Virgin Radio prepares for life without Evans.

Virgin Radio is facing a complete overhaul of its music policy and operational set up as it prepares for life without former owner and long-time breakfast presenter Chris Evans.

Newly-installed programme director Paul Jackson has already started tweaking the musical output, last week giving heavy rotation to non-traditional Virgin tracks such as Nelly Furtado's I'm Like A Bird and Eddy Grant's Electric Avenue. Its FM and AM services have also been rebranded as Virgin Radio London and Virgin Radio UK, with informed observers suggesting the two frequencies could eventually be given entirely separate outputs.

Ahead of any such moves, the station's presenters last week started pre-recording certain separate links for FM and AM to allow the station to broadcast simultaneously London-specific and national announcements. One source concludes this could be the first step towards separate AM and FM broadcasting which could result in individual breakfast and drivetime shows as well as different musical identities. "In London you would want a slightly more bouncy FM station representing a more cosmopolitan, more musically-aware city, whereas AM would be pitched slightly older," says the source.

The on-air rebranding came in a week which saw the SMG Radio-owned station terminating Evans' contract after he missed six breakfast programmes in a row. Virgin says he was in breach of his contract and it ...