Chris Moyles to leave BBC Radio 1 breakfast show

Chris Moyles has confirmed that he is to leave BBC Radio 1’s breakfast show later this year, with Nick Grimshaw his replacement.

The long-running breakfast show presenter will step down as host of the programme in September.

Moyles, who made the announcement on his show at around 8am this morning said: “We’re off. I wanted to let you know. A couple more months of us, then it’s someone else’s turn. Thank you for listening.”

He later feigned surprise when Dominic Byrne read out the news as part of his 8.30am bulletin, exclaiming: “What! Why wasn’t there a big announcement?”

Moyles also joked that Tim Westwood would be taking over as his replacement, then later suggested that Johnny Vaughan would be taking over. He also thanked fans for the “lovely” messages that they had been sent.

The 37-year-old broadcaster is contracted to Radio 1 until New Year 2014, after signing a new deal last year.

New Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper had reportedly been under pressure to make changes to the station’s line-up in order to make its audience younger.

Cooper said in a statement: “I’d like to thank Chris. Quite simply, he’s been the most successful breakfast show host in Radio 1 history.

“He’s done it for more than eight and half years and he’s been fantastic.”

Moyles’s show has helped rise Radio 1’s overall ratings from 9.73 million in 2004 to a high of 11.82 million in 2010. His current ratings however have dipped to just over 7.10 million listeners, from 7.52 million listeners this time last year.

He joined the station in 1997, before taking over the coveted breakfast show in 2004 from Sara Cox.

Along with long-time radio partner ‘Comedy’ Dave Vitty, Moyles broke the record for the longest-ever radio broadcast, which raised £2.4million for Comic Relief.

Moyles has signed up to star as King Herod in a new version of Jesus Christ Superstar from September.