Heidi Dawson, the Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live has been named BBC Head of Salford.
The role means that Dawson will become an “internal figurehead” as part of the BBC’s Across the UK intiative.
“I’ve worked at our Salford base since it opened in 2011 and it’s still just as exciting to me,” she explained.
“There’s a special North West energy, creativity and authenticity that drives the teams here and I am looking forward to seeing how we harness that further to work even better together.”
She takes up the position in addition to her BBC Radio 5 Live job.
While the BBC has announced cutbacks at Media City, including its plans to leave Bridge House – currently the home of BBC Children’s and Education, it continues to move more production to Salford.
BBC business news teams are now based at Media City, with BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 3 and 6 Music all increasing their presence there.
The corporation stated that the Head of Salford role reinforced its commitment to Media City. Dawson will be supported by a new internal leadership team to ensure the area “continues to be a vibrant and creative hub of content production for both existing and new talent to develop.”
In 2019 the BBC scrapped the Director of the North role, which had been held by Peter Salmon and Alice Webb. At the time it said that it was because Helen Thomas, BBC Director, England was based in the North.
