Sorry

Dear reader,

First, an apology. Two weeks ago, I spoke to a Genuine Straight-Up Radio 4 Insider on your behalf, and he said "Buy Moes"; I failed to pass on that intelligence.

So Balham's Mohit Bakaya becomes a key part of Team Purnell, taking the Controllership of Radio 4 despite being 52 and despite being part of the network's management team since 2008. It is, as predicted, a balanced scorecard. Yesterday's trio of top appointments also featured Jonathan Wall, the lowest paid of Mr Purnell's remaining network controllers, clearly seeing the role of Controller, Sounds as an improvement on Controller 5Live and 5Live Sports Extra. Lorna Clarke, currently Head of Production for Radio 2 and 6Music moves up to Controller BBC (Pop) Music.

Mr Purnell has made inroads on diversity in these appointments, and will be expecting his champions to follow through. Expect more diversity as Mo selects the next presenters of Any Questions ? and The News Quiz.  Expect more white male anxiety in the daytime schedule of Radio 2, where sit three presenters aged a total of 186 years.

A little more on each appointment in subsequent posts....