Whilst the commercial radio industry is no stranger to renaming stations, it doesn't happen too often at the BBC. But as of this week, digital service BBC 7 is known as Radio 7.
The addition of the word Radio in the title is, so says the BBC, to help people realise it is actually a radio station and not a television station.
However, RadioToday.co.uk has learnt that BBC Local Radio is about to do exactly the opposite with a new brand identity launching shortly, where every radio station logo will be re-modeled to exclude the word 'radio'. Now that's progress.
Back to BBC Radio 7, and Mary Kalemkerian, head of programmes for network, says: "BBC 7 was originally chosen to emphasise that the station was available on several platforms – the internet and digital television, in addition to DAB radio, and so the word 'radio' was omitted.
"However, BBC 7 is sometimes perceived as a television channel, following on from the launches of BBC Three and BBC Four.
"As many regular listeners already refer to the station as Radio 7, it seemed the right decision to incorporate the magic word ‘radio'."
