11.22am: Nick Robinson is hosting the BBC's "Britain's economy - Cameron & Clegg Face the Audience" programme tonight (see 9.32am).
Big news events mean big audiences for programmes like Today, and the Radio 4 programme increased its average weekly reach to 6.69 million in the first three months of this year as the economy slipped further into recession.
His move is expected to be part of a new attempt by BBC1 to capture younger audiences with programmes designed to appeal to their sense of "cool".
Sir Michael Lyons, the BBC Trust chairman, said: "The director general presented us with a thoughtful set of proposals earlier this year in support of a clear future vision for the BBC – a vision the trust supports because it is rooted in the BBC's enduring mission to inform, educate and entertain audiences with programmes and services of high quality, originality and value.
So are presenting mass-audience science programmes and producing enormously fun science themed variety shows.
I'd be keeping a keen eye on the audience debate programmes which can easily go wrong, and especially the grandiose Wembley event close to polling day.
He may have brought in Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Motherf**er with the Hat to shake up audiences and programme printers, but he also presented Farquhar's The Beaux Stratagem.
Supporting the singer Pink for a fortnight on an American arena tour, De Martino got frustrated – the audience had programmes, he tells me, witheringly – and started improvising drum'n'bass versions of their songs, mid show, without telling White.
We're trying to hit that real passionate audience and programme stuff specifically for them".
Radio 2, along with the BBC digital station 6Music, will be the subject of the trust's fourth service review, examining audience figures, programme quality, value for money and "distinctiveness".
