BBC Radio - coronavirus
18 March 2020 - Press releaseHi AllDecision from Pop Core Hub meeting today – all live music sessions cancelled from Wed 18th March until further notice – sessions, piano sessions, live lounges and includes Jack Saunders R1 New Wave MV 25thMarch.As you would have seen further to my email yesterday – the situation has progressed and the BBC are now advising formally a more flexible working arrangements.For the live events team this means:Live Events team members – you are considered a non-broadcast critical role and therefore from today should be working from home.Live Music team members – We have now taken the step to suspend live music sessions across the pop hub. From Wednesday (18 March) it will not be possible for external visitors and audience members to access BBC buildings unless they are essential to our broadcast output. This means all live music content will stop from tomorrow and you are now considered a non-broadcast critical role and therefore( from today if possible) but absolutely from tomorrow you should be working from home.Coronavirus Reporting FormIf you or someone you live with reports they have Coronavirus, and so is required to self-isolate please can you notify Lisa who will need to report on and record the sickness.Events going forward:As you would have seen on Bobs email we are cancelling all other events in our buildings. There is a working group to review events and activities which we will continue to feed in to.We will update you will more information when we have it.We will aim to update you further in the team meeting on Thursday 13.30 (joining information was on the email I sent over yesterday).BestRhys
Rhys HughesHead of Live Music & Events, Popular Music
Hello all, by now you should have seen the notes of the actions the BBC is taking in the face of Coronavirus from Bob Shennan and for those of you in Production a note from Graham Ellis -the commissioning teams have been in touch with our Indy teams. But please check Gateway regularly.
These are extraordinary times and many many teams behind the scenes are working around the clock to respond. These are the things you need to be aware of :
1Your health and safety is our priority
2The magic we create on air has never been MORE important -we provide news and information and relief-the radio is our trusted companion. Listeners will depend on us even more.
3Our priority is to protect those most vulnerable to the virus- on air or off air.
4Those who CAN work from home and are not in critical roles have already been asked to work from home. We've also asked teams to rotate working from home, so we build resilience should a member of the team fall ill. This reduces the number of people in the BBC buildings.
5Our studios have glass separation and we have already asked production to simplify shows and reduce numbers in broadcast teams. The studios are sanitised/cleaned more regularly.
6We have a technical plan to look at all alternatives but the vulnerable groups take priority as we don't have the capacity for all shows to come remotely. This isn't simply about getting in equipment. This work is urgent and ongoing and involves local radio who also need to stay on air. The BBC Control room needs to prioritise incoming news content
7Anyone outside the vulnerable groups can choose not to come into the BBC
8There are several daily meetings/calls where the leadership team across pop can be updated-this helps us respond to government announcements and your concerns. Cancelling the R1 one Big Weekend last week seems a long time ago already, followed by Radio 2's Palladium shows. We were able to act swiftly-so major thanks to those teams
9Personally I want to thank everyone -this is a worrying time and no single person has all the answers. It will constantly change. It is unchartered territory. I really appreciate your support at this challenging time.
Lorna Clarke, Controller
BBC Pop
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