Former BBC Radio 5 live controller Adrian van Klaveren is about to be appointed editor of the Great War project at the BBC, overseeing the corporation’s programming plans for next year’s centenary of World War I.
He lost his job in the wake of Jimmy Savile scandal with the BBC stating it would shortly move him into a senior non-news role. Jonathan Wall is currently acting controller of 5 live in Salford while the search for Van Klaveren’s replacement is concluded.
Broadcast magazine reports that the role is yet to be formally signed off.
The project will work across the BBC’s radio, TV and online platforms.
He is also likely to be working closely with the acting director of BBC Vision, Roger Mosey, who has hitherto been developing the Great War project. The project will see the BBC collaborating with other European broadcasters enabling content, opinion and ideas, from Germany and Russia for example, to be shared among the broadcasters.
Van Klaveren was appointed as Controller of 5 Live and BBC 5 Live Sports Extra in April 2008 and oversaw the relocation of 5 Live from London to its new base at Salford Quays. Although widely regarded as a great enthusiast for ‘Project North’, he personally never moved his family but divided his time between London and Salford.
He joined the BBC as a news trainee in 1983 and worked his way up through a variety of senior editorial roles on the Nine O’Clock News, Panorama, and Newsnight before taking up various management positions including head of Local Programmes for BBC West Midlands, head of BBC News gathering and – immediately prior to his 5 Live appointment – was the deputy director of BBC News and Controller News Production.
