Signal 2 breakfast presenter Johnny Owen is departing the show after more than 14 years.
He revealed the news in a now-deleted blog post on the Signal 2 website on Wednesday afternoon, where he said it was ‘decided during a meeting with the management’ that he will be ‘coming off breakfast in June and moving to a couple of weekend shows’. The blog post was screen-grabbed and posted on Twitter before its removal.
In the post, Johnny says he hasn’t been pushed and that it was absolutely his decision. He took over the medium wave breakfast show in Stoke-on-Trent in October 2002.
The news comes just days after sister station Signal 1 confirmed it was refreshing its breakfast show. Presenters Andy and Louise announced on air that they’d been told by management they were finishing next week. Changes have also been announced across town at BBC Radio Stoke, where Liz Ellis is replacing Pete Morgan on the breakfast show.
Here’s the now-deleted blog post by Johnny Owen:
Posted by Johnny Owen at Wednesday, February 15th, 2017 4:38pm
It’s almost the end of an era ..
After 15 years my time on the Breakfast Show is coming to an end. During a meeting with the end. During a meeting with the management this morning it was decided that I will be coming off Breakfast in June and moving to a couple of Weekend Shows.
I haven’t been pushed and it was absolutely my decision but I’m not sure what I will do with myself all week and I hope I don’t live to regret it.
15 years is a long time to be getting up at half past four in the morning and I don’t think I’ll miss the early starts but I will certainly miss the banter.
If you remember in about 1999 some genius had the bright idea of changing the name of Signal 2 to The Big AM !! It was a disaster and almost wiped the station out. They changed the name back to Signal 2 but by then hardly anyone was still listening. I went on the Breakfast Show in October 2002 and to be honest it felt a bit like The Marie Celeste, but I’m proud to say I leave The Breakfast Show with Signal 2 Blooming with a fantastic and still growing audience. I’m also incredibly proud of the fact that my show is the longest running Breakfast Show on British Radio.
If my mum was still here she’d be saying “Thank Goodness .. now you can get a proper job”
Like I say I won’t be coming off the show until my contract ends in June so plenty of time for more fun and games.
Beef Stew and dumplings for tea with a bottle of wine to drown any sorrows I might have. Have a great night. see you in the morning.
Johnny later replied to a Facebook thread where the deleted blog post had been, saying:
Hello everyone..i just said on the blog that I will be leaving the breakfast show in June (months away) and moving to weekends . it is absolutely my decision although very reluctantly. however somebody at Signal decided to delete the blog.
RadioToday has contacted Signal for comment and we’ll update this story if and when we hear back from the station.
