New regular programmes and presenters at BBC Radio 3

There are four new regular programmes being added to the BBC Radio 3 schedule, whilst new presenters are also joining the station.

There are two new late-night shows, Night Tracks with Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Hannah Peel, and a new jazz programme.

Late Junction, to be hosted by incoming presenter Jennifer Lucy Allan along side Verity Sharp will be reduced to one show a week.

Plus, Unclassified, Radio 3’s new programme celebrating ambient and neo-classical music genres goes weekly presented by Elizabeth Alker, whilst Early Music Now, a new programme dedicated to exploring the world of contemporary Baroque performance will appear in the schedule.

BBC Radio 3 is to partner with MoMA for the first time for a landmark series ‘The Way I See It’ featuring contributions from names including Steve Martin, Roxane Gay, Margaret Cho and Zac Posen.

In Slow Radio, writer Horatio Clare travels to Greenland for the station’s most ambitious sound walk yet, and upcoming Slow Radio commissions to include the sound of rain on rooftops from around the world and a sonic journey down the River Thames from central London to the estuary.

The national station is also to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth in a year-long focus, Beethoven Unleashed, in 2020 featuring 25 editions of Composer of the Week dedicated to the composer over the course of the year.

Other special programmes include M1 Symphony: The 70th anniversary of Britain’s first motorway to be documented in an upcoming commission, combining recorded sounds and voices and a specially-commissioned score by composer Alex Woolf, performed by the BBC Philharmonic.

Early Music Now will air on Monday afternoons from 4.30 – 5pm, beginning 16 September.

Night Tracks will air Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11pm – 00.30am, and on Thursday evenings from 11 – 11.30pm, beginning on 30 September.

Unclassified will air on Thursday evenings from 11.30 – 12.30pm, beginning 3 October.

The new jazz programme will air at midnight on Saturdays, beginning 2 November.

Music Planet will move to a brand new prime weekend slot on Saturday afternoons at 4pm, beginning on 5 October.

Jazz Record Requests will move from Saturdays to Sundays from 4 – 5pm, beginning on 6 October.

Alan Davey, Controller of BBC Radio 3 said: “At Radio 3 we want to connect audiences with remarkable and adventurous music and culture and to provide nourishment for inquiring minds; from classical at our core to new ambient and experimental music, jazz, sound art, electronica, Slow Radio and our breath of arts content.”

He continued: “We want Radio 3 to be a haven where listeners can come to take time out from today’s often-frenetic world and discover something new and follow it in depth – and with that in mind I’m so excited to be announcing our new-look autumn schedule, featuring three new regular programmes, focussing on musical adventure and reflecting cutting-edge and experimental music being made across the UK and internationally. I am also looking forward to bringing audiences some of our most ambitious seasons and programmes to date; from a year of Beethoven to a partnership with MoMA in New York, an Arctic Sound Walk and the specially-commissioned M1 Symphony.”