The BBC Asian Network is currently the UK's only national Asian radio station. The network went under a revamp in March 2006 with a slant towards a younger demographic.

We caught up with the Controller of the BBC Asian Network, Bob Shennan, who was behind the radical transformation. Since late 2004 Bob has had overall Managerial responsibility for the BBC Asian Network. He introduced an evolution process that has seen the Network increase its budget, appoint a new Management team and revise the station's schedule to complete its transition to a National Digital Network.

BizAsia.co.uk touched on the new sound of the Asian Network, its rival stations and the recent BBC mistrust following the phone-in scandals.

It's in the BBC's remit to look after audiences of all ages. The BBC Asian Network is the only Asian station from the BBC, should it not broadcast programming for all instead of prioritising the youth? It seems at this stage you have been sideling your older listeners and competing directly with commercial rivals by giving the Asian Network a "young" sound. What's your take on this?

The BBC Asian Network exists to serve the South Asian population of the UK. That audience is an extremely young demographic and so it makes sense to serve the majority of people who form the potential Asian Network audience.

Every radio station needs to have a distinctive and consistent tone of voice and one of our tasks has been to hone our style to make it accessible for 18-34 year olds. That said we welcome listeners of all ages from all backgrounds and from all over the UK who are interested in British Asian Music culture and opinion.

To mark the 60th Independence Day of India and Pakistan this year, the Asian Network has launched an innovative 'Asian Nation' season, which has got off to a good start - tell us about this?

Asian Nation is our take on an important pan BBC project marking the 60 years since the Independence of India and Pakistan. The project has been a huge success for the Asian network and has worked on a number of levels. We had a very interesting and widely reported poll on young Asian attitudes through our Asian nation project that played out on Monday, Our Asian Nation page on our website www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork. is a space for our listeners to share their views and insights into life as a British Asian. There are lots of fascinating stories there from listeners and our presenters reflecting how partition has effected young Asians today.

In the last month we've observed that a number of celebrities like Geeta Basra, Shaan, Alisha Chinai and Lara Dutta have been interviewed on multiple shows within days of each other. This seems uncoordinated -What would you say about this?

Our listeners will always want to hear from the major celebrities and we make no apology for having them on the Network when they are available.

Do you not feel having a huge eight hour block of Bollywood-centric programming in just the weekend is too much with your new show 'Love Bollywood'? How would you react to the enormous flak the new show has received for its sub-par content and presentation as opposed to the erstwhile 'Film Café'?

I don't recognise your comments about "flak" as we have not had any. The feedback we have had from listeners to 'Love Bollywood' has been very good. Bollywood has huge appeal to our listeners, they simply enjoy hearing the tunes from the classic films and talking about all things Bollywood - the biggest cinema industry in the world.

Since 'Love Bollywood' started on 16th June, we've had in depth guests live from the BBC's Mumbai studio every week. These are top names like actress Lara Dutta, singer and Indian Idol judge Alisha Chinai, and music composers Sajid Wajid. We've also had big name guests during our phone ins over the weeks - actor Jimmy Shergill, director Prakash Jha and Vishal from Vishal and Shekhar (huge music composers).

All the studio guests are happy to travel to the Mumbai studio because they understand our need for quality. Also, people in the industry here in the UK are also waking up to what 'Love Bollywood' stands for and we have had good feedback from them about Love Bollywood.

What was the objective of shifting 'Love Bollywood' from Birmingham to London especially when the Asian Network has only recently made such a huge investment in an edifice and infrastructure at The Mailbox? [There's nothing on the show that lends itself to warrant being in London]

The Asian Network has always operated out of London as well as Birmingham.

Recently, the BBC, as an organisation, has come under the media scanner for corruption and dishonesty. As a public broadcast service, how do you propose for patrons and license fee payers to invest faith in the Asian Network when some of your presenters have been receiving consistently bad press and word of mouth both in the media and outside and continue to be on air?

The BBC takes trust in its programming very seriously and the wider BBC issues around competitions for example are being addressed at the top of the organisation and all the way through it. Our presenters are among the finest talent in broadcasting anywhere. From the SONY gold winning Bobby Friction hugely respected and admired across the industry, and Nihal, Anita Rani, Niki Bedi and Adil Ray we have a talent roster the envy of many and with growing popularity with listeners.

Are you looking forward to the RAJAR figures to see the outcome of the changes made to your weekend and weeknight (Drive with Adil Ray) programming?

Im always looking to RAJAR figures they're an indicator of how the station is progressing but this is a long haul and we never take RAJAR alone as a sounding board for our success.

Your arch rival Sunrise Radio has announced its plans of going national soon. ZEE Radio is working on its launch as well while the popularity of a small station like Club Asia has also been increasing in Greater London. Is the Asian Network in for fiercely competitive times?

Of course we are, that is all the more reason we are in top shape going forward.

How does one explain the presence of English music on Adil Ray's show on the BBC Asian Network? What is distinctly 'Asian' about this? Should you not instead cross-promote other BBC stations like Radio 1 and 1Xtra to tune into R'n'B and Rock music genres instead of playing this sort on the Asian Network?

The essential core of the music policy on Asian Network is Asian although we know that listeners do enjoy a sprinkling of other genres of music in the mix. We serve a diverse overwhelmingly UK Asian urban audience that enjoys various types of music. We don't believe they live in a box

Can we expect the induction of new presenters in the near future? Tell us about your new signings - Noreen Khan, Jas Rao, Sonny Ji and Panjabi Hit Squad.

Noreen, Jas and Sonny are all talented new presenters that I think listeners will enjoy. PHS are more familiar to our audience and have regularly filled in for Mentor Kollective in recent months.

Does the Asian Network believe in programme producers filling in as presenters?

Some of the best presenters I have ever worked with started as Producers. Having said that the policy of Producers standing in should be used sparingly.

How do you see the Asian Network in a year from now?

I see a confident growing Asian Network serving our audience well with interesting speech, powerful journalism and a station that is breaking new musical acts and I think we are on the right track to deliver that.