BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music to move from Wogan House amid more cost cutting measures from the broadcaster

BBC Radio 2 is set to relocate from its current residency at Wogan House in London as part of a series of cost-cutting measures for the broadcaster. The relocation also includes 6 Music, who also call Wogan House their home of operations, alongside Bridge House MediaCity in Manchester, where BBC Children’s and Education and some BBC Sport and operations staff are based, will move to Quay House and Dock House next door.

The move is set to take place in 2024, with Radio 2 and 6 Music moving to Broadcasting House in London. The news comes alongside the BBC’s other cost-cutting announcement that local radio will shift to online news, leading to a reduced amount of local radio shows being produced in BBC regions.

Thirty nine BBC local stations across the British Isles are set to have the local content changes rolled out over the coming months, with the transition completed by the end of 2023. Over 100 jobs are being cut across the corporation’s audio business, but some existing radio staff are expected to be re-trained as online journalists.

Forty eight jobs will be lost overall, with the BBC having already scrapped regional news in Oxford and Cambridge. Earlier in the year, the BBC announced that it would stop broadcasting on BBC 4 and CBBC, with BBC News and the BBC World News service combining to become one large 24 hours news station.

The BBC’s cost cutting measures comes after the television licence fee being frozen by Nadine Dorries for the next two years, leading to the broadcaster having to save nearly £285 million deficit that the freezing caused. Speaking in May about the changes, BBC’s director-general Tim Davie said “This is our moment to build a digital-first BBC. Something genuinely new, a Reithian organisation for the digital age, a positive force for the UK and the world.

“Independent, impartial, constantly innovating and serving all. A fresh, new, global digital media organisation which has never been seen before.”

“Driven by the desire to make life and society better for our licence fee payers and customers in every corner of the UK and beyond. They want us to keep the BBC relevant and fight for something that in 2022 is more important than ever. To do that we need to evolve faster and embrace the huge shifts in the market around us.”