The BBC is advertising for a new controller of BBC Radio 5 Live, following the fall-out from the Lord McAlpine Newsnight investigation which forced the previous controller, Adrian van Klaveren, to step down.
Based at MediaCityUK, the controller will report directly to Peter Salmon and take “creative, editorial and managerial responsibility” for running 5 Live.
The job specification also calls on the applicant to encourage and lead collaboration across the BBC, with an emphasis on BBC North – “playing a leading role in managing the creative and operational live of the station’s Salford base and building relationships across the broader region.”
It states specifically, that the new controller will be “based in Salford.” Van Klaveren, despite being a vocal supporter of the relocation opted not to move to the North West as it would “disrupt his children’s education,” instead he rented a flat.
The former deputy director of BBC News and controller, news production became controller of BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC 5 Live sports extra in April 2008.
He left in December last year, following the BBC Trust’s report into what happened during the Newsnight McAlpine investigation. The production team was headed by acting editor, Liz Gibbons, but van Klaveren had been seconded to oversee any coverage related to Jimmy Saville and child sexual abuse.
Van Klaveren has since been appointed editor of the Great War project at the BBC.
