trading as wdr: Tone, Rone's on the phone...

There've probably been a few discreet exchanges before Privy Council approval of her appointment, but from today Rona Fairhead is Chairman of the BBC Trust.

She'll have been doing more homework - her appearance in front of the DCMS Select Committee last month showed she can pick up the important bits of a complex brief quickly - and perhaps she's identified some things she'll do differently to Lord Patten. I rather hope that means fewer broadcast interviews - Patten claims to have been on HardTalk more than anyone else in the programme's history, and is already edging back on Hong Kong. There'll be bids on her desk from every output, with Eddie Mair already contemplating jolly japes. Rona, let Lord Hall take the limelight - it's dangerous enough for him.

There's the inevitable BBC tours to do - but frankly, the in-tray in 180 Great Portland Street needs more of her attention. The only decision taken by the Trust in the Coyle Regency has been the ending of dedicated children's programming on Radio 4 Extra. It may have been done off-line (minutes pending), but the move, on the grounds that the average age of the audience (size not revealed) was 60 is interesting.

The much bigger pending issue is the planned closure of BBC3 as a broadcast channel, to save money, with the Executive arguing they can reach the "yoof" audience online. There've been sufficient noises from other Trustees to suspect the case hasn't been entirely made. And if you look at the hits of BBC1, already charged by the Trust with getting the average age of its audience down, you get baking and ballroom dancing, hospital dramas and hoary detective shows. The self-denying strictures on US imports don't help. The "all-encompassing music brand", lost from the network's weekly schedule since Top of the Pops moved to BBC2 in 2005, may have to do better on BBC1 to convince the Trust.

Meanwhile, Rona has declared she's keeping her shares in Pepsico and HSBC, though shedding Pearson. Maybe the Pension Fund should set up a Fairhead Tracker. Pepsico closed at $93.94 last night, ahead of announcements on Quarter 3 earnings - that's up 13% over the year. HSBC holdings trade at 634.90p in London at 0850am.