Steve Wright is to leave his BBC Radio 2 weekday show after almost 24 years after the station boss told him he wanted to do “something different” with the afternoon slot.
The show will end in the autumn, the BBC has confirmed, with Radio 1’s Scott Mills taking over.
Wright, 67, announced his departure live on Friday and said he would remain at the BBC to work on other projects, including a podcast series.
He told listeners: “At the start of this year my friend and boss Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said she wanted to do something different in the afternoons. I have now hosted this program for 24 years on Radio 2 and how can I complain?
“The support and creative freedom I’m given is fantastic at Radio 2 and I really can’t hold the slot forever, so let’s give someone else a chance.”
He added: “The great news is onwards and upwards. I’m staying at the BBC and radio to do some very exciting brand new digital projects and develop new podcasts, some of which will actually include elements of that Steve Wright program in the afternoon.
“Anyway, everything will become clear in the next few months because we’re staying on this program until the fall.”
Fans will still be able to hear him present Steve Wright’s Sunday Love Songs on the same station.
Steve Wright Afternoons began on Radio 2 in 1999, reviving a show he had hosted on Radio 1 from 1981 to 1993.
Mills, who Wright described as “brilliant and versatile”, will leave Radio 1 to take up the slot and will no longer host his Saturday morning show on Radio 5 Live. The new show will be an hour shorter from 2pm to 4pm, with Sarah Cox’s show extended by an hour.
“I really can’t believe I’ll be calling Radio 2 my new home,” Mills said. “I am more than excited to join the team.”
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