Amol Rajan to leave Radio 4’s Today programme to launch his own company
Presenter Amol Rajan has announced plans to leave BBC Radio 4’s Today program to set up his own company.
He will continue to do some work away from news for the BBC, including hosting quiz shows such as University Challenge and the Radical podcast.
Rajan said in a statement that leaving Today “could be crazy” but added that he was “extremely excited to jump into the wonderful digital Narnia of the creative economy.”
It has not yet been announced who will replace him on the BBC’s flagship radio news programme, Today.
The BBC’s broadcasting rules would likely prevent Rajan from remaining as the presenter of a news program and also starting his own company.
Rajan has been presenting Today for nearly five years, having joined in March 2021.
He effectively replaced John Humphrys, who left 18 months earlier, but the program continued with a reduced number of presenters in the interim.
Before joining Today, Rajan was media editor for BBC News and guest presented many major programs including The One Show and programs on BBC Radio 2.
On Thursday, Rajan said: “The lines have been heard and it’s time to get my coat.”
HE Today praised its team Describing it as “the best of the best” and “consistently world class”, he also added that he “couldn’t be prouder” of the Amol Rajan Interviews series that has aired on BBC Two in recent years.
But he continued: “Twenty years after I first flirted with the idea, I’m incredibly excited to step into the Great Digital Narnia of the Creative Economy and launch my own company. “I’ll still produce Britain’s oldest TV quiz and most exciting podcast.
“But Del Boy was my hero growing up, and now it’s time to bring out the entrepreneur in me.”
He added: “I’m certainly not leaving the BBC, Britain’s noblest cultural institution, whose Reithian spirit is a generous gift to a world in change. I’m going into that world too, and I’m excited.”
Owenna Griffiths, editor of Today, described Rajan as “an extraordinary talent with a rare combination of intellectual ability, impressive range of interests and a brilliant sense of humour”.
The Radio 4 controller said Rajan “brings to Today a distinctive intellectual energy and curiosity that we would be truly sorry to lose.”
The BBC said an announcement about Rajan’s replacement would be made on Today in due course.
Rajan becomes the third presenter to leave Today in two years, following Mishal Husain and Martha Kearney, who were replaced by Anna Foster and Emma Barnett respectively.
Other presenters of the program are Justin Webb, who joined in 2009, and Nick Robinson, who took over from James Naughtie in 2015.
