MUMBAI: On 20 January BBC Asian Network will launch a new heritage show as part of its line-up of specialist programming on Sundays.

The all-new Asian Network Gold replaces Retro Selection as the traditional Sunday classic hits show and Sanjay Sharma returns as the programme?s host. Asian Network Gold will focus on the best heritage music and gems from the station archives, including rare performances from Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan and Asian Magazine.

A public speaker and with a deep knowledge of South-Asian film, music and current affairs, Sharma has been at home on the Asian Network for more than a decade where he is the recognised specialist in heritage music with Hindi/Urdu and regional South-Asian hits from the Fifties to the present day.

He said, "I?m delighted to be back on Asian Network and to be able to share our collection of classic Bollywood, Ghazals and other South-Asian golden hits with our listeners.

"We have been digging in the Asian Network vinyl vaults and unearthed some real gems from the past that audiences won?t have heard before."

The BBC has a history of providing Asian music and entertainment, from the TV programme ?Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan? and BBC Radio Birmingham and Leicester programmes of the 1970?s, through to the emergence of BBC Asian Network in the late 1980?s. This new programme will connect directly with the Asian Network Gold Red Button TV specials. Last year?s Red Button programme reaching an audience of 790,000.

BBC Asian Network head of programmes Mark Strippel said, "We?ll be taking the audience back to a golden age when the BBC was the only source of Asian entertainment on TV and radio in Britain.

"Our listeners can expect to hear lots of exclusive BBC archive interviews and performances. Sanjay is a fantastic broadcaster and is one of the few people with the authority to provide a genuine narrative of South-Asian music across the decades."

Asian Network Gold will broadcast between on Sundays between 1-4 pm from 20 January 2013.