This post was originally published on this site.
Broadcaster Amol Rajan is to leave BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, announcing he intends to launch his own company.
He will continue doing some work for the BBC away from news, including hosting quiz show University Challenge and the Radical podcast.
In a statement, Rajan said leaving Today “might be mad”, but added he was “extremely excited to jump into the great digital Narnia of the creator economy”.
It has not yet been confirmed who will replace him on the BBC’s flagship radio news programme, but the corporation said an announcement would be made “in due course”.
The BBC’s editorial rules would likely have prevented Rajan from staying on as the presenter of a news programme while also launching his own company.
Rajan has presented Today for nearly five years, having joined in March 2021.
He effectively replaced John Humphrys, who left 18 months earlier, but the programme had continued with fewer presenters during the gap.
Before joining Today, Rajan was the media editor for BBC News, and guest presented several major programmes such as The One Show and filled in for presenters on BBC Radio 2.
On Thursday, Rajan said: “The pips have sounded, and it’s time to get my coat.”
He praised the Today team as “the best of the best” and “consistently world class”, adding that he also “couldn’t be prouder” of his Amol Rajan Interviews series which has run on recent years on BBC Two.
However, he continued: “Twenty years after I first flirted with the idea, I’m extremely excited to jump into the Great Digital Narnia of the Creator Economy, and build my own company. I’ll still do Britain’s oldest TV quiz and most exciting podcast.
“But Del Boy was my hero growing up, and it’s time to unleash my inner entrepreneur.”
He added: “I am very much not leaving the BBC, Britain’s noblest cultural institution, whose Reithian spirit is such a generous gift to a world in flux. It’s that world I’m heading for, and I’m excited.”
Today editor Owenna Griffiths described Rajan as an “exceptional talent with a rare combination of intellectual dexterity, impressive breadth of interest and a brilliant sense of humour”.
Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya said Rajan had “brought a distinctive intellectual energy and curiosity to Today that we will be really sad to lose”.
In a separate post on Instagram, Rajan paid tribute to his Today colleagues and said he had made sure to tell them of his exit before the official announcement.
Rajan is the third presenter in two years to leave Today, following Mishal Husain and Martha Kearney, who were replaced by Anna Foster and Emma Barnett respectively.
The programme’s other presenters are Justin Webb, who joined in 2009, and Nick Robinson, who took over from James Naughtie in 2015.
Before joining the BBC, Rajan was the editor of the Independent newspaper, from 2013 to 2016.
