Vanessa Feltz will leave her BBC radio shows next month.
She’s presented the Early Breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 for 12 years, and the Breakfast show on BBC Radio London for nearly 20 years.
Vanessa broke the news on her Radio 2 show this morning – saying she’s decided to ‘turn off her alarm clock once and for all’:
She says: “I have loved every moment with my Radio 2 ‘Early Birds’ and will miss my Lovely Listeners, Jolly Good Fellows and beloved friends and colleagues at Radio 2 with all my heart. However, after almost 12 blissful years, I now need to step down to catch up on a much-needed decade’s deficit of beauty sleep!
“It’s been an honour and privilege to be the Breakfast voice of BBC Radio London for 20 years and although I’m leaving the show, I’ll continue to expect hugs from my lovely listeners when I see them on the streets of London!
“I will enjoy a dollop of energy-boosting shut-eye to swing from zip-lines with my three effervescent grandchildren and frolic with my fiancé Ben, who irritatingly remains 10 years younger than me!”
Vanessa will present her last Radio 2 Early Breakfast show tomorrow (Friday 29th July), but will return for two weeks from Monday 15th August covering for Jeremy Vine, before leaving the station on Friday 26th August.
The Head of BBC Radio 2, Helen Thomas, says: “For almost 12 years, Vanessa has made her live weekday Early Breakfast Show her very own kingdom, and I’d like to thank her wholeheartedly for the thousands of middle-of-the-night starts she’s made to entertain the Radio 2 listeners. On behalf of them, as well as everyone in Wogan House, I’d like to send Lady V our very best wishes for the future.”
We have some news…
After almost 12 years presenting the Radio 2 Early Breakfast show, Vanessa Feltz has decided to turn off her alarm clock and leave Radio 2 in August.
We’ll miss her lots and wish her all the best in the future.
https://t.co/PNPkeRG9J9 pic.twitter.com/faOyZ0lUz1
— BBC Radio 2 (@BBCRadio2) July 28, 2022
Chris Burns, the BBC’s Controller of Local Audio Commissioning, says: “Every weekday Vanessa has breezed straight from her Radio 2 programme into the Radio London breakfast show, barely pausing for breath. She has effortlessly entertained her “lovely listener” and sternly held the city’s and country’s decision makers to account. The brightest spark you could ever meet – no matter how early it is and what’s going on in the news – to say Vanessa’s voice will be missed is an understatement. We wish her well and thank her dearly for her incredible service.”
The BBC says the new morning schedules for Radio 2 and Radio London will be announced at a later date.
This story first appeared on radiotoday.co.uk