will, from March 4th, be available online.

The Bauer strategy is bold. They've recently acquired Planet Rock and Jazz FM. I'm guessing they've looked at two things - a Radio 2 audience that might be ready to stray from a line-up that now screams "80s", and a wider audience bored with the preparation needed for downloading podcasts and streaming on long regular car journeys.

So think of it as Radio 2 with Instrumentals, rather than Classic FM Lite. Simon Mayo, running from 10am to 1pm is up against a pretty robotic part of the Classic schedule, and if he can mix books, films and games, with Star Wars, Albatross, Also Sprach Zarathustra etc from the wheels of steel, he might bring a healthy 500k of his 6m Radio 2 listeners across. Another star name in the schedule might be useful. The team photo from Scala, with Goldie photo-shopped in as a weekend host, suggests a state of flux.

One trick they may have missed is the names. Presumably we're meant to cross-associate La Scala Milan, with Scala, the King's Cross cinema beloved of Mark Kermode. Presumably Essoldo and Regal didn't tickle the focus groups.

But Scala is irritatingly way down the alphabet for those of us on old-tuning DAB sets.

Allegro may be permanently damaged by British Leyland, but surely Andante was worth a try ?