Mohit Bakaya

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Mohit Bakaya, Hon. FRSL (born 12 November 1964) [1] is the controller of BBC Radio 4. He joined the BBC in 1993 [2] and produced programmes such as Front Row [3] and Night Waves [4] before becoming the commissioning editor for factual in 2008. [5]

Contents

He was appointed as controller of Radio 4 in 2019, replacing Gwyneth Williams. [6]

In 2023, Bakaya was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. [7]

Early life

Mohit Bakaya was born in south west London in 1964. His father Madan was a Bollywood production manager who had moved to England in the early 1960s to promote Hindi films. Bakaya's mother Uma was a software developer for IBM; she died when he was eight. His half-brother, Samir Shah, who is 13 years older than Bakaya, shared the same mother. As of 2024, Shah is chairman of the BBC. [8]

Bakaya attended a state school in Pimlico, before reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Keble College, Oxford. [8] [1]

Career

In 1993, Bakaya was chosen by the BBC for a training scheme. He has been a producer and editor of arts programmes on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4. In 1998, he launched the Radio 4 arts magazine series Front Row. He became controller of Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra in 2019. [8]

Personal life

Bakaya's first marriage was to Josephine Ryan, an antiques dealer, with whom he has a son and daughter. Bakaya's second wife, Victoria Shepherd, is an author who was a producer with him on Radio 3's Night Waves . The couple have a son. [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 Moore, Matthew (5 March 2024). "Mohit Bakaya: 'Yes, I will scrap or change some Radio 4 programmes'". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  2. "Mohit Bakaya". bbc.com. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  3. Tobitt, Charlotte (9 July 2019). "BBC appoints new controller of Radio 4 as 5 Live chief moves to lead BBC Sounds". Press Gazette. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  4. Quirke, Antonia (13 February 2019). "Who will be the next controller of BBC Radio 4?". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  5. Perraudin, Frances (30 December 2019). "Head of Radio 4 to put focus on programmes about 'solutions'". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  6. McCall Smith, Alexander (9 July 2019). "Radio 4 will ruin itself by changing to attract younger listeners". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  7. Creamer, Ella (12 July 2023). "Royal Society of Literature aims to broaden representation as it announces 62 new fellows". The Guardian.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Stanford, Peter (1 March 2024). "Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya: 'People say we're woke – the truth is we're a mirror for Britain'". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 5 March 2024.