Simon Mayo blasts the BBC and says: I thought I’d be at Radio 2 till I was 94
SIMON MAYO today reveals how BBC mismanagement sparked his departure from Radio 2.
Despite attracting six million listeners a day as solo presenter of Drivetime, Mayo, 60, was told he would be co-hosting the show with Jo Whiley.
The partnership was a ratings flop and they were axed, with Mayo then leaving Radio 2.
Speaking for the first time about his exit in today’s Event magazine, the broadcaster admits to being deeply hurt when Lewis Carnie, boss of Radio 2, didn’t have the decency to tell him face to face about the new arrangement.
Mayo recalls: ‘He goes to my agent, then my agent rings up and says, “Lewis says you’ve got to have a co-presenter.” And I said, “Oh, really?”.’
Mayo says. ‘It was not how I imagined the end of my career at Radio 2 would work out! I certainly had no intention of going anywhere. I had thought I would stay there until I was 94, then retire and drop dead. But it didn’t work out like that, so it was an uncomfortable period.
‘They thought it would make the network more contemporary. They made a mistake.’
Mayo, who launches classical radio station Scala next month, joined BBC Radio in 1982 aged 24 and was named Radio Broadcaster of the Year at the Broadcasting Guild Awards in 2008.
That year he also lifted the title Speech Broadcaster of the Year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.
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