Eddie Mair will host a new show on LBC when he leaves the BBC later this year after more than 30 years at the corporation.
The broadcaster will relinquish the helm of the PM flagship evening news programme on August 17.
He will take up his new post at the commercial talk radio station in September.
Eddie Mair joins LBC with a brand new show from September. #EddieMairOnLBC https://t.co/CqAvR0PosK
— LBC (@LBC) July 2, 2018
Mair, 52, said: “LBC has established itself as a ground-breaking broadcaster. Innovative, informed and fun with appointment-to-listen shows and a reputation for setting the agenda, its growth has been driven by bosses and staff who are passionate about radio, which is why I am eager to get started.”
He announced he was leaving the BBC on Sunday when he joked that his departure as the main presenter for Radio 4’s PM news programme would bring doom to the BBC, but a brilliant chance to shine for his successor.
He said: “It’s 31 years since I joined the BBC, 25 years since I first presented PM, and 20 since it became my main gig.
“I thought this was the appropriate moment to step out and give someone else a chance, before I’m so old my sentences make no lasagne.
.@EddieMair, the award-winning presenter of @BBCRadio4's PM, is to leave the BBC after over 30 years: https://t.co/aWdICMHawL pic.twitter.com/HbcNp19fq2
— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) July 1, 2018
“I’m going to miss the PM team, and Tony Hall’s aftershave. I realise the BBC will close down without me and there will be a run on the pound but I can’t stay in an organisation that refused to let me host Songs Of Praise. I bought a jacket and everything.
“I’m truly grateful to the BBC, however, for being given more opportunities over the years than I deserved. My apologies to PM listeners for all the things I’ve said that I shouldn’t have, and all the things I should have said that I didn’t.
“Whoever comes next will be getting the best job in the BBC and I honestly wish them the very best.”
He later tweeted supporters: “Thank you for all the kind words. I appreciate them. But there are journalists in the world who are being shot, jailed, held hostage or forced to work with @corrie_corfield. I’m only changing jobs. So please do something about them. (Not Corrie. She’s lovely. Mainly).”
Thank you for all the kind words. I appreciate them. But there are journalists in the world who are being shot, jailed, held hostage or forced to work with @corrie_corfield. I’m only changing jobs. So please do something about them. (Not Corrie. She’s lovely. Mainly)
— Eddie Mair (@eddiemair) July 1, 2018
James Rea, managing editor of LBC and group head of news at Global, said: “Eddie is a hugely respected broadcaster and I’m looking forward to adding him to our phenomenal presenter line-up.
“The LBC team have fuelled the growth of the station as we’ve broken our own records enjoying our highest ever listening figures in 45 years.
“I know Eddie’s new show will be exceptional when it launches in September.”
Mair joined PM as a regular co-host in 1998 and became the sole presenter of PM in 2003.
He has won the Sony Awards for Speech Broadcaster of the Year and News Journalist of the Year – and helped the programme to win a Sony Gold award in the Interactive category in 2007.
Mair also won a Sony Gold in 2012 for his interview with Julie Nicholson, who lost her daughter Jenny in the London bombings of July 7 2005.