Cox promoted to drivetime after Mayo-whiley debacle
SARA COX will take over the drivetime show on BBC Radio 2 when Simon Mayo departs.
Cox, who presents a show on the station between 10pm-midnight, Monday to Thursday, will be promoted to the popular 5-7pm slot.
Mayo announced last week that he would be leaving Radio 2 in the new year, after controversy earlier this year about the decision to relaunch the show with a co-presenter, Jo Whiley, a move that critics said was driven by a desire to give women more top slots.
An online petition, called “Bring back Simon Mayo and the dream team”, gathered more than 10,000 signatures, and Mayo admitted that the upheaval had been “difficult and upsetting”.
Within weeks of the relaunch the BBC was forced to issue a response, asking fans to let the show “settle” and to “give it a chance”. Lewis Carnie, the Radio 2 controller, pledged changes to the format, insisting “no show ends up where it starts”.
Now, Cox, who has been a presenter at the BBC for almost two decades, will take over the show, while Whiley will launch a new programme, broadcast between 7-9pm, Monday to Thursday.
Cox said: “I’ve been proud to be part of the Radio 2 family for a few years now and the opportunity to present such a big show as drivetime – playing fantastic music and hopefully making people smile as they cook tea or head home after a day’s graft – is the icing on what is already a very brilliant cake. I’m beyond chuffed to be given this role and, to directly quote my mum on hearing the good news, it is indeed ‘fandabbyruddydozy’.”
Mr Carnie said: “Sara is hugely popular with the Radio 2 audience and I have every confidence that she’ll make the new drivetime show her very own.”
The new-look schedule for Radio 2 will also include Zoe Ball taking over the breakfast show from Chris Evans.
Mr Carnie said: “With Zoe Ball at Breakfast and Jo Whiley from 7-9pm each weekday, 2019 looks to be an extremely exciting year for Radio 2.”