Youth-chasing Radio 2 ‘not what it was’, says O’grady

RADIO 2 “is not what it was” and its quest for a younger audience makes no sense, according to Paul O’grady, who departed the station last year.

BBC bosses have cancelled longrunning shows, recruited younger presenters and insisted on less music from before the 1990s in an attempt to drive down the age of the audience.

O’grady said the policy made little sense when younger listeners are well served elsewhere.

“Radio 2 has changed – it’s not what it was. They’re trying to aim for a much younger audience, which doesn’t make sense because you’ve got Radio 1. Radio 2 was always for an older audience,” he told the Metro newspaper.

O’grady, 67, left his Radio 2 show last year after he was told to share the Sunday slot with comedian Rob Beckett.

Asked if he was disappointed by the decision, which required him to vacate the programme for 13 weeks at a time, O’grady said: “I was, because I’m a great believer in continuity.

“If you go off for 13 weeks and somebody else comes on, the listeners don’t know when you’re back on.”

Ken Bruce has followed O’grady out of the door, to be replaced in the mid-morning slot by Vernon Kay.

The 72-year-old announced last week that the BBC had brought forward his departure, meaning that his last show would be this Friday.

“I had intended fulfilling my contract until the end of March but the BBC has decided it wants me to leave earlier,” he said, adding that he was “surprised and disappointed” to be told that he could not work out his notice period.

Steve Wright, 68, has also been relieved of his afternoon slot, which has been taken over by Scott Mills.

Vanessa Feltz, 61, left her early-morning show last year, claiming that Radio 2 bosses were treating presenters and listeners alike: “Oh, we don’t need you and we don’t want you. You’re too old, you’re too staid, you’re too middle class, you’re too middle aged.”