How BBC 5 live are covering the 2015 election campaign

Great Grimsby, on the eastern edge of North Lincolnshire, was the perfect place to launch BBC Radio 5 live's ambitious election coverage. Geographically, and more importantly culturally, it’s a long way from Westminster. Voters in towns like Grimsby could prove so pivotal to the outcome of the General Election.

On Tuesday morning, Nicky Campbell presented our Breakfast programme from Grimsby's fish market. The night before, he marked the occasion by ordering a giant haddock supper – complete with a controversial side order of baked beans. While mingling with the market traders, Nicky met, perhaps unsurprisingly, people with robust views on the European Union and its fishing quotas. He also learnt about the off-shore wind industry and it's investment in the area.

Today we've been in Dewsbury in West Yorkshire with Peter Allen talking to local people from the town’s diverse communities. During the coming weeks, as we countdown to polling day, we'll also be broadcasting live from a caravan park in Anglesey, a mosque in north London, a tower block in Glasgow and from a speed boat in Argyll (providing Nicky Campbell's seas legs are up to it).

We've carefully planned a series of outside broadcasts, picking what we believe are 20 key seats –all with different issues and stories to unfold. It’s a mammoth task for our small team of planners, who are directing everything from our base besides the Manchester Ship Canal in Salford. This is 5 live's biggest ever project outside a World Cup or an Olympics.

And that brings me to sport. There may be an unpredictable election on, demanding our resources and commanding our attention, but sport doesn’t stop. We’ve got to balance our brilliant plans to cover the election with a packed sporting schedule. Just this week, we have live coverage of the Masters golf, the Grand National, the Chinese Grand Prix and the Manchester derby.

It's a huge challenge for our staff but it is times like this when 5 live thrives. Everyone is mucking in. Our new golf producer is overseeing his first Masters while our previous golf producer is part of the team coordinating our election plans. Listen out for any references to politicians getting stuck in the bunker.

The next few days will bring out the best in 5 live. We’ll be delivering compelling radio, mixing the best political commentary from John Pienaar with Iain Carter commentating on Rory McIlroy’s attempt to complete a golfing grand slam. Meanwhile, Stephen Nolan will be taking a pizza and a politician to a listener’s house in Southampton and Mark Pougatch will be interviewing AP McCoy in front of a Liverpool audience on the eve of the Grand National. Now that’s variety.

We are enjoying a good run on 5 live seeing growth in listening on digital rather than medium wave which is crucial to protect 5 live for years to come. We had 300,000 live listening requests online to our Premier League commentaries on Easter Saturday. And our short clip service, 5 live In Short, is now getting over a million hits a month. We’ve just broadcast a stunning documentary, Date Me I’m Disabled, about disability and relationships made by the BBC’s disability correspondent Nikki Fox as well as specials on gaming and loneliness. Fighting Talk is live in Sheffield next month to coincide with the snooker world championship and the end of the football season.

And still to come, in a few weeks' time, what promises to be one of the most stunning pieces of radio this year. We were given unprecedented access to a heart transplant operation, interviewing the surgeons throughout and the family involved. For now though, we have 20 outside broadcasts across the UK to deliver before the Election, as well as a feast of live sport. 

Jonathan Wall is Controller, BBC Radio 5 live