Local radio presenter and broadcaster Paul Stainton is quitting the mid morning show and leaving BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to concentrate on his media and communications company.
Paul will announce his departure at the start of his three-hour show tomorrow at 9am but his last day on air will be September 29.
“After 10 years of laughter, tears and joy I have reluctantly decided to hang up my headphones at BBC Radio Cambridgeshire,” he said.
“Instead I will concentrate in the future on my burgeoning media and communications company, ps media, which is taking up increasing amounts of my time.”
He said: “It was a very difficult decision to make, to give up something that you absolutely love doing and I am sure that I will miss broadcasting greatly, but it is the right thing to do at this moment in time, for my family and my business.
“I leave the BBC with my head held high and a tear in my eye, extremely proud of the amazing things that I, and the people that I worked with, have achieved in the past decade.”
Paul said: “I only came back to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to manage the Peterborough office and pass on my knowledge, skills and experience to a younger generation – I like to think that I have done that and empowered and inspired others to do the same.
“The last ten years have absolutely flown by, and in that time, we have built record audiences and won awards; doubling the listeners to the Peterborough breakfast show and increasing the audience, when we went county wide at breakfast, to over eighty thousand listeners!
“Even as I walk away, ‘The BIG Conversation’ remains the most listened to show on this radio station.”
Paul’s BIG Conversation has been one of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s most listened to programmes with a daily audience of up to 55,000.
“All that phenomenal success is not just down to me,” he said. “I am nothing without the many talented people that I have worked with – in particular, Ben Stevenson, who was there at the start and will be there at the end, an integral part of what has been a very special ride.
“I will take away many great memories of the fantastic radio we have created together.”
He said not only would he miss “the incredible people” he’s worked with but would miss most the listeners and especially those he had interviewed and “friends I have made and folks I have shared a joke with on air – it has been a joy.
“It will be strange for me at first but it is time for a new challenge and a new beginning, I want to focus on the positive and work in a creative and inspiring environment.”
It is thought that the Radio Cambridgeshire Drive Time presenter Chris Mann will switch to the mid-morning slot.
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