BBC rows back on Radio Foyle cut proposals with promise of half-hour breakfast show and hourly news bulletins

The Breakfast Show was due to disappear from the airwaves entirely at the end of this month under the BBC’s previous proposals.

Today the BBC said there will be a new half-hour breakfast-time news programme between 8.30-9am each weekday morning which will have an exclusive focus on stories from and about the North West.

There has also been a reprieve for hourly news bulletins which were due to be scrapped.

These will now be retained until 3pm each day with extended bulletins at lunch time.

The broadcaster has also promised a significant enhancement of digital news provision from the BBC’s newsroom in Foyle.

In other changes Hugo Duncan’s week day Radio Ulster programme will be produced from the Northland Road from April 24 in addition to other off-peak programmes for audiences across the region – and beyond.

The Mark Patterson Show will move to an earlier, lunchtime slot between 12 and1.30pm on BBC Radio Foyle. Sean Coyle will remain in his afternoon slot from 3-4pm.

Ralph McLean’s specialist music programmes on BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings will come from the North West and Eve Blair’s extended late night Monday to Thursday programme between 10pm and midnight will also come from Foyle.

Caschlár, with Brian Mullen will move to a new, late Monday evening slot on Foyle between 8-10pm.

Across The Line (ATL) Introducing with Gemma Bradley will be broadcast from BBC Foyle between 6pm-7pm on Friday evenings, followed by Stephen McCauley and his brand new three-hour show from 7-10pm.

And The Mickey Bradley Record Show will air between 10pm and midnight.

Your Place and Mine with Anne Marie McAleese will continue to broadcast from Foyle from 8am-9am and it will be joined by The Culture Café in its new Sunday afternoon slot between 3-4pm.

Five new roles have been created in BBC Foyle to help deliver local and region-wide programming, including digital news services.

Adam Smyth, Interim Director, BBC Northern Ireland, says: “These schedule changes reflect our commitment to Foyle as a production centre for local and region-wide output.

"News will remain a core part of its work, focussing on stories and issues affecting BBC audiences across the whole of the North West. And there’ll be lots of additional benefits as a result of the investment that we’re making to develop digital newsgathering and output from Foyle.

“Our teams in the North West have produced many great programme strands for BBC Radio Ulster. That work continues and we expect our studios in Foyle to be busier than ever over the next few years.

“Some things are changing and we need to stay responsive to changing audience needs and everything else that’s happening in the world around us. What remains constant is our commitment to doing the best we can for the audiences we serve – nurturing talent, encouraging innovation and reflecting community and cultural life in all of its changing diversity.”

BBC boss Tim Davie brands Radio Foyle cuts ‘painful’, commits to three hours a day