Bruce Dickinson's BBC 6 Music rock show is to be axed and Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's Radio 2 show cut to three nights a week in the latest changes to the two stations.

Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden, has presented a rock show on the digital station since it launched in 2002. It is the first 6 Music show to be axed since the BBC announced proposals to close the station at the end of next year.

Radcliffe and Maconie's award-winning weeknight show, which has been running on Radio 2 since 2007, will be cut from four to three nights a week.

Their Thursday night outing will be replaced with a new live music strand, In Concert, which previously aired on Radio 1.

The Radcliffe and Maconie Show will switch to three nights a week from 12 April. Dickinson's 6 Music show, which currently airs on a Friday evening, will finish at the end of April.

6 Music is one of two BBC digital stations, along with the Asian Network, which will be closed following BBC director general Mark Thompson's strategy review last week.

Radio 2 is also undergoing a transformation, having been instructed by the BBC Trust to put more speech content and social action programming in its daytime schedule and to reverse a drop among its older listeners.

Breakfast show host Chris Evans has been the target of listeners' ire since he replaced Sir Terry Wogan. The first official Rajar figures for Evans's new slot will not be released until May.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "The Radcliffe and Maconie show will be broadcast three nights a week to accommodate a new two-hour show, Radio 2 In Concert, on Thursday evenings. The show – which will have Mark and Stuart among its presenters – extends the network's commitment to live music and features a headline concert specially recorded for Radio 2 and a round up of the week's live music offering across the network.

"6 Music is currently reviewing the way it reflects the rock and heavy metal genres across the network and has decided to decommission the Friday Night Rock Show. The network, however, remains committed to reflecting both genres throughout the schedule as part of its core music offering. We would very much like to thank Bruce Dickinson for the hard work and commitment he has shown to 6 Music over the past eight years."

Both the Radcliffe and Maconie Show and Dickinson's 6 Music show are made by the Manchester-based independent production company Smooth Operations, which is run by John Leonard. Part of UBC Media, it also makes Radio 2's Mike Harding Folk Show and long-running comedy Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show on BBC Radio 4.

"I'm hugely disappointed but we are looking forward to other opportunities when the BBC moves [BBC Radio 5 Live] to Salford," said Leonard.

Radcliffe was named music broadcaster of the year at last year's Sony Radio Academy Awards.

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