91Èȱ¬

91Èȱ¬ Radio 2 and 91Èȱ¬ 6 Music today announce details of their debut appearance at the Latitude festival in July.

The Latitude festival is an eclectic blend of music, arts and comedy, and both networks will broadcast a selection of live programmes giving festival-goers the chance to interact with key arts and culture presenters.

With a focus on the music, Radio 2 and 6 Music join festival regular 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 at the four-day event from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 July in Southwold, Suffolk.

Radio 4 is at Latitude for the fourth year with five shows featuring a mix of award-winning comedy and specially-commissioned programmes.

Jeff Smith, Head of Music, Radio 2, says: "Taking Radio 2 and 6 Music to Latitude demonstrates the continued commitment to bringing the best of live music and events to our audiences.

"It is important to get out and connect with our listeners around the country and Latitude represents a great opportunity for this – the broad range of music and varied arts and culture elements lend themselves well to our audience and to coverage in our programming.

"In addition, Radio 2's lead focus on the music will complement the Latitude output of Radio 4."

Top names appearing at Latitude 2009 include The Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Editors, Gossip, Little Boots, Phoenix, Thom Yorke, Bat for Lashes and Newton Faulkner.

Mark Thomas, Ed Byrne and Jo Brand headline the comedy arena and the festival also features some of the biggest entertainers in literature, poetry and cabaret.

Radio 2 kicks off the proceedings with Stuart Maconie broadcasting live from the festival on the Thursday from 8.00pm. He'll be interviewing Little Boots plus other big names as they arrive for the festival.

Claudia Winkleman, who joined Radio 2 last autumn, takes her weekly arts show on the road for the first time. She will be broadcasting live from the 91Èȱ¬ Radio Arena on Friday night with an audience of 300 festival goers and lots of audience participation with her guests, including Latitude creator and director Melvin Benn.

On Friday night, Dermot O'Leary will record a special Radio 2 Introduces performance from burgeoning star Elviin, in the 91Èȱ¬ Radio Arena with a live audience. This will then go out as part of his show on Saturday afternoon, along with chats and performances from some of the biggest and most interesting music names at the festival.

Radio 2 Introduces is a regular part of Dermot's show where he hand picks a hot new artist to feature on the programme and the Radio 2 playlist. Past vocalists have included Adele, Duffy and, more recently, Pixie Lott, Paloma Faith and Daniel Merriweather.

A special edition of The Great British Songbook Masterclass will be recorded on Saturday evening from the Literary Arena for broadcast as part of Janice Long's show (Monday, 12.00midnight-3.00am).

Award-winning songwriter and producer Eg White (writer of Chasing Pavements by Adele, Leave Right Now by Will Young and Warwick Avenue by Duffy) will play one of his songs and invite the audience to deconstruct the piece of music and lyrics and discuss its structure and influence. The audience will then be asked to reconstruct the song and perform it.

Janice will also be having 'campfire' chats across the weekend with artists and musicians to be broadcast in her show in the early hours of Monday.

Spaces at the Radio 2 events in the 91Èȱ¬ Radio Arena are available on a first-come first-served basis.

6 Music launches Latitude live on Friday with Steve Lamacq as he chats to live guests and plays hand-picked performances.

On Sunday a special edition of The Music Week is presented by Julie Cullen live from the site with Matt Everitt in the London studio featuring interviews from top festival names, all the music news and a look back over the four days of performance.

Radio 4 has five shows recording in front of festival audiences – a mix of old favourites and new specially-commissioned output for Latitude.

Festival early birds and comedy lovers can watch the award-winning team of Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis, Marcus Brigstocke, Mitch Benn, Jon Holmes and Laura Shavin record the week's edition of the topical comedy The Now Show on Thursday night. It will be broadcast the next day.

On Friday, Stories With Latitude! features a montage of stories written especially for Radio 4 at Latitude and read by their authors – award-wining novelist Matt Thorne, Emma Kennedy and Stephen K Amos. The programme will broadcast on Radio 4 the following week.

On Saturday Clive Anderson returns to Latitude with Loose Ends for a mix of live music, stand-up comedy and conversation. He will be joined by guests including comedian Seann Walsh and Janeane Garofalo. The show will broadcast later the same evening.

Stuart Maconie (Saturday) and Vivienne Westwood (Sunday) share their favourite passages from literature in two recordings of With Great Pleasure. Joining Vivienne to read her selection will be actor David Morrissey (broadcast date to be announced).

And, finally, to finish off a busy day, award-winning comedian Adam Hills hosts 4 In A Field featuring the best of the festival's comedy including Stephen K Amos and Rob Rouse, recorded for broadcast the following Wednesday.

All Radio 4 shows are ticketed. Free tickets are available on a first-come first-served basis, via the Latitude website and not available on site.

In addition, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 5 Live's Gabby Logan brings her popular Sunday morning show live from the festival with her usual mix of topical chat, combined with a flavour of the festival, and a look at some of the stories of the weekend. Anarchic comedy sketch group Pappy's Fun Club will be dropping by with their take on a weekend at the festival, and comedienne Zoe Lyons will be casting her eye over the week's events as News v Sport goes to Latitude.

The website bbc.co.uk/latitude will feature broadcast and line-up information, feeding out to the respective sites of the networks.

Radio 2's website, bbc.co.uk/radio2, will feature extensive content including pictures, videos, and exclusive material plus behind-the-scenes video with Claudia Winkleman and Dermot O'Leary. Claudia Winkleman will be Twittering her personal experience from the whole weekend – twitter.com/ClaudiaWinkle – and Radio 2 will be Twittering on behalf of the network as a whole – twitter.com/91Èȱ¬_Radio_2.

Broadcast schedule

Please note all details are subject to change.

91Èȱ¬ Radio 2

The Radcliffe & Maconie Show: Live, Thursday 16 July, 8.00-10.00pm
Dermot O'Leary: recording, Friday 17 July, 8.00-8.45pm and Live, Saturday 18 July, 3.00-6.00pm
Claudia Winkleman's Arts Show: Live, Friday 17 July, 10.00pm-12.00midnight
Janice Long: recording throughout the Festival, broadcast Monday 20 July, 12.00midnight-3.00am

91Èȱ¬ Radio 4

The Now Show: recording, Thursday 16 July, 7.00-8.30pm, broadcast Friday 17 July, 6.30-7.00pm (repeat Saturday 18 July, 12.30pm)
Stories With Latitude!: recording, Friday 17 July, 12.30-1.45pm, broadcast Tuesday 21 & Wednesday 22 July, 3.30pm
Loose Ends: recording, Saturday 18 July, 11.00am-12.00noon, broadcast Saturday 18 July, 6.15pm
With Great Pleasure: recording, Saturday 18 July, 1.45-2.45pm and Sunday 19 July, 1.00-2.00pm, broadcast to be confirmed
4 In A Field: recording, Saturday 18 July, 4.00-5.00pm, broadcast Wednesday 22 July, 6.30pm

91Èȱ¬ Radio 5 Live

The Gabby Logan Show: Live, Sunday 19 July, 10.00am-12.00noon

91Èȱ¬ 6 Music

Steve Lamacq: Live, Friday 17 July, 4.00-7.00pm
The Music Week: Live, Sunday 19 July, 1.00-2.00pm.

LW