Powerful pair for new radio channel: BBC names chiefs of news and sport station

(First Edition)

BBC radio's news and sports channel, due to be launched on 28 March, will be headed by Jenny Abramsky, editor of radio news and current affairs, it was announced yesterday. Her deputy will be Mike Lewis, head of radio sports and outside broadcasts.

By naming such a high-powered pair to run this experimental channel, which will replace Radio 5, the governors are reflecting how much the BBC has at stake in its success.

Along with John Birt, the director-general, Ms Abramsky was an enthusiastic supporter of the plan to turn Radio 4's long wave frequency into an all-news station. They both lost face when the governors vetoed the idea after a public outcry.

There have also been complaints, though less vociferous, about the new plan to ditch Radio 5 in favour of a hybrid news and sports service. The matter is still so sensitive that Ms Abramsky refused to answer questions about her new role yesterday, making only a formal written statement that it was 'the most exciting challenge I've ever faced' and that she would be aiming to produce 'a fresh and lively sound'.

Her first challenge will be to think of a name for the station, which will not be known as Radio 5. For the time being she and Mr Lewis will keep their other jobs as editors of all news and sport output on BBC radio. The BBC will not say how long the dual roles will continue.

Ms Abramsky, 47, has two teenage children. After being head girl at Holland Park comprehensive school in west London she graduated from the University of East Anglia and has worked for the BBC since 1969.

She edited Radio 4's Today and The World at One before being appointed editor of news and current affairs in 1987. She masterminded the 'Scud FM' news channel during the Gulf War, which sparked the idea of a permanent all-news station.

Mr Lewis, 46, joined the BBC from the London news station LBC in 1982 and was responsible for radio coverage of the Barcelona Olympics. He emphasised that the new station would be a 'partnership'. The BBC says it will recruit more than 100 journalists for the service, preferably people who are comfortable covering both hard news and sport.