BBC Scotland’s new hour-long flagship news programme is currently being piloted under the name The Nine, with journalist Glen Campbell as its main anchor.

The National has been told editors at the corporation’s headquarters north of the Border want to give the show – which will be broadcast at 9pm on the new BBC Scotland channel – a modern and “conversational” feel in a concerted bid to attract younger viewers.

Sources say filming for the pilot has been taking place in “the street”, a large open-plan space at the heart of the broadcaster’s base at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, rather than in a more formal studio setting.

“The pilots are being filmed in ‘the street’ at the BBC Scotland building as opposed to one of their studios,” one said.

“Bosses want to get away from the idea of the anchor sitting behind a desk and delivering the news. Glen will be holding a tablet and will interview guests there rather than in the studio.

“It’s about trying to achieve a more conversational look which might appeal to younger viewers.”

The source continued: “Content-wise, it will have a similar mix to BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, with a broad mix of international, UK and Scottish news seen through a Scottish perspective.”

It is understood the format and The Nine title are among the concepts being piloted. Campbell is believed to one of the anchors being considered.

The National revealed yesterday that the average age of viewers of BBC Scotland current main news programme Reporting Scotland, broadcast after the main lunchtime and evening network news programmes, is 61. The issue emerged in a submission made by the SNP to regulator Ofcom, which has been consulting on licensing the new BBC Scotland channel, due to launch next February.

Discussing the age profile, the SNP’s submission said: “We understand BBC Scotland’s 9pm flagship news programme will be aimed at a broad audience and look to attract a greater share of the younger audience.

“Achieving this is vital. With the average age of Reporting Scotland’s audience understood to be 61, this highlights just how different the style, tone and content the new channel’s news output needs to be compared to the existing BBC Scotland TV news.”

Nicola Sturgeon’s party gave the plans for a new channel a cautious welcome, but were highly critical of the corporation’s existing coverage of Scotland, saying it did not deliver on its charter’s commitment to “reflect, represent and serve” the country. It added that the new channel must address the “public purpose” concerns.

The new channel’s £32 million a year budget was also concern for the SNP which also said there was insufficient coverage given to Scotland on the network despite the appointment of a Scotland editor.

“In 2015/16, the BBC raised over £320m from the licence fee in Scotland but only spent 54.6% of this revenue on programming in Scotland,”the submission said, pointing out Wales got 95% and Northern Ireland 75%.

SNP culture spokeswoman Hannah Bardell has highlighted the fact Ireland’s main TV channel, RTE One, has a budget of more than £100m a year. A SNP source last night gave plans for the new channel and hourly news programme “a cautious optimism”.

Labour welcomed the BBC’s proposals for the channel and claimed the SNP’s submission promoted “nationalist grievance”.

A BBC spokesman said: “We’ve done some early pilots and we’re continuing to work on the shape, style and content of the planned programme. Details will be released in due course once they’ve been confirmed.”