Wise Buddah Signs On With BBC Radio 5 live 'Drive'

Leading radio indie Wise Buddah and the Manchester based charity NOISEfestival.com have been commissioned to co-produce a series of live inserts about youth unemployment for BBC Radio 5 live’s 'Drive' show.
The 4x15-min strand was commissioned from an original idea by NOISEfestival.com charity to challenge four bright young unemployed people in the North of England to come up with ideas for getting 18-24 year-old Brits back to work.
Working closely with Radio 5 live news, Wise Buddah’s Manchester team, led by Speech Executive Jo Meek, and NOISE Project Manager Victoria Turnbull will follow the quartet as they meet 4 'mentors', all successful business leaders, who will provide advice on finding work and setting up their own businesses.
Across the next four months the four young people will also create a manifesto for improving the employment chances for people of their generation.
Funding for the inserts has come from BBC North's Creative Kicker fund, a £60,000 development pot designed to provide BBC Radio's 1, 2, 3 and 4 and 5 live with content from north of England based independent radio producers.
BBC Radio 5 live Deputy Controller and Commissioning Editor Jonathan Wall said: "This is a really creative project and is exactly what the Northern Development Fund for independent producers was designed to do. It has brought together people from outside the BBC who otherwise wouldn't have come together to share their ideas, and teamed them up with a 5 live news team that has just moved from London to Salford. We haven't done a project quite like this one before, so hopefully it will pave the way for many more in the future."
Wise Buddah Head of Content Simon Willis added: "As one of the first BBC commissions for Wise Buddah Manchester this project will allow us to grow our commitment to providing quality speech content for the BBC at Media City."
Denise Proctor NOISEfestival.com CEO said: "This documentary series is the latest project in seven years of collaboration between NOISEfestival.com and the BBC in creating development opportunities for young people struggling to land their careers."
The ambitious project starts on Drive on BBC Radio 5 live on Wednesday 15 February 2012 to coincide with the release of the latest UK unemployment figures and 5Live's 'Unemployment Debate' in Salford.
Further inserts will be broadcast when unemployment figures are released on 14 March, 18 April and 16 May.
At the same time Wise Buddah is also working on a single, one-off documentary for 5 live about the Jamaican Sprint relay team.
(LB)