The BBC has revealed its revised plans for a proposed Radio 2 music extension and an expanded Radio 5 Sports Extra following industry and audience feedback.

Under the new proposal for the Radio 2 extension, which has been approved by the BBC’s board before being sent to media regulator Ofcom, the BBC Sounds digital radio station will have 60% of its schedule with voice-controlled content.

There had previously been criticism from nostalgia station Boom Radio and industry body Radiocentre about the new service on BBC Sounds, before the company was asked by Ofcom to carry out market and audience analysis as part of a public interest testing process.

The Radio 2 extension station was announced in February 2024 as a soundtrack of “pop nostalgia” from the 1950s to the 1970s, drawn from work by “the people who shaped the cultural landscape at the time”.

Following responses, the latest proposals say it would have an increased volume of archive content, with 20% of the schedule coming from the BBC’s archive of recorded songs, sessions and interviews.

The station plans to play songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s, with at least 6,000 unique songs per year.

Radio 2 will also work more with the BBC’s local and national radio stations, as well as commission content from independent producers across the UK.

The online station can include an archive show every weekday for three hours, a legend show every weekday for one hour and a culture show every weekday for three hours.

It also plans to rebroadcast old episodes of Steve Wright’s former show Pick Of The Pops, which was also fronted by DJs Tony Blackburn and Alan “Fluff” Freeman and is currently presented by Gary Davies, as it celebrates its 70th birthday in October 2025 .

Bob Harris’ Sound Of The 70s, originally presented by Johnnie Walker, and Sounds Of The 60s with Blackburn would also air on the station as well as Radio 2 under the proposals.

Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s director of music, said: “Our music additions allow us to support new music, showcase British talent, revive performances from the BBC’s unrivaled archive and help audiences discover a greater breadth and range of music than is available on the market.

“The continued growth of commercial radio and global streamers has shown that there is room for multiple ways to bring genres and decades to life for audiences.

“Our plans are unique, with context, curation and storytelling done in a way that only the BBC can do, meeting the changing expectations of audiences and providing more choice for license fee payers.”

New stations previously launched on BBC Sounds include Radio 1 Anthems, drawn from the 2000s and 2010s, Radio 3 Unwind, which focuses on contemporary composers, and an expanded Radio 1 Dance, which concentrates on British artists from the genre.

In recent years, nostalgia radio stations have proliferated, including Greatest Hits Radio after former BBC Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce joined the commercial outfit.

Greatest Hits Radio was up 13% from its average of 6.6 million a year ago, according to data from research body Rajar released in October.

The updated proposals also revise the BBC’s plans for Radio 5 Sports Extra to “reduce the risk of potential market impact” on commercial radio.

It is currently a part-time station with no fixed timeslots, and when no live sport is broadcast, Radio 5 Sports Extra plays a marketing sample on a constant loop.

The proposals would see the station run from 9am to 7pm, instead of 6am to 10.30pm as originally planned, and scrap plans to simulcast wider Radio 5 Live content on Radio 5 Sports Extra which is not live sports commentary.

Heidi Dawson, controller of Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Sports Extra, said: “Our plan for Radio 5 Sports Extra allows us to better cater for underserved audiences and help them discover more of the content we already do on the BBC, without any extra spend on our budget for sports rights or hours of live broadcast

“After conducting detailed analysis and receiving feedback from the audio industry, we have reduced our plans significantly to mitigate the potential impact on the market.”