Nicky Campbell swaps BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast for new phone-in show - BBC News
He'll take over the BBC station's mid-morning slot, having presented the Breakfast show since 2003.
Nicky Campbell is to leave the Breakfast show on BBC Radio 5 Live after almost 20 years at the helm.

Campbell will host a new weekday show based on his current one-hour Your Call phone-in slot, which is presently part of the Breakfast slot.

The new show will launch later this year and will run from 09:00 to 11:00.

His Breakfast replacement has not yet been announced. Campbell currently presents with Rachel Burden, who described it as "the end of an era".

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Campbell said: "It's why I love 5 Live - hearing from listeners and talking to people about what really does matter to them and their communities. It's a constant privilege hearing people's passion, candour, anger and raw honesty. Our listeners make me listen. They make me think, laugh and cry. I can't wait for this to start.

"Leaving Breakfast is really tough after so many unforgettable programmes with Rachel and the team, but I've been getting up at 4am for 19 years now, so it's time I had a bit more sleep!"

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He will also front a new podcast for BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds.

Naga Munchetty currently presents a weekday show from 10:00 to 13:00 from Monday to Wednesday, while Adrian Chiles presents the same slot on Thursdays and Fridays.

Their shows will now be cut by an hour, starting at 11:00, which the station said was always the long-term plan.

A spokesperson said: "Naga is a key 5 Live voice and has made a brilliant impact since her show started. We're really pleased with the reaction she's been getting from listeners. It was always our intention for her programme to be two hours and we're grateful Naga has helped out by doing longer while these changes have been worked out."

Speaking of Chiles, they said the station was also grateful to him for doing an extra hour during the transition period, adding that overall, "he will be presenting more peak hours than he did last year".

Campbell joined the station, which has roughly five million listeners, from Radio 1 in 1997.

Controller Heidi Dawson said: "Nicky is the master of radio phone-in broadcasting. The last year with the pandemic has shown just how deep Nicky's connection is with our listeners across the UK. They have opened up to him about every detail of their lives through this difficult time.

"We want to give our audience more time on air and Nicky is the perfect presenter to enable that conversation."

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